TypeORM

TypeORM is the ORM for TypeScript and JavaScript applications running on Node.js. It supports Postgres, MySQL, SQLite, MongoDB, and several others. Everything is free under MIT. No paid tier, no cloud service, no premium features. It's been around since 2016 and powers a lot of production apps.

There's nothing to host. It's an npm package you add to your project. `npm install typeorm` and configure your database connection. It handles migrations, relations, query building, and connection pooling.

Solo developers: TypeORM gets you productive fast with the Active Record or Data Mapper patterns. The decorators-based entity definitions are clean. Small teams: migrations and relation management save time. Growing teams: it works, but query performance at scale needs attention.

The catch: TypeORM has a reputation for quirky behavior with complex queries, inconsistent migration handling, and a maintenance pace that's frustrated the community. Issues pile up on GitHub and PRs sit unmerged for months. If you're starting a new project in 2026, Prisma and Drizzle ORM have momentum, better TypeScript integration, and more active development. TypeORM works (a lot of production apps prove that), but the trend is away from it for new projects.