ORM Basics (Prisma/TypeORM/Sequelize) Cheat Sheet

Compares core ORM concepts—models, migrations, relations, and querying—across Prisma, TypeORM, and Sequelize for Node.js applications.

2 PagesBeginnerMar 12, 2026

Prisma Schema

Declarative model definition in schema.prisma.

prisma

// schema.prismamodel User {  id        Int      @id @default(autoincrement())  email     String   @unique  name      String?  posts     Post[]  createdAt DateTime @default(now())}model Post {  id       Int    @id @default(autoincrement())  title    String  authorId Int  author   User   @relation(fields: [authorId], references: [id])}

TypeORM Entity

Decorator-based entity classes with a relation.

typescript

import { Entity, PrimaryGeneratedColumn, Column, OneToMany, ManyToOne } from 'typeorm';@Entity()export class User {  @PrimaryGeneratedColumn()  id: number;  @Column({ unique: true })  email: string;  @OneToMany(() => Post, (post) => post.author)  posts: Post[];}@Entity()export class Post {  @PrimaryGeneratedColumn()  id: number;  @Column()  title: string;  @ManyToOne(() => User, (user) => user.posts)  author: User;}

Sequelize Model

Defining models and associations, then eager loading.

javascript

const { DataTypes } = require('sequelize');const User = sequelize.define('User', {  email: { type: DataTypes.STRING, unique: true, allowNull: false },  name: DataTypes.STRING,});const Post = sequelize.define('Post', {  title: { type: DataTypes.STRING, allowNull: false },});User.hasMany(Post, { foreignKey: 'authorId' });Post.belongsTo(User, { foreignKey: 'authorId' });// Query with eager loadingconst users = await User.findAll({ include: Post });

Feature Comparison

How the three ORMs differ in approach.

Prisma- Schema-first with a generated type-safe client; migrations via `prisma migrate`; no active-record pattern, queries go through the Prisma Client
TypeORM- Decorator-based entity classes; supports both Active Record and Data Mapper patterns; migrations via CLI or auto-sync (dev only)
Sequelize- JavaScript-first (with optional TypeScript typings) model definitions; mature ecosystem, migrations via `sequelize-cli`
Migrations- All three support versioned migration files; Prisma also supports `db push` for rapid prototyping without migration history
Type safety- Prisma generates fully typed query results from your schema automatically; TypeORM/Sequelize rely more on manually maintained types
Raw SQL escape hatch- All three let you drop to raw SQL (`prisma.$queryRaw`, `query()` in TypeORM, `sequelize.query()`) for cases the query builder can't express

Pro Tip

Don't let an ORM hide N+1 queries — always check the generated SQL (Prisma's query logging, TypeORM's logging: true, Sequelize's logging: console.log) for any loop that triggers a query per iteration, and use eager loading (include) to fix it.

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