drizzle-ormvskysely
Both are SQL-first, type-safe, lightweight. Drizzle generates SQL closer to raw; Kysely is a pure query builder. Drizzle has more features (migrations, relations); Kysely is the minimalist pick.
drizzle-orm
github.com/drizzle-team/drizzle-ormTypeScript-first ORM with SQL-like syntax. ~25k stars. Lighter than Prisma, zero codegen step, faster cold starts on serverless. Becoming the default for new Next.js + Postgres projects.
Full review →kysely
github.com/kysely-org/kyselyType-safe SQL query builder for TypeScript. Lower level than Drizzle/Prisma — closer to writing raw SQL with types. Best when you really want to think in SQL.
Full review →Which should you pick?
Pick drizzle-orm if…
You are on Postgres/MySQL/SQLite, write TypeScript, and want SQL-like queries with type safety.
Skip drizzle-orm if…
Your team prefers a high-level ORM with relations resolved magically — Prisma is more polished.
Pick kysely if…
You write complex SQL and want type safety without an ORM abstraction.
Skip kysely if…
You want schema migration tooling and a managed query layer — pick Drizzle.
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