Editorial take
Why it stands out
Drizzle should read as an open-source ORM with optional commercial tooling around it, not as a paid data platform. The real cost remains the database and runtime you choose to put underneath it.
Loading
Tool profile
Lightweight TypeScript ORM and SQL builder that stays close to the database and keeps queries explicit.
Edge and worker deployments needing minimal ORM overhead
TypeScript SQL builder that stays close to the database—light runtime, first-class migrations, and no heavy codegen ceremony.
Drizzle ORM is published under the Apache License 2.0. There is no per-developer charge for using the library in your services—budget managed databases (Neon, RDS, PlanetScale-compatible MySQL, Turso, etc.) and your CI runners. Optional Drizzle Studio or hosted services, when used, are priced on the vendor site separately from the OSS packages.
Pair with Prisma comparisons on DX versus bundle size and migration ergonomics—not on list price alone.
Quick fit
Editorial take
Drizzle should read as an open-source ORM with optional commercial tooling around it, not as a paid data platform. The real cost remains the database and runtime you choose to put underneath it.
What it does well
Primary use cases
Fit notes
Compare with
Pressure-test this pick against nearby alternatives.
Pricing snapshot
Drizzle ORM is published under the Apache License 2.0, so the core library has no license fee. The real spend comes from your database, hosting, CI, and any optional Drizzle commercial tools you choose to add around the open-source runtime.
Alation
PaidEnterprise data catalog
Enterprise data intelligence and catalog platform for search, governance, trust, and AI-ready knowledge layers over organizational data.
Choose Alation when the buying problem is enterprise trust, governance, and discoverability across data assets.
