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What is the difference between an ORM, a query builder, and a raw driver?

Q: What is the difference between an ORM, a query builder, and a raw driver?

**TL;DR.** A **raw driver** ( pg ) sends SQL strings you write. A **query builder** (Knex) composes SQL programmatically while staying close to it. An **ORM** (Prisma, TypeORM, Sequelize) maps rows to objects and generates queries from a schema — trading some control and performance for **productivity and type-safety**. raw driver you write SQL max control query builder compose SQL <text class='d-sub' x='229' y='1

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Understand the problem

Trade-offs of Prisma/TypeORM vs Knex vs pg.

nodejsdatabaseormquery-builder

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Read the code

Same fetch at three levels

// raw driver (pg)
await pool.query('SELECT * FROM users WHERE id=$1', [id]);

// query builder (knex)
await knex('users').where({ id }).first();

// ORM (prisma) — typed result
await prisma.user.findUnique({ where: { id }, include: { posts: true } });

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