Skip to main content

Sequelize

This page compares the Prisma ORM and Sequelize APIs.

Sequelize vs Prisma ORM​

While Prisma ORM and Sequelize solve similar problems, they work in very different ways.

Sequelize is a traditional ORM which maps tables to model classes. Instances of the model classes then provide an interface for CRUD queries to an application at runtime.

Prisma ORM is a new kind of ORM that mitigates many problems of traditional ORMs, such as bloated model instances, mixing business with storage logic, lack of type-safety or unpredictable queries caused e.g. by lazy loading.

It uses the Prisma schema to define application models in a declarative way. Prisma Migrate then allows to generate SQL migrations from the Prisma schema and executes them against the database. CRUD queries are provided by Prisma Client, a lightweight and entirely type-safe database client for Node.js and TypeScript.

API comparison​

Fetching single objects​

Prisma ORM

const user = await prisma.user.findUnique({
  where: {
    id: 1,
  },
})

Sequelize

const user = await User.findByPk(id)

Fetching selected scalars of single objects​

Prisma ORM

const user = await prisma.user.findUnique({
  where: {
    id: 1,
  },
  select: {
    name: true,
  },
})

Sequelize

const user = await User.findByPk(1, { attributes: ['name'], raw: true })
tip

Use the raw: true query option to return plain JavaScript objects.

Fetching relations​

Prisma ORM

const posts = await prisma.user.findUnique({
  where: {
    id: 2,
  },
  include: {
    post: true,
  },
})

Note: select returns a user object that includes a post array, whereas the fluent API only returns a post array.

Sequelize

const user = await User.findByPk(id, {
  include: [
    {
      model: Post,
    },
  ],
})
tip

Use model: Post as "Post" if you used an alias to define the relationship between User and Post - for example: User.hasMany(Post, { as: "Post", foreignKey: "authorId" });

Filtering for concrete values​

Prisma ORM

const posts = await prisma.post.findMany({
  where: {
    title: {
      contains: 'Hello',
    },
  },
})

Sequelize

const post = await Post.findAll({
  raw: true,
  where: {
    title: {
      [Op.like]: '%Hello%',
    },
  },
})

Other filter criteria​

Prisma ORM

Prisma ORM generates many additional filters that are commonly used in modern application development.

Sequelize

Sequelize has an extensive set of operators.

Relation filters​

Prisma ORM

Prisma ORM lets you filter a list based on a criteria that applies not only to the models of the list being retrieved, but to a relation of that model.

For example, the following query returns users with one or more posts with "Hello" in the title:

const posts = await prisma.user.findMany({
  where: {
    Post: {
      some: {
        title: {
          contains: 'Hello',
        },
      },
    },
  },
})

Sequelize

Sequelize doesn't offer a dedicated API for relation filters. You can get similar functionality by sending a raw SQL query to the database.

Pagination​

Prisma ORM

Cursor-style pagination:

const page = await prisma.post.findMany({
  before: {
    id: 242,
  },
  last: 20,
})

Offset pagination:

const cc = await prisma.post.findMany({
  skip: 200,
  first: 20,
})

Sequelize

Cursor pagination:

const posts = await Post.findAll({
  limit: 20,
  where: {
    id: {
      [Op.gt]: 242,
    },
  },
})

Note: Sequelize use the Sequelize operators to perform cursor pagination.

Offset pagination:

const posts = await Post.findAll({
  offset: 5,
  limit: 10,
})

Creating objects​

Prisma ORM

const user = await prisma.user.create({
  data: {
    email: 'alice@prisma.io',
  },
})

Sequelize

const user = User.build({
  name: 'Alice',
  email: 'alice@prisma,io',
})
await user.save()

Updating objects​

Prisma ORM

const user = await prisma.user.update({
  data: {
    name: 'Alicia',
  },
  where: {
    id: 2,
  },
})

Sequelize

user.name = 'James'
user.email = ' alice@prisma.com'
await user.save()

Deleting objects​

Prisma ORM

const user = await prisma.user.delete({
  where: {
    id: 10,
  },
})

Sequelize

await user.destroy()

Batch updates​

Prisma ORM

const user = await prisma.user.updateMany({
  data: {
    name: 'Published author!',
  },
  where: {
    email: {
      contains: 'prisma.io',
    },
  },
})

Sequelize

const updatedUsers = await User.update({
  { role: "Admin" },
  where: {
    email: {
      [Op.like]: "%@prisma.io"
    }
  },
})

Batch deletes​

Prisma ORM

const users = await prisma.user.deleteMany({
  where: {
    id: {
      in: [1, 2, 6, 6, 22, 21, 25],
    },
  },
})

Sequelize

await User.destroy({
  where: {
    id: {
      [Op.in]: [id1, id2, id3],
    },
  },
})

Transactions​

Prisma ORM

const user = await prisma.user.create({
  data: {
    email: 'bob.rufus@prisma.io',
    name: 'Bob Rufus',
    Post: {
      create: [
        { title: 'Working at Prisma' },
        { title: 'All about databases' },
      ],
    },
  },
})

Sequelize

return sequelize.$transaction(async (t) => {
  const user = await User.create(
    {
      name: 'Alice',
      email: 'alice@prisma,io',
    },
    {
      transaction: t,
    }
  )
  const post1 = await Post.create(
    {
      title: 'Join us for GraphQL Conf in 2019',
    },
    {
      transaction: t,
    }
  )
  const post2 = await Post.create(
    {
      title: 'Subscribe to GraphQL Weekly for GraphQL news',
    },
    {
      transaction: t,
    }
  )
  await user.setPosts([post1, post2])
})