# Knex.js vs Kysely

| Attribute | Knex.js | Kysely |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 66.2 (71% (medium)) | 70.3 (79% (high)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 0 | 25 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 94,868 | 1,155 |
| adoption.github_stars | 20,342 | 14,168 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 5,289,407 | 14,615,271 |
| deployment.options | - | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | An open-source Node.js package supporting nine SQL databases including PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, and Oracle. Provides type-safe query building with TypeScript support, schema migrations, transaction handling with savepoints, connection pooling, and both promise and callback-based interfaces. | A JavaScript and TypeScript SQL query builder that provides compile-time type safety and database schema validation. It works across multiple runtimes (Node, Deno, Bun, Cloudflare Workers, browsers) with zero runtime dependencies and emphasizes composable, type-safe queries over higher-level abstractions. |
| features.capabilities | `{"raw_sql":true,"multi_db":true,"languages":"JavaScript, TypeScript","relations":true,"migrations":true,"studio_gui":false,"schema_first":true,"type_safe_queries":true,"connection_pooling":true}` | `{"raw_sql":true,"multi_db":true,"languages":"TypeScript, JavaScript (Node, Deno, Bun, Cloudflare Workers, browsers)","relations":true,"migrations":false,"studio_gui":false,"schema_first":true,"type_safe_queries":true,"connection_pooling":false}` |
| integrations.count | - | 21 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Supabase"},{"name":"Cursor"},{"name":"Windsurf"},{"name":"GitHub Copilot"},{"name":"ChatGPT"},{"name":"Claude"},{"name":"Claude Code"},{"name":"AirTrail"},{"name":"AWS Blocks"},{"name":"Conar"},{"name":"EmbedPDF"},{"name":"Hot Updater"},{"name":"inlang"},{"name":"Notesnook"},{"name":"OpenClaw"},{"name":"Reflect"},{"name":"Sink"},{"name":"Stacks"},{"name":"StudioCMS"},{"name":"Tunarr"},{"name":"ZenStack"}]` |
| language.primary | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| license.spdx | MIT | MIT |
| platform.support | - | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://knexjs.org","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T08:34:17.530Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Completely free and open source (MIT license)","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://kysely.dev","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T08:37:15.404Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | - | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 28 | 10 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/3.3.0","date":"2026-06-26T14:55:58Z","type":"stable","version":"3.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/3.2.10","date":"2026-05-02T12:14:38Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/3.2.9","date":"2026-04-03T20:25:30Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/3.2.8","date":"2026-03-30T18:29:09Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/3.2.7","date":"2026-03-30T18:28:52Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/3.2.6","date":"2026-03-25T02:06:50Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/3.2.3","date":"2026-03-22T22:38:07Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/3.2.1","date":"2026-03-22T21:08:27Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/3.2.0","date":"2026-03-22T17:37:15Z","type":"stable","version":"3.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/3.1.0","date":"2023-12-07T23:17:57Z","type":"stable","version":"3.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/3.0.1","date":"2023-10-06T12:23:40Z","type":"stable","version":"3.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/3.0.0","date":"2023-10-06T06:56:38Z","type":"stable","version":"3.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/2.5.1","date":"2023-07-12T21:26:26Z","type":"stable","version":"2.5.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/2.5.0","date":"2023-07-08T21:04:46Z","type":"stable","version":"2.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/2.4.2","date":"2023-03-29T11:15:20Z","type":"stable","version":"2.4.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/2.4.1","date":"2023-03-29T11:11:39Z","type":"stable","version":"2.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/2.4.0","date":"2023-01-06T15:45:16Z","type":"stable","version":"2.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/2.3.0","date":"2022-09-01T21:17:24Z","type":"stable","version":"2.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/2.2.0","date":"2022-07-18T21:26:26Z","type":"stable","version":"2.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/knex/knex/releases/tag/2.1.0","date":"2022-05-26T09:04:03Z","type":"stable","version":"2.1.0"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.29.5","date":"2026-08-10T01:06:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.29.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.30.0-beta.1","date":"2026-07-26T17:34:07Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.30.0-beta.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.30.0-beta.0","date":"2026-07-25T12:45:33Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.30.0-beta.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.29.4","date":"2026-07-17T17:42:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.29.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.29.3","date":"2026-07-05T23:18:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.29.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.29.2","date":"2026-05-16T15:52:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.29.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.29.1","date":"2026-05-16T00:01:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.29.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.29.0","date":"2026-05-08T23:54:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.29.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.28.17","date":"2026-05-03T01:10:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.28.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.29.0-rc.0","date":"2026-04-24T20:13:08Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.29.0-rc.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.28.16","date":"2026-04-10T18:07:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.28.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.28.15","date":"2026-03-31T01:49:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.28.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.28.14","date":"2026-03-20T11:28:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.28.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.28.13","date":"2026-03-18T22:12:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.28.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.28.12","date":"2026-03-14T09:13:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.28.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.28.11","date":"2026-01-31T18:58:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.28.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.28.10","date":"2026-01-18T07:13:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.28.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.28.9","date":"2025-12-13T17:48:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.28.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.28.8","date":"2025-10-09T21:47:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.28.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/kysely-org/kysely/releases/tag/v0.28.7","date":"2025-09-14T15:37:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.28.7"}]` |
| security.scorecard | 5.7 | 7.3 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":2,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=knex&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":"CRITICAL"}` | `{"count":4,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=kysely&per_page=100","last_12m":4,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` |

## Capabilities (ORM & Database Tools)

| Capability | Knex.js | Kysely |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Type-safe queries | ✓ | ✓ |
| Schema migrations | ✓ | ✗ |
| Relations / joins API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Languages | JavaScript, TypeScript | TypeScript, JavaScript (Node, Deno, Bun, Cloudflare Workers, browsers) |
| **Modelling** |  |  |
| Schema-first modelling | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Flexibility** |  |  |
| Raw SQL escape hatch | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Portability** |  |  |
| Multiple database backends | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Ops** |  |  |
| Connection pooling | ✓ | ✗ |
| **DX** |  |  |
| Data browser / studio | ✗ | ✗ |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T14:46:52.165Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*