We are planning on building a Node.js service. Here's our evaluation of the current ORM landscape:

Last updated: May 2 2016

• Objection.js
  • http://vincit.github.io/objection.js/#introduction
  • Bad: API is Promise based and bulky. This means people can forget to have an error handler due to not being error first
    • http://vincit.github.io/objection.js/#getting-started
  • Good: Uses JSON schema for validation; this means content should be relatively reusable between server/browser
    • http://vincit.github.io/objection.js/#validation
    • http://vincit.github.io/objection.js/#jsonschema
  • Good: Has nice syntax for relationships
    • http://vincit.github.io/objection.js/#polymorphic-associations
  • Good: Built on knex.js which seems to be canonical SQL driver
    • https://github.com/tgriesser/knex
  • Neutral: Recommends using Knex.js' migration tool for migrations
    • https://github.com/Vincit/objection.js/tree/0.4.0
  • Good: Well maintained
    • http://isitmaintained.com/project/Vincit/objection.js
      • Resolution time: 1 day, Open issues: 13%
• Sails
  • https://github.com/balderdashy/sails
  • Not looking for an opinionated MVC, skipping for now
• Waterline, ORM from Sails
  • https://github.com/balderdashy/waterline
  • Bad: Response time takes a while
    • But might be well supported since Sails?
    • http://isitmaintained.com/project/balderdashy/waterline
      • Resolution time: 10 days, Open issues: 2%
• sequelize
  • https://github.com/sequelize/sequelize
  • Good: Syntax is clean and straightforward
    • http://docs.sequelizejs.com/en/latest/docs/getting-started/
    • http://docs.sequelizejs.com/en/latest/docs/querying/
  • Good: Seems to have everything we need (e.g. relationships, validation)
    • http://docs.sequelizejs.com/en/latest/docs/associations/
    • http://docs.sequelizejs.com/en/latest/docs/models-definition/#validations
  • TODO: There might be callback support via nodeify
    • https://github.com/sequelize/sequelize/blob/v3.22.0/lib/promise.js#L44-L45
    • https://www.npmjs.com/package/bluebird-nodeify
  • Good: Well maintained
    • http://isitmaintained.com/project/sequelize/sequelize
      • Resolution time: 1 day, Open issues: 12%
• Bookshelf.js
  • http://bookshelfjs.org/
  • Good: Feels very Backbone.js-esque (e.g. get/set, virtual properties (similar to backbone-relationship))
    • http://bookshelfjs.org/#plugins
  • Good: Supports callbacks
  • Good: Authored by knex.js author
  • Bad: Maintenance isn't great
    • http://isitmaintained.com/project/tgriesser/bookshelf
      • Resolution time: 6 days, Open issues: 28%
• orm2
  • https://github.com/dresende/node-orm2
  • Used it previously, had a terrible experience

Our likely choice is sequelize (possibly with callback bindings via bluebird-nodeify)