SQLite vs Prisma for Solo Developers

Quick Comparison

SQLite Overview

SQLite is a database engine that runs inside your application process. No server, no configuration, no separate daemon. Your database is a single file. The developer experience is as simple as it gets: create a file, write SQL, read results. Done.

What I love about SQLite for solo development is the total absence of infrastructure concerns. No connection strings with passwords, no port conflicts, no "is the database running?" debugging sessions. You start your app and the database is just there. During development, want a fresh database? Delete the file. Want to back up production? Copy the file. That simplicity compounds over time.

Read performance is excellent because there's zero network latency. Your data is right there in memory. For content sites, personal tools, and apps with moderate write loads, SQLite is genuinely fast.

Prisma Overview

Prisma is a TypeScript ORM, not a database. This is an important distinction. Prisma sits between your application and your database, providing auto-generated TypeScript types, a schema-driven migration system, and a query builder that catches errors at compile time. It supports PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, MongoDB, and CockroachDB.

The developer experience is Prisma's main selling point. You define your data model in a .prisma schema file, run prisma generate, and get a fully typed client. Every query returns typed objects. Every relation is type-safe. Autocomplete shows you exactly what fields and relations are available. For TypeScript projects, this eliminates an entire category of runtime bugs.

Prisma Studio is the visual database browser that comes free. Click through your data, edit records, explore relations. It's not essential, but it's a nice touch that saves you from writing one-off queries during development.

Key Differences

Category. SQLite is a database. Prisma is an ORM. They're not competing tools. They're complementary. You can use Prisma with SQLite. This comparison is really about whether to use raw SQLite or SQLite (or another database) through Prisma's abstraction layer.

Type safety. Raw SQLite gives you no TypeScript integration. You write SQL strings and get back untyped results. Prisma gives you full type inference. If you rename a column in your schema, Prisma's TypeScript compiler catches every broken query in your codebase. For solo developers writing TypeScript, this safety net is valuable.

Query flexibility. With raw SQLite, you can write any SQL query. Complex joins, window functions, CTEs, whatever you need. Prisma's query builder covers 90% of common operations beautifully but can feel limiting for complex queries. Prisma does support raw SQL as an escape hatch, but at that point you lose the type safety.

Migration management. Prisma has a built-in migration system. Change your schema, run prisma migrate, and Prisma generates the SQL migration file and applies it. With raw SQLite, you manage migrations yourself or use a separate tool. For solo developers who don't want to write migration SQL by hand, Prisma's system is a time saver.

Performance overhead. Prisma adds a layer between your application and the database. For simple queries, the overhead is negligible. For complex operations or high-throughput scenarios, the abstraction can slow things down. Raw SQLite queries are about as fast as database access gets.

Bundle size. Prisma's generated client adds significant weight to your application bundle. In serverless environments with cold starts, this matters. Raw SQLite with a lightweight driver (like better-sqlite3) has a much smaller footprint.

Learning curve. SQLite requires knowing SQL. Prisma requires learning the Prisma schema language, the client API, and the migration workflow. Both are approachable, but Prisma has more concepts to absorb upfront.

When to Choose SQLite (Raw)

• You're comfortable writing SQL directly
• You want zero dependencies and the smallest possible footprint
• You're building something simple where type safety isn't critical
• You need maximum query flexibility without ORM constraints
• You're not using TypeScript

When to Choose Prisma

• You're building a TypeScript project and want compile-time safety
• You want auto-generated types from your database schema
• You prefer a schema-driven workflow with managed migrations
• You're working with multiple databases and want a consistent API
• You value developer experience over raw performance

The Verdict

This comparison is a bit unfair because SQLite and Prisma solve different problems. The best answer for many solo developers is to use both: Prisma as your ORM with SQLite as your database.

If you're building a TypeScript project, Prisma with SQLite is an excellent combination. You get SQLite's zero-config simplicity plus Prisma's type safety and migration management. It's the sweet spot of developer experience.

If you're not using TypeScript, or you're building something small where an ORM is overkill, raw SQLite with a lightweight driver is perfectly fine. Not every project needs an ORM, and SQLite's SQL interface is straightforward enough that type generation isn't essential for small codebases.

My recommendation: if your project is TypeScript and will have more than a handful of database tables, use Prisma with SQLite. If you're writing a quick script, a small tool, or working in a non-TypeScript language, raw SQLite is all you need. Either way, SQLite's zero-ops nature makes it the right database engine for most solo developer projects.