ORM Benchmarks

Comprehensive performance benchmarks comparing popular Python ORMs across PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQLite.

Tested ORMs:

ORM	Type	PostgreSQL	MySQL	SQLite
Tortoise ORM	async	asyncpg	asyncmy	aiosqlite
Django	sync	psycopg2	mysqlclient	sqlite3
peewee	sync	psycopg2	pymysql	sqlite3
SQLAlchemy ORM (async)	async	asyncpg	aiomysql	aiosqlite
SQLObject	sync	psycopg2	mysqlclient	sqlite3
Piccolo	async	asyncpg	—	aiosqlite
ormar	async	asyncpg	aiomysql	aiosqlite
SQLModel	async	asyncpg	aiomysql	aiosqlite

Environment: Python 3.14, macOS (Apple Silicon), 100 iterations per operation. Piccolo does not support MySQL.

Operations

Code	Operation	Description
A	Insert: Single	Insert one row at a time
B	Insert: Batch	Insert many rows in a single transaction
C	Insert: Bulk	Use bulk insert operations
D	Filter: Large	Fetch a large result set
E	Filter: Small	Fetch limit 20 with random offset
F	Get	Fetch a single row by primary key
G	Filter: dict	Fetch large result set as dicts
H	Filter: tuple	Fetch large result set as tuples
I	Update: Whole	Update all fields of a row
J	Update: Partial	Update a single field
K	Delete	Delete a single row

Test Models

Test 1 — Simple model (4 fields): id, timestamp, level (indexed), text (indexed)

Test 2 — FK relations: Same as Test 1, plus self-referential foreign key, reverse FK, and M2M relation

Test 3 — Wide model (32+ fields): Same as Test 1, plus 4 sets of 8 typed columns (float, smallint, int, bigint, char, text, decimal, json) — 2 with defaults, 2 nullable

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Results: PostgreSQL 17

PostgreSQL 17 in Docker. Driver: asyncpg for async ORMs, psycopg2 for sync ORMs.

Overview

Test 1: Simple Model (4 fields)

Operation	Django	peewee	SA ORM async	SQLObject	Tortoise ORM	Piccolo	ormar	SQLModel	Best
Insert: Single	776	651	584	699	3,455	3,240	283	540	Tortoise ORM
Insert: Batch	2,069	2,418	1,154	1,575	14,033	12,138	1,048	1,081	Tortoise ORM
Insert: Bulk	5,224	5,009	1,264	—	18,807	18,060	1,178	1,079	Tortoise ORM
Filter: Large	57,451	62,009	32,318	50,694	143,810	147,031	19,735	32,389	Piccolo
Filter: Small	19,491	18,066	7,532	24,844	60,699	45,805	5,501	6,444	Tortoise ORM
Get	2,183	2,590	1,894	3,341	6,420	6,854	846	1,792	Piccolo
Filter: dict	64,394	81,652	33,798	—	209,380	328,124	26,777	31,117	Piccolo
Filter: tuple	55,080	66,827	37,933	—	197,175	332,310	23,286	34,411	Piccolo
Update: Whole	2,896	3,555	1,743	1,995	17,407	13,491	2,538	1,781	Tortoise ORM
Update: Partial	3,281	4,812	1,526	3,802	18,255	16,180	2,740	1,856	Tortoise ORM
Delete	3,386	5,701	1,869	843	21,010	18,968	2,890	1,895	Tortoise ORM
Geometric Mean	7,108	8,257	3,816	3,622	29,381	29,514	3,233	3,660	Piccolo

Test 2: FK Relations

Operation	Django	peewee	SA ORM async	SQLObject	Tortoise ORM	Piccolo	ormar	SQLModel	Best
Insert: Single	765	822	564	517	3,350	3,075	264	521	Tortoise ORM
Insert: Batch	2,654	2,477	1,184	1,140	12,355	8,785	1,067	1,061	Tortoise ORM
Insert: Bulk	4,733	5,863	1,146	—	21,969	12,461	1,157	1,120	Tortoise ORM
Filter: Large	59,181	58,026	32,641	47,745	137,275	115,754	14,400	32,614	Tortoise ORM
Filter: Small	16,460	19,514	6,792	29,200	47,951	50,408	4,899	8,051	Piccolo
Get	2,394	2,605	1,905	1,440	5,870	5,665	787	1,922	Tortoise ORM
Filter: dict	73,174	78,313	33,632	—	207,239	303,737	25,848	31,831	Piccolo
Filter: tuple	65,459	70,256	34,130	—	192,246	284,733	29,597	36,273	Piccolo
Update: Whole	3,216	3,791	1,598	1,907	16,647	12,217	2,400	1,665	Tortoise ORM
Update: Partial	3,392	4,586	1,729	4,022	18,796	15,065	2,442	1,781	Tortoise ORM
Delete	866	5,880	896	629	17,921	12,984	2,940	1,711	Tortoise ORM
Geometric Mean	6,587	8,631	3,484	2,949	27,860	24,918	3,082	3,710	Tortoise ORM

Test 3: Wide Model (32+ fields)

Operation	Django	peewee	SA ORM async	SQLObject	Tortoise ORM	Piccolo	ormar	SQLModel	Best
Insert: Single	660	712	555	683	1,560	2,761	177	507	Piccolo
Insert: Batch	1,580	1,338	1,137	1,280	8,077	4,627	542	953	Tortoise ORM
Insert: Bulk	3,374	3,074	1,187	—	9,571	5,596	814	971	Tortoise ORM
Filter: Large	32,188	25,686	26,031	26,710	50,995	29,431	2,893	23,445	Tortoise ORM
Filter: Small	8,946	9,546	7,167	20,497	31,247	18,652	2,105	5,997	Tortoise ORM
Get	1,541	1,311	1,773	2,288	5,056	3,563	626	1,708	Tortoise ORM
Filter: dict	28,900	32,299	22,351	—	71,887	121,813	6,883	22,634	Piccolo
Filter: tuple	34,619	30,980	29,794	—	66,990	121,798	6,353	29,111	Piccolo
Update: Whole	2,067	1,386	1,620	2,150	12,590	5,181	1,375	1,559	Tortoise ORM
Update: Partial	3,113	3,960	1,689	3,873	19,986	5,512	59	1,680	Tortoise ORM
Delete	3,480	4,915	1,728	769	22,214	14,305	2,595	1,574	Tortoise ORM
Geometric Mean	4,851	4,712	3,432	3,025	16,587	12,145	1,097	3,152	Tortoise ORM

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Results: MySQL 8

MySQL 8 in Docker. Driver: asyncmy for Tortoise, aiomysql for SA async / ormar, mysqlclient for Django, pymysql for peewee / SQLObject. Piccolo does not support MySQL.

Overview

Test 1: Simple Model (4 fields)

Operation	Django	peewee	SA ORM async	SQLObject	Tortoise ORM	ormar	SQLModel	Best
Insert: Single	460	475	1,260	386	2,226	1,218	1,198	Tortoise ORM
Insert: Batch	1,685	3,403	4,425	1,743	10,352	3,903	3,639	Tortoise ORM
Insert: Bulk	2,888	8,244	4,704	—	13,545	5,669	3,614	Tortoise ORM
Filter: Large	53,093	57,706	70,552	49,274	98,361	29,059	62,415	Tortoise ORM
Filter: Small	13,216	19,768	31,251	23,637	52,596	16,702	33,064	Tortoise ORM
Get	2,058	2,065	4,486	3,340	6,891	1,753	4,132	Tortoise ORM
Filter: dict	65,185	64,735	77,599	—	126,411	67,878	65,702	Tortoise ORM
Filter: tuple	62,068	57,817	101,337	—	124,069	69,064	99,444	Tortoise ORM
Update: Whole	2,422	3,203	2,376	2,211	12,485	5,086	2,152	Tortoise ORM
Update: Partial	3,568	4,624	2,510	6,088	14,040	6,045	2,439	Tortoise ORM
Delete	3,421	4,937	2,574	406	13,740	8,243	2,515	Tortoise ORM
Geometric Mean	6,035	8,000	8,998	3,307	21,351	8,885	8,221	Tortoise ORM

Test 2: FK Relations

Operation	Django	peewee	SA ORM async	SQLObject	Tortoise ORM	ormar	SQLModel	Best
Insert: Single	477	525	1,173	399	1,777	952	1,063	Tortoise ORM
Insert: Batch	2,458	3,374	4,873	1,825	8,299	3,278	3,853	Tortoise ORM
Insert: Bulk	4,029	12,401	3,807	—	7,852	5,261	3,452	peewee
Filter: Large	60,201	50,582	71,476	46,076	95,298	21,057	69,532	Tortoise ORM
Filter: Small	13,404	14,109	26,652	21,838	58,097	8,354	31,293	Tortoise ORM
Get	2,146	2,171	3,965	3,227	7,188	1,719	4,333	Tortoise ORM
Filter: dict	70,525	63,725	70,878	—	122,091	48,115	54,117	Tortoise ORM
Filter: tuple	59,955	42,729	102,362	—	120,419	41,905	103,458	Tortoise ORM
Update: Whole	2,443	3,229	2,026	2,140	7,588	4,045	2,187	Tortoise ORM
Update: Partial	3,774	3,953	2,183	4,642	11,806	5,555	2,565	Tortoise ORM
Delete	917	5,191	883	328	12,982	5,491	2,461	Tortoise ORM
Geometric Mean	5,883	7,759	7,567	3,061	18,337	6,707	8,134	Tortoise ORM

Test 3: Wide Model (32+ fields)

Operation	Django	peewee	SA ORM async	SQLObject	Tortoise ORM	ormar	SQLModel	Best
Insert: Single	368	366	1,318	342	1,331	703	1,071	Tortoise ORM
Insert: Batch	1,583	2,076	4,225	1,372	4,384	860	2,405	Tortoise ORM
Insert: Bulk	2,623	3,506	3,403	—	6,167	2,290	2,400	Tortoise ORM
Filter: Large	30,557	16,564	27,000	30,339	35,672	3,393	22,934	Tortoise ORM
Filter: Small	8,812	6,830	14,421	16,180	23,723	2,765	14,136	Tortoise ORM
Get	1,616	1,017	2,270	2,656	4,014	839	2,187	Tortoise ORM
Filter: dict	30,032	18,525	22,793	—	48,723	7,504	22,733	Tortoise ORM
Filter: tuple	35,392	21,983	31,740	—	41,779	7,659	29,487	Tortoise ORM
Update: Whole	1,852	1,590	1,456	2,207	8,684	1,715	1,410	Tortoise ORM
Update: Partial	3,407	4,148	1,512	5,091	13,981	5,052	1,517	Tortoise ORM
Delete	3,166	4,352	1,559	401	16,320	7,646	1,450	Tortoise ORM
Geometric Mean	4,466	3,943	4,928	2,692	11,560	2,629	4,292	Tortoise ORM

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Results: SQLite

SQLite on local filesystem (/tmp/db.sqlite3). This benchmark is inherently single-threaded due to SQLite's write lock — async ORMs pay overhead without concurrency benefit.

Overview

Test 1: Simple Model (4 fields)

Operation	Django	peewee	SA ORM async	SQLObject	Tortoise ORM	Piccolo	ormar	SQLModel	Best
Insert: Single	2,177	6,887	1,247	2,368	5,693	922	982	755	peewee
Insert: Batch	13,050	15,823	788	12,294	12,693	473	787	742	peewee
Insert: Bulk	19,043	37,108	783	—	33,060	772	1,957	727	peewee
Filter: Large	181,041	87,912	39,863	84,364	167,777	39,248	26,140	40,523	Django
Filter: Small	55,653	47,699	26,652	79,460	78,915	21,409	13,599	24,095	SQLObject
Get	8,475	8,587	3,567	19,691	9,168	2,697	2,308	3,506	SQLObject
Filter: dict	223,613	118,764	50,330	—	272,534	51,683	56,673	50,218	Tortoise ORM
Filter: tuple	231,802	121,041	59,008	—	253,995	51,491	50,314	63,741	Tortoise ORM
Update: Whole	11,260	15,287	780	28,612	20,541	1,409	1,096	781	SQLObject
Update: Partial	13,214	21,100	792	51,521	25,921	1,132	1,117	797	SQLObject
Delete	14,542	28,985	780	2,595	27,807	1,432	1,117	788	peewee
Geometric Mean	26,828	30,273	3,998	18,661	38,766	4,037	4,052	3,770	Tortoise ORM

Test 2: FK Relations

Operation	Django	peewee	SA ORM async	SQLObject	Tortoise ORM	Piccolo	ormar	SQLModel	Best
Insert: Single	2,318	6,054	963	2,378	7,196	811	959	743	Tortoise ORM
Insert: Batch	11,460	15,173	640	11,594	14,674	479	1,025	446	peewee
Insert: Bulk	22,416	37,593	784	—	34,248	999	1,993	595	peewee
Filter: Large	165,462	90,441	47,522	82,871	158,489	40,063	17,435	38,255	Django
Filter: Small	62,596	47,163	17,561	76,098	79,925	21,654	8,506	22,694	Tortoise ORM
Get	7,721	8,114	2,860	18,681	8,993	2,323	2,130	3,650	SQLObject
Filter: dict	207,814	115,182	29,339	—	247,155	51,369	48,807	45,120	Tortoise ORM
Filter: tuple	218,169	115,580	46,677	—	237,584	50,876	51,575	64,276	Tortoise ORM
Update: Whole	10,886	14,309	602	31,423	20,118	1,138	1,118	779	SQLObject
Update: Partial	12,619	20,456	777	52,465	25,682	1,442	1,135	796	SQLObject
Delete	2,680	28,103	362	2,472	20,670	1,114	1,113	788	peewee
Geometric Mean	22,624	29,186	3,114	18,418	38,276	3,958	3,772	3,473	Tortoise ORM

Test 3: Wide Model (32+ fields)

Operation	Django	peewee	SA ORM async	SQLObject	Tortoise ORM	Piccolo	ormar	SQLModel	Best
Insert: Single	2,021	3,661	778	1,912	2,165	783	574	736	peewee
Insert: Batch	6,182	6,638	636	5,903	7,752	639	442	573	Tortoise ORM
Insert: Bulk	8,705	14,058	1,467	—	12,293	1,233	1,177	699	peewee
Filter: Large	50,491	31,874	11,281	44,508	44,768	8,448	2,169	11,641	Django
Filter: Small	29,980	17,509	12,006	41,667	28,139	6,583	1,908	9,970	SQLObject
Get	4,200	2,706	2,798	10,627	6,039	1,656	723	2,574	SQLObject
Filter: dict	64,349	42,897	11,465	—	50,009	11,879	5,346	10,259	Django
Filter: tuple	70,890	45,657	10,093	—	48,596	12,978	4,926	12,255	Django
Update: Whole	5,865	3,596	618	24,904	12,475	1,129	768	464	SQLObject
Update: Partial	11,289	21,407	773	45,538	24,997	1,124	1,422	371	SQLObject
Delete	14,027	29,225	778	2,270	27,356	1,148	1,416	774	peewee
Geometric Mean	13,594	13,284	2,346	12,437	16,920	2,362	1,386	1,941	Tortoise ORM

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Analysis

PostgreSQL — Async ORMs dominate

Tortoise ORM and Piccolo share the top spots. Both use asyncpg, which provides binary protocol encoding and connection pooling — a massive advantage over psycopg2-based sync ORMs. Piccolo leads on simple reads (Filter: dict/tuple) thanks to its ultra-thin result mapping layer, while Tortoise excels at writes (Insert, Update, Delete) and wins overall on the more complex Test 2 and Test 3 schemas.

MySQL — Tortoise ORM leads decisively

Tortoise ORM wins every test by a wide margin (2x over the runner-up). The asyncmy driver (native async MySQL protocol) outperforms both aiomysql and sync mysqlclient/pymysql. SA ORM async is competitive on reads but falls behind on writes. Piccolo does not support MySQL.

SQLite — Sync ORMs are faster

On SQLite, async overhead hurts more than it helps — there is no concurrency to exploit due to SQLite's single-writer lock. Sync ORMs (peewee, Django, SQLObject) avoid the aiosqlite polling overhead and win handily. peewee takes the overall crown, with Django dominating large filter operations and SQLObject excelling at single-row operations (Get, Update). Tortoise ORM remains the fastest async ORM on SQLite.

Key takeaways

• For PostgreSQL/MySQL production workloads: Tortoise ORM and Piccolo (PG only) offer the best throughput
• For SQLite/local development: peewee and Django are faster due to lower async overhead
• SA ORM async / SQLModel: Strong on reads but consistently slow on writes due to Session/UoW overhead. SQLModel tracks closely with SA ORM async (expected — it's a thin wrapper around SQLAlchemy)
• ormar: Pydantic validation overhead causes significant slowdown, especially on wide models (Test 3)
• SQLObject: Missing bulk insert and dict/tuple filter operations, but surprisingly fast on single-row SQLite operations

Running the benchmarks

# Clone and install
git clone https://github.com/tortoise/orm-benchmarks.git
cd orm-benchmarks
uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install -e .

# SQLite (default)
cd benchmarks && sh bench.sh

# PostgreSQL
export DBTYPE=postgres PASSWORD=yourpassword PGPORT=5432
cd benchmarks && sh bench.sh

# MySQL
export DBTYPE=mysql PASSWORD=yourpassword MYPORT=3306
cd benchmarks && sh bench.sh