Frequently Asked Questions

Features & Capabilities

What features does Hygraph offer for building modern websites?

Hygraph provides a robust set of features for building modern websites, including a GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, scalability, and a user-friendly interface. It supports flexible content modeling, localization, integrations with popular tools (like Netlify, Vercel, Shopify, and more), and advanced SEO capabilities. Hygraph also enables the management of core website models such as blog posts, FAQs, footers, grids, heroes, navigation, pages, pricing plans, and marketing components like banners, newsletter signups, pop-ups, and testimonials. Learn more about Hygraph features.

Does Hygraph support integrations with other platforms?

Yes, Hygraph offers a wide range of integrations, including hosting and deployment (Netlify, Vercel), headless commerce (BigCommerce, commercetools, Shopify), localization (Lokalise, Crowdin, EasyTranslate, Smartling), digital asset management (Aprimo, AWS S3, Bynder, Cloudinary, Mux, Scaleflex Filerobot), personalization and AB testing (Ninetailed), artificial intelligence (AltText.ai), and more. For a full list, visit the Hygraph Integrations page.

Does Hygraph provide an API for content management?

Yes, Hygraph provides a powerful GraphQL API that allows you to fetch and manage content efficiently. This API enables flexible querying and integration with various frontend frameworks and services. Learn more at the Hygraph API Reference.

What is content modeling in Hygraph and why is it important?

Content modeling in Hygraph involves organizing content into repeated blocks of data, or content models, which define relationships between them for reuse across various platforms. A solid content modeling strategy is crucial for building versatile, scalable, and future-proof websites, especially for SaaS and eCommerce projects. It enables efficient content management, localization, and integration with external services. Read the essential guide to content modeling.

What are some best practices for content modeling in Hygraph?

Best practices for content modeling in Hygraph include creating flexible, easy-to-decipher, and scalable content models; using structured content models as the cornerstone of a composable content strategy; and aligning models with both current and future needs. Effective content modeling enhances reusability, localization, and omnichannel delivery. Learn more about content modeling best practices.

How does Hygraph optimize content delivery performance?

Hygraph emphasizes optimized content delivery performance, which directly impacts user experience, engagement, and search engine rankings. By ensuring rapid content distribution and responsiveness, Hygraph helps reduce bounce rates and increase conversions. Learn more about Hygraph's performance.

Pricing & Plans

What is Hygraph's pricing model?

Hygraph offers a free forever Hobby plan, a Growth plan starting at $199/month, and custom Enterprise plans. For detailed information on features and pricing, visit the Hygraph pricing page.

Use Cases & Benefits

Who can benefit from using Hygraph?

Hygraph is ideal for developers, IT decision-makers, content creators, project/program managers, agencies, solution partners, and technology partners. It is especially beneficial for modern software companies, enterprises looking to modernize their tech stack, and brands aiming to scale across geographies, improve development velocity, or re-platform from traditional solutions. Learn more about Hygraph's use cases.

What business impact can customers expect from using Hygraph?

Customers can expect significant business impacts, including time-saving through streamlined workflows, ease of use with an intuitive interface, faster speed-to-market for digital products, and enhanced customer experience through consistent and scalable content delivery. These benefits help businesses modernize their tech stack and achieve operational efficiency. See customer success stories.

What industries are represented in Hygraph's case studies?

Hygraph's case studies span industries such as food and beverage (Dr. Oetker), consumer electronics (Samsung), automotive (AutoWeb), healthcare (Vision Healthcare), travel and hospitality (HolidayCheck), media and publishing, eCommerce, SaaS (Bellhop), marketplace, education technology, and wellness and fitness. Explore Hygraph case studies.

Can you share specific customer success stories using Hygraph?

Yes, for example, Komax achieved a 3X faster time to market, Autoweb saw a 20% increase in website monetization, Samsung improved customer engagement with a scalable platform, and Dr. Oetker enhanced their digital experience using MACH architecture. Read more customer stories.

Pain Points & Solutions

What problems does Hygraph solve for its customers?

Hygraph addresses operational pains (reliance on developers for content updates, outdated tech stacks, conflicting needs from global teams, clunky user experiences), financial pains (high operational costs, slow speed-to-market, expensive maintenance, limited integration capabilities, scalability challenges), and technical pains (boilerplate code, overwhelming queries, evolving schemas, cache problems, OpenID integration challenges). Learn more about Hygraph's solutions.

How does Hygraph solve pain points differently from other CMS platforms?

Hygraph differentiates itself by empowering non-technical users with an intuitive interface, modernizing outdated systems with a GraphQL-native, API-first architecture, ensuring consistent branding through content federation, and offering a user-friendly experience for content creation. Financially, it reduces operational costs, accelerates speed-to-market, and supports scalability. Technically, it simplifies development workflows, streamlines query management, and resolves cache and integration challenges. See how Hygraph stands out.

What KPIs and metrics are associated with the pain points Hygraph solves?

Key KPIs include time saved on content updates, number of updates made without developer intervention, system uptime, speed of deployment, consistency in content across regions, user satisfaction scores, reduction in operational costs, ROI on CMS investment, time to market for new products, maintenance costs, scalability metrics, and performance during peak usage. Read more about CMS KPIs.

Technical Requirements & Getting Started

How easy is it to get started with Hygraph?

Hygraph is designed for ease of use, even for non-technical users. Customers can sign up for a free-forever account and access resources like documentation, video tutorials, and onboarding guides. For example, Top Villas launched a new project in just 2 months from the initial touchpoint. Get started with Hygraph.

What technical documentation is available for Hygraph?

Hygraph offers comprehensive technical documentation covering all aspects of building and deploying projects, including API references, integration guides, and onboarding resources. Access the documentation at Hygraph Documentation.

Support & Implementation

What support is available to Hygraph customers?

Hygraph provides 24/7 support via chat, email, and phone. Enterprise customers receive dedicated onboarding and expert guidance. All users have access to detailed documentation, video tutorials, and a community Slack channel for further assistance. Contact Hygraph support.

What training and onboarding resources does Hygraph provide?

Hygraph offers onboarding sessions for enterprise customers, training resources such as video tutorials, documentation, webinars, and access to Customer Success Managers for expert guidance. Learn more about Hygraph onboarding.

How does Hygraph handle maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting?

Hygraph provides 24/7 support for maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting. Enterprise customers receive dedicated onboarding and expert guidance, and all users can access detailed documentation and the community Slack channel for additional support. Contact Hygraph support.

Security & Compliance

What security and compliance certifications does Hygraph have?

Hygraph is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant, ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR compliant. These certifications ensure the highest levels of data protection and security for users. Learn more about Hygraph security features.

How does Hygraph ensure data security and compliance?

Hygraph ensures enterprise-grade security and compliance with features such as SSO integrations, audit logs, encryption at rest and in transit, and sandbox environments. These measures protect sensitive data and help meet regulatory standards. Read more about Hygraph's security.

Product Information

What is the primary purpose of Hygraph?

Hygraph's primary purpose is to unify data and enable content federation, allowing businesses to create impactful digital experiences. Its GraphQL-native architecture removes traditional content management pain points and offers scalability, flexibility, and efficient data querying. Learn more about Hygraph's mission.

What makes Hygraph different from other CMS platforms?

Hygraph stands out with its GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, scalability, and focus on empowering both technical and non-technical users. It enables businesses to create impactful digital experiences while reducing costs and improving efficiency. See how Hygraph compares.

Customer Experience

What feedback have customers given about Hygraph's ease of use?

Customers have praised Hygraph for its ease of use and intuitive interface, noting that it is 'super easy to set up and use' and that 'even non-technical users can start using it right away.' The user interface is described as logical and user-friendly, making it accessible for both technical and non-technical teams. Read more customer feedback.

Case Studies & Customer Proof

Who are some of Hygraph's customers?

Hygraph is trusted by leading brands such as Sennheiser, HolidayCheck, Ancestry, Samsung, Dr. Oetker, Epic Games, Bandai Namco, Gamescom, Leo Vegas, and Clayton Homes. See more customer case studies.

Webinar Event: How to Avoid Personalization Tech Traps

Essential Content Models for Building Modern Websites

When setting out to build modern websites with a Headless CMS - a solid foundation of Content Modeling is key.
Ronak Ganatra

Written by Ronak 

Feb 20, 2021
10 Essential Content Models

When setting out to build modern websites with a Headless CMS - a solid foundation of Content Modeling is key. Websites today, particularly those for SaaS products and eCommerce, are transactional in nature. This means that while they house content critical to the business, they also require the ability to enable payments and transactions, usually in tandem with external services like Stripe or Adyen

This is why, ensuring a sound content modeling strategy is critical to ensure a well-maintained build of pages and posts, stretching to pages that communicate with external services, like /pricing, and /jobs.

To visualize some of the most important content models that contribute to such websites, let’s illustrate the blocks that make up the schema of one of our examples - Marketing Websites with Headless CMS. This website demo is built using Hygraph, Next.js. and Tailwind UI, and is deployed on Vercel.

Marketing Websites with Headless CMS

#Core Website Models

Let’s explore the primary content models that enable this website to be a functional site for SaaS products.

Blog Post

Blog Post

The blog model is a simple one that focuses on the content above all else, that uses a Rich Text Field to render the content. The posts further comprise author information, headers, cover images, and SEO.

FAQ

FAQ

The FAQ Markup is treated as a standalone content type by Google, critical to stronger SEO for queries that ask questions your website can answer. This Hygraph project also uses FAQ as its own content model, related to different pages and grids, and can be queried when required.

Footer

Footer

The content for the footer is also handled via the CMS for this instance - particularly useful for when the content needs to be changed and/or localized by editorial teams. The footer follows a 2-column layout, with Primary and Secondary links.

Grid

Grid

Arguably one of the most important models in this project, the Grid is responsible for rendering as USPs, Features, or other listable items across the projects. Using enumerations, the grid can be rendered in multiple formats such as SPLIT and STACK, as well as with a LIGHT and DARK theme.

Hero

Hero

The hero for each page is defined within the CMS, with the option of setting custom buttons, images, and headers. Examples of this can be found on http://marketing-websites.withheadlesscms.com/ and http://marketing-websites.withheadlesscms.com/about, both of which are heroes following the same theme with different content.

Navigation

Navigation

Similar to the footer, the main navigation of the website is handled via Hygraph. While not a necessity for simple static navigation, websites with more complex needs, frequent changes, and localized navigations can benefit from managing this in the CMS. Simple navigation is just a relation to several pages, as is in this case, however, a more complex structure can include nested pages, language switchers, and more.

Page

Landing Page

The Page model is a relatively simple one exploiting the benefits of GraphQL Union Types - available out of the box in Hygraph. Union Types allow for better organization of relations, such as grids, banners, and blocks in this case. A powerful feature for editors to better visualize the final page, this example has simplified the relations further by splitting them between Blocks, Navigation, Hero, and Marketing, for teams to know exactly what blocks they’re applying to which category.

Pricing Plan

Pricing Plan

Pricing plans are a simple setup, with one content item per Plan, in this case, FREE, STARTER, TEAM, and ENTERPRISE, as seen on the pricing page. Each plan simply requires a name, description, included features, and prices, and is rendered as a 4-column table.

Hygraph’s tiers allow for Remote Fields - a powerful feature of extending Hygraph’s API to communicate with other services like Stripe. A great example of how this works can be seen on this pricing page repository, where Jonathan uses remote fields with Next.js and Stripe, resulting in this.

SEO

Headless CMS SEO

We’ve written at length about SEO and Headless CMS, How we handle SEO at Hygraph, and handling SEO for Assets with Hygraph. Most of those examples highlight the setup of us using SEO.js when building our pages with Gatsby. However, given that the marketing project is built using Next.js, the component for SEO is slightly different in comparison. Here’s seo.js from the marketing website repository.

import { NextSeo } from 'next-seo'
import { useRouter } from 'next/router'
import { defaultUrl } from '../next-seo.config'
function SEO({ id, image, keywords, noIndex: noindex = false, ...props }) {
const router = useRouter()
const SEO = {
...(keywords && { keywords: keywords.toString() }),
noindex,
openGraph: {
...(image && {
images: [
{
alt: props.title,
...image
}
]
}),
url: defaultUrl + router.asPath,
...props
},
...props
}
return <NextSeo {...SEO} />
}
export default SEO

#Marketing Components

As with all things marketing, it’s time for Form to meet Function. Here are some of the marketing components implemented on the site.

Banner

Marketing Banner

A simple strip banner that can be applied on the top of specific pages, showcasing promotional text and a CTA.

Newsletter Signup

This website has a simple setup for capturing emails for newsletter signups. To learn more about programmatically creating forms and capturing submissions with Next.js and GraphQL, refer to Jamie’s blog post coving the topic at length.

Pop Up

Pop up

Commonly used for time-critical information and promotions, implementing pop-ups can be done within Hygraph itself. Here we have a very simple example using a promotional image, with a title and description, before setting a CTA. The Pop-Up model can be related to pages as required, and the codebase can define additional criteria for setting conditions and triggers, usually in tandem with a CDP.

Testimonial

Testimonials

Testimonials and Social Proof are a great way to show trust in your website for your product. The website example uses localized testimonials with a simple text editor for adding the content in English and German. Each testimonial has a relation to the person attributed to the quote, as well as to the pages they should show on.

#All Coming Together

All these components come together to power the website, with all the content for posts and pages handled from within Hygraph itself.

Homepage

While the content setup of the index, or homepage itself is highly straightforward, this is how simple it is to put everything together using Next.js.

import { getPageLayout } from '@/layout'
import { hygraphClient } from '@/lib/_client'
import { pageQuery } from '@/lib/_queries'
import { parsePageData } from '@/utils/_parsePageData'
import Wrapper from '@/components/wrapper'
function IndexPage({ page }) {
return <Wrapper {...page} />
}
export async function getStaticProps({ locale }) {
const { page } = await hygraphClient.request(pageQuery, {
locale,
slug: 'home'
})
return {
props: {
page: await parsePageData(page)
},
revalidate: 3
}
}
IndexPage.getLayout = getPageLayout
export default IndexPage

We recently tweeted the visualized schema of the Hygraph website. By simply adding /voyager as a suffix to your Hygraph GraphQL endpoint, you can visualize your own project’s schema. The schema for this particular website project looks something like this.

Marketing Website Schema

Frequently Asked Questions

Blog Author

Ronak Ganatra

Ronak Ganatra

A free Wi-Fi enthusiast and pizza purist, Ronak is the VP of Marketing at Hygraph. He's also the co-creator of Build Your DXP and co-author of the Composable Architectures for Digital Experiences in the Enterprise report. He also maintains curated resources for marketers on awesome-marketing and awesome-developer-marketing.

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