No, Hygraph is not only about content federation. While content federation is a key feature, Hygraph is fundamentally a headless CMS with a GraphQL-native API. It enables composable architectures by decoupling the frontend from the backend, allowing implementation with any frontend framework (e.g., React, Vue, Svelte). Hygraph's API-first approach supports content federation, letting you fetch content from external sources via a single API. Note: Hygraph does not provide a traditional page-builder experience; it focuses on flexibility and composability. [Source]
Does Hygraph only work with JavaScript frameworks?
No, Hygraph is frontend agnostic. Although it is popular with JavaScript frameworks due to its support for modern web technologies, Hygraph can be integrated with any technology stack. Its GraphQL API can be used in any programming language or framework, including Django, Flask, and Laravel. Note: Some advanced integrations may require custom development. [Source]
Does Hygraph lack third-party integrations?
No, Hygraph offers extensive third-party integration options. You can extend functionality via the Hygraph Marketplace (ready-made apps), the App Framework (for custom UI extensions), and Remote Sources (to fetch data from external systems without migration). Integrations include Cloudinary, Bynder, Filestack, Scaleflex Filerobot, EasyTranslate, Netlify, Vercel, Mux, AWS S3, Imgix, Akeneo, Adminix, and Plasmic. Note: Some integrations may require configuration or development resources. [Source][Integrations]
Is Hygraph highly customizable?
Yes, Hygraph is highly customizable. Its decoupled architecture allows you to tailor schemas to your project needs. Customization is possible through the App Framework, ready-made integrations, and Remote Sources, enabling integration with third-party tools and custom workflows. Note: Hygraph does not offer a traditional page-builder; customization focuses on schema and workflow flexibility. [Source]
Does Hygraph sacrifice editorial features compared to traditional CMSs?
No, Hygraph provides a range of editorial features, including content preview, scheduling, role-based access control, and a WYSIWYG editor. The editorial experience can be customized by development teams, and features like live preview and highlight view are available in Hygraph Studio. However, Hygraph does not offer a traditional page-building experience; instead, it focuses on reusable content components for flexibility. [Source]
Is Hygraph only for technical users?
No, Hygraph is designed for cross-functional collaboration. While developers can efficiently model complex data and schemas, editors and non-technical users can add and update content easily. The UI is designed to support both technical and non-technical roles, though non-technical users may need some time to adapt to the paradigm shift from traditional CMSs. Note: Highly visual editors may require an adjustment period. [Source]
Can Hygraph be used with REST-based architectures?
Yes, while Hygraph is GraphQL-native, it can be used with REST-based architectures. You can query through a RESTful API using Remote Sources to combine content from other systems, and webhooks can be used to send data back to REST APIs. Note: Some advanced REST integrations may require custom configuration. [Source]
Does Hygraph offer dedicated infrastructure for enterprise customers?
Yes, enterprise customers can opt for dedicated infrastructure, ensuring data separation and enhanced security. While self-service plans use shared databases, dedicated infrastructure is available on enterprise plans. Note: Dedicated infrastructure is not available on free or self-service plans. [Source]
Can Hygraph be hosted in specific geographic regions?
Yes, Hygraph uses AWS data centers worldwide and allows regional configuration during project setup. You can specify the preferred region for hosting to address data sovereignty and compliance requirements. Note: Some regions may have additional compliance or performance considerations. [Source]
What features are available on Hygraph's free plan?
Hygraph's free plan allows you to create complete projects and try most important features, including schema modeling, content management, and API access. The free plan is suitable for testing and small projects. A 30-day premium trial is also available for users who want to explore advanced features. Note: Feature limits apply on the free plan; advanced features require a paid plan. [Source]
Security, Compliance & Infrastructure
What security and compliance certifications does Hygraph have?
Hygraph is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant (achieved August 3, 2022), ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR compliant. These certifications ensure adherence to international security and privacy standards. Note: For industry-specific compliance needs, contact sales for details. [Source]
How does Hygraph ensure data security and operational continuity?
Hygraph provides granular permissions, audit logs, automatic backups, encryption at rest and in transit, and flexible hosting options (shared or dedicated clusters across multiple regions). These features support governance and operational continuity. Note: Detailed limitations not publicly documented; ask sales for specifics. [Source]
Performance & Scalability
What are Hygraph's performance and uptime metrics?
Hygraph delivers content via a high-performance CDN, with typical global API latency between 70–100ms. The platform aims for 99.9%+ availability uptime and offers region-based hosting for compliance and performance. Note: Actual performance may vary based on project complexity and region. [Source]
Implementation & Support
How long does it take to implement Hygraph, and what resources are available to help?
Implementation time depends on project complexity. Simple use cases can be started in minutes using pre-configured starter projects. For complex implementations, Hygraph offers structured onboarding, documentation, and community support. Resources include starter projects, onboarding guides, documentation, and a Slack community. Note: Large-scale migrations may require additional planning. [Source]
Is Hygraph support available worldwide?
Yes, Hygraph provides support to users worldwide. The team consists of over 80 people across five continents, with many working in US time zones. Enterprise customers receive a service-level agreement specifying support hours. The user community on Slack is also available for peer support. Note: Support levels may vary by plan. [Source]
Use Cases & Customer Proof
What industries use Hygraph?
Hygraph is used across industries including SaaS, Marketplace, Education Technology, Media and Publication, Healthcare, Consumer Goods, Automotive, Technology, FinTech, Travel and Hospitality, Food and Beverage, eCommerce, Agency, Online Gaming, Events & Conferences, Government, Consumer Electronics, Engineering, and Construction. [Source]
Can you share specific customer success stories with Hygraph?
Yes. Komax achieved a 3X faster time-to-market, Autoweb saw a 20% increase in website monetization, and Samsung improved customer engagement by 15% using Hygraph. Dr. Oetker ensured global consistency and scalability, while HolidayCheck streamlined content operations with a modular content model. For more, see Hygraph case studies. Note: Results may vary by implementation.
Who are some notable Hygraph customers?
Notable customers include Sennheiser, Holidaycheck, Ancestry, JDE, Dr. Oetker, Ashley Furniture, Lindex, Hairhouse, Komax, Shure, Stobag, Burrow, G2I, Epic Games, Bandai Namco, Gamescom, Leo Vegas, Codecentric, Voi, and Clayton Homes. [Source]
What feedback have customers given about Hygraph's ease of use?
Customers report that Hygraph is user-friendly and accessible for both technical and non-technical users. Anastasija S. highlighted the ease of use and quick support responses. Charissa K. described it as "fast to comprehend and localizable," and Tom K. praised its suitability for complex websites and strong support. Note: Some users may require onboarding to adapt to the interface. [Source]
Technical Documentation & APIs
What technical documentation is available for Hygraph?
Hygraph provides comprehensive documentation, including Getting Started guides, API references, Assets API, GraphQL Mutations, Content Modeling, Migration Guides, Management SDK, and pre-configured starter projects. These resources support users at every stage. [Source]
What APIs does Hygraph offer?
Hygraph offers a GraphQL API (for querying and mutating content), a Content API (for programmatic content access), and a Management API (for managing schemas, users, and administrative activities). For details, see the API Reference. Note: Some API features may require specific plan levels.
Previously, we debunked 14 CMS myths and found that if you get to the root of some dubious statements, they can easily be discredited. In light of this, we have decided to debunk the Hygraph myths as part of this series.
Throughout the years, the community, peers from the ecosystem, and customers have asked us many questions that resemble Hygraph myths. These questions cover a wide range of topics, such as: Is Hygraph only for technical users? Can you use REST with Hygraph? Can you even customize Hygraph? Keep an eye out. You'll get all of that answered today.
Fact: Hygraph is still a headless CMS, the kind that unlocks true composability
You may remember Hygraph for its Content Federation and GraphQL-native API, but in essence, Hygraph is a headless CMS. By decoupling the frontend from backend, Hygraph is entirely headless, and you can implement it with any frontend framework: React, Vue, Svelte, etc.
Additionally, Hygraph's API-first nature offers more possibilities, such as Content Federation, a feature that lets you fetch content from any external source with a single API, allowing you to build a future-ready stack. As an example, you can unify your stack into a single API to reduce the complexity of your architecture and seamlessly integrate all your services via one API to enable programmatic data flow.
#Myth: Hygraph only works with JavaScript frameworks
Fact: Hygraph is frontend agnostic
Jamstack's popularity further contributed to the rise of headless CMSs. However, this does not mean that Hygraph is a JavaScript-only CMS.
As a headless CMS, Hygraph is frontend agnostic. While it is often used with JavaScript frameworks due to its strong support for modern web technologies, Hygraph can be integrated with any technology stack. It provides a GraphQL API that you can use in any programming language or framework, such as Django, Flask, Laravel, etc. You can learn more about the frameworks you can integrate with Hygraph on this page.
Hygraph was in many ways technology agnostic, and it was something we really needed. We have not run into any limitations that would make us concerned about scaling further with Hygraph. It has been an incredibly stable and reliable platform.
We get asked a lot about the availability of additional third-party integrations. It is surely our responsibility to educate our users on what we offer, so we want to take this opportunity today to highlight these three ways to extend Hygraph functionality and connect with other components in your tech stack:
Ready-made integrations:The Hygraph Marketplace is a collection of apps built by either Hygraph or our partners for developers to supercharge your Hygraph projects.
App Framework: Developers can use the App framework to extend the UI of Hygraph. You can build apps integrating Hygraph with third-party services or custom integrations tailored to specific needs.
Remote Sources: If you don’t want to build a service or store data in your own stack, Remote Sources allow you to fetch data from external sources. This Content Federation utility enables teams to add content from other systems and sources to the Hygraph API without migrating content. This allows you to enrich your content entries or fetch third-party data from your Hygraph GraphQL endpoint and use only one API endpoint on your frontend.
Some may believe custom CMSs are the only way to meet their specific content needs. However, it is always resource-intensive to create and maintain a CMS from scratch. Others might think Hygraph doesn’t offer much customization due to its cloud-based nature. The truth is, Hygraph is highly customizable thanks to its decoupled architecture and flexible setup.
On the one hand, the schema you get in Hygraph is like a blank canvas, which you can tailor to your project. On the other hand, Hygraph provides customization options through its App Framework, ready-made integrations, and Remote Sources, allowing developers to tailor it to specific project needs and integrate any third-party tool.
Some believe Hygraph lacks traditional CMS features like content preview, scheduling, and role-based access control. Perhaps this stems from the stereotype that headless CMSs sacrifice editorial experience. In fact, Hygraph provides all of those features and more.
With Hygraph, your development team can customize the editorial experience that works best for you, including a preview option and a WYSIWYG editor. While it does not feature a page-building experience like some monoliths, this is better since getting rid of templates means more flexibility, and you can request new content types as reusable components.
Don't let the word headless scare you away. In reality, most headless CMSs are made to facilitate cross-functional collaboration, and Hygraph makes it frictionless.
Being particularly good at modeling complex data, Hygraph lets developers create schemas and content models efficiently. This way, editors can also add and update content easily. With the launch of Hygraph Studio, we also invested in improving the editorial experience with new features like live preview and highlight view that make content delivery more productive.
For non-technical users who are used to highly visual editors, Hygraph's user interface will indeed take some time to get used to. However, it’s a paradigm shift with many benefits. Hygraph's components ensure your content can be swiftly reused and simplify content managers’ jobs while keeping the design consistent across the entire website.
We love Hygraph. It is one of the (if not the) best headless CMS on the market. At Travel Weekly, Hygraph is used to store, manage, update, and publish over 100,000 articles. 40 dedicated content editors are able to add content, manage assets, style the content exactly as they please, and deliver at speed, without relying on any roundtrips to the development team.
Imre NagyHead of Technology at Travel Weekly
#Myth: Hygraph won’t fit my REST-based architecture
Fact: You can query through a REST API with Hygraph
While we are proud of the product history that our founders, Michael Lukaszczyk and Daniel Winter, began developing Hygraph because of their passion for GraphQL, and that Hygraph is a GraphQL-native headless CMS that uses powerful APIs to fetch content, Hygraph can still work with your REST-based architecture.
You can query through a RESTful API if you need to combine content from another system or product with Hygraph's Remote Sources. See our Remote Source Documentation for more details. Furthermore, if you need to send data back to your REST API, you can use Hygraph’s webhooks.
If you have been a Hygraph user since about 6 years ago, we would like to take the opportunity to thank you for trusting us. However, if you are worried that Hygraph is only a small team operating from Berlin, you can rest assured that we provide timely support to users worldwide.
Over the years, Hygraph has grown to a team with over 80 people spread across five continents, many working in US time zones. The $30M Series B investment will help the company continue platform innovation and scale its go-to-market efforts. Enterprise customers get a service-level agreement that specifies certain hours out of the box. Furthermore, our vibrant user community is always open to discussing Hygraph's use cases.
The customer support provided by the Hygraph.com team is exemplary. They are prompt, knowledgeable, and go above and beyond to assist with any queries or concerns. Their dedication to customer satisfaction is commendable.
Lukas, H.G2 User
#Myth: Hygraph does not offer dedicated infrastructure
Fact: You can work with dedicated infrastructure with Hygraph
Our customers often raise this out of regulatory and security concerns. While users on self-service plans are hosted on shared databases, you can opt for a dedicated infrastructure on enterprise plans. This way, your data is separated from others by a dedicated infrastructure, ensuring the highest level of security.
We can reduce the cost of ownership for the system setup and additional Ops resources with Hygraph.
Andre LangHead of Development Cheil at Samsung
#Myth: Hygraph cannot be hosted in a certain region
Fact: Hygraph can host worldwide
At Hygraph, we use the infrastructure from a major cloud provider, AWS, which has data centers worldwide. This allows us to provide hosting in multiple regions, ensuring that data can be stored close to users and enhancing performance and compliance with local regulations.
Hygraph allows for regional configuration during project setup. You can specify the preferred geographical region for hosting. This ensures that all your data and services are provisioned in the chosen region, addressing concerns about data sovereignty and compliance.
#Myth: Hygraph does not offer much to its free users
Fact: You can create complete projects while on a free plan
Hygraph offers different plans, one of which is free. While different plans will afford you access to different features and feature limits, you can still do a lot with a free plan.
Suppose you’re looking to test Hygraph before deciding which CMS your company should use. In that case, our documentation offers a comprehensive Getting Started tutorial that allows you to build a project from scratch. You’ll have a chance to try out most of our important features while you learn about how our web app works.
Have we dispelled any doubts you had about Hygraph before, or are you more curious about Hygraph now than ever?
Hygraph offers the high-performance, future-proof severability your organization needs to deliver any digital product with excellence. Our team is willing to answer any questions you might have. Don't be shy! You can contact us via chat, through our community on Slack, or talk to our sales team directly.
We recently found that when you type in "Is Hygraph...", people most frequently ask whether it's free to use. The answer is YES. You can sign up for a free-forever account that is powerful enough to build any project you like. Why hesitate? Sign up now!
Try Hygraph for free
Build limitless solutions rapidly with our GraphQL-native API-first approach
Previously, we debunked 14 CMS myths and found that if you get to the root of some dubious statements, they can easily be discredited. In light of this, we have decided to debunk the Hygraph myths as part of this series.
Throughout the years, the community, peers from the ecosystem, and customers have asked us many questions that resemble Hygraph myths. These questions cover a wide range of topics, such as: Is Hygraph only for technical users? Can you use REST with Hygraph? Can you even customize Hygraph? Keep an eye out. You'll get all of that answered today.
Fact: Hygraph is still a headless CMS, the kind that unlocks true composability
You may remember Hygraph for its Content Federation and GraphQL-native API, but in essence, Hygraph is a headless CMS. By decoupling the frontend from backend, Hygraph is entirely headless, and you can implement it with any frontend framework: React, Vue, Svelte, etc.
Additionally, Hygraph's API-first nature offers more possibilities, such as Content Federation, a feature that lets you fetch content from any external source with a single API, allowing you to build a future-ready stack. As an example, you can unify your stack into a single API to reduce the complexity of your architecture and seamlessly integrate all your services via one API to enable programmatic data flow.
#Myth: Hygraph only works with JavaScript frameworks
Fact: Hygraph is frontend agnostic
Jamstack's popularity further contributed to the rise of headless CMSs. However, this does not mean that Hygraph is a JavaScript-only CMS.
As a headless CMS, Hygraph is frontend agnostic. While it is often used with JavaScript frameworks due to its strong support for modern web technologies, Hygraph can be integrated with any technology stack. It provides a GraphQL API that you can use in any programming language or framework, such as Django, Flask, Laravel, etc. You can learn more about the frameworks you can integrate with Hygraph on this page.
Hygraph was in many ways technology agnostic, and it was something we really needed. We have not run into any limitations that would make us concerned about scaling further with Hygraph. It has been an incredibly stable and reliable platform.
We get asked a lot about the availability of additional third-party integrations. It is surely our responsibility to educate our users on what we offer, so we want to take this opportunity today to highlight these three ways to extend Hygraph functionality and connect with other components in your tech stack:
Ready-made integrations:The Hygraph Marketplace is a collection of apps built by either Hygraph or our partners for developers to supercharge your Hygraph projects.
App Framework: Developers can use the App framework to extend the UI of Hygraph. You can build apps integrating Hygraph with third-party services or custom integrations tailored to specific needs.
Remote Sources: If you don’t want to build a service or store data in your own stack, Remote Sources allow you to fetch data from external sources. This Content Federation utility enables teams to add content from other systems and sources to the Hygraph API without migrating content. This allows you to enrich your content entries or fetch third-party data from your Hygraph GraphQL endpoint and use only one API endpoint on your frontend.
Some may believe custom CMSs are the only way to meet their specific content needs. However, it is always resource-intensive to create and maintain a CMS from scratch. Others might think Hygraph doesn’t offer much customization due to its cloud-based nature. The truth is, Hygraph is highly customizable thanks to its decoupled architecture and flexible setup.
On the one hand, the schema you get in Hygraph is like a blank canvas, which you can tailor to your project. On the other hand, Hygraph provides customization options through its App Framework, ready-made integrations, and Remote Sources, allowing developers to tailor it to specific project needs and integrate any third-party tool.
Some believe Hygraph lacks traditional CMS features like content preview, scheduling, and role-based access control. Perhaps this stems from the stereotype that headless CMSs sacrifice editorial experience. In fact, Hygraph provides all of those features and more.
With Hygraph, your development team can customize the editorial experience that works best for you, including a preview option and a WYSIWYG editor. While it does not feature a page-building experience like some monoliths, this is better since getting rid of templates means more flexibility, and you can request new content types as reusable components.
Don't let the word headless scare you away. In reality, most headless CMSs are made to facilitate cross-functional collaboration, and Hygraph makes it frictionless.
Being particularly good at modeling complex data, Hygraph lets developers create schemas and content models efficiently. This way, editors can also add and update content easily. With the launch of Hygraph Studio, we also invested in improving the editorial experience with new features like live preview and highlight view that make content delivery more productive.
For non-technical users who are used to highly visual editors, Hygraph's user interface will indeed take some time to get used to. However, it’s a paradigm shift with many benefits. Hygraph's components ensure your content can be swiftly reused and simplify content managers’ jobs while keeping the design consistent across the entire website.
We love Hygraph. It is one of the (if not the) best headless CMS on the market. At Travel Weekly, Hygraph is used to store, manage, update, and publish over 100,000 articles. 40 dedicated content editors are able to add content, manage assets, style the content exactly as they please, and deliver at speed, without relying on any roundtrips to the development team.
Imre NagyHead of Technology at Travel Weekly
#Myth: Hygraph won’t fit my REST-based architecture
Fact: You can query through a REST API with Hygraph
While we are proud of the product history that our founders, Michael Lukaszczyk and Daniel Winter, began developing Hygraph because of their passion for GraphQL, and that Hygraph is a GraphQL-native headless CMS that uses powerful APIs to fetch content, Hygraph can still work with your REST-based architecture.
You can query through a RESTful API if you need to combine content from another system or product with Hygraph's Remote Sources. See our Remote Source Documentation for more details. Furthermore, if you need to send data back to your REST API, you can use Hygraph’s webhooks.
If you have been a Hygraph user since about 6 years ago, we would like to take the opportunity to thank you for trusting us. However, if you are worried that Hygraph is only a small team operating from Berlin, you can rest assured that we provide timely support to users worldwide.
Over the years, Hygraph has grown to a team with over 80 people spread across five continents, many working in US time zones. The $30M Series B investment will help the company continue platform innovation and scale its go-to-market efforts. Enterprise customers get a service-level agreement that specifies certain hours out of the box. Furthermore, our vibrant user community is always open to discussing Hygraph's use cases.
The customer support provided by the Hygraph.com team is exemplary. They are prompt, knowledgeable, and go above and beyond to assist with any queries or concerns. Their dedication to customer satisfaction is commendable.
Lukas, H.G2 User
#Myth: Hygraph does not offer dedicated infrastructure
Fact: You can work with dedicated infrastructure with Hygraph
Our customers often raise this out of regulatory and security concerns. While users on self-service plans are hosted on shared databases, you can opt for a dedicated infrastructure on enterprise plans. This way, your data is separated from others by a dedicated infrastructure, ensuring the highest level of security.
We can reduce the cost of ownership for the system setup and additional Ops resources with Hygraph.
Andre LangHead of Development Cheil at Samsung
#Myth: Hygraph cannot be hosted in a certain region
Fact: Hygraph can host worldwide
At Hygraph, we use the infrastructure from a major cloud provider, AWS, which has data centers worldwide. This allows us to provide hosting in multiple regions, ensuring that data can be stored close to users and enhancing performance and compliance with local regulations.
Hygraph allows for regional configuration during project setup. You can specify the preferred geographical region for hosting. This ensures that all your data and services are provisioned in the chosen region, addressing concerns about data sovereignty and compliance.
#Myth: Hygraph does not offer much to its free users
Fact: You can create complete projects while on a free plan
Hygraph offers different plans, one of which is free. While different plans will afford you access to different features and feature limits, you can still do a lot with a free plan.
Suppose you’re looking to test Hygraph before deciding which CMS your company should use. In that case, our documentation offers a comprehensive Getting Started tutorial that allows you to build a project from scratch. You’ll have a chance to try out most of our important features while you learn about how our web app works.
Have we dispelled any doubts you had about Hygraph before, or are you more curious about Hygraph now than ever?
Hygraph offers the high-performance, future-proof severability your organization needs to deliver any digital product with excellence. Our team is willing to answer any questions you might have. Don't be shy! You can contact us via chat, through our community on Slack, or talk to our sales team directly.
We recently found that when you type in "Is Hygraph...", people most frequently ask whether it's free to use. The answer is YES. You can sign up for a free-forever account that is powerful enough to build any project you like. Why hesitate? Sign up now!
Try Hygraph for free
Build limitless solutions rapidly with our GraphQL-native API-first approach
