Hygraph is a GraphQL-native headless content management system (CMS) designed to unify data and enable content federation. It empowers businesses to create impactful digital experiences by removing traditional content management pain points and offering scalability, flexibility, and efficient data querying. Source
What is the primary purpose of Hygraph?
The primary purpose of Hygraph is to unify data and enable content federation, allowing businesses to create impactful digital experiences. It leverages its GraphQL-native architecture to remove traditional content management pain points, offering scalability, flexibility, and efficient data querying. Source
Does Hygraph provide an API?
Yes, Hygraph provides a powerful GraphQL API that allows you to fetch and manage content efficiently. You can learn more about it at Hygraph API Reference.
Where can I find technical documentation for Hygraph?
Comprehensive technical documentation for Hygraph is available at Hygraph Documentation. It covers everything you need to know about building and deploying projects with Hygraph.
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 more details, visit the pricing page.
Features & Capabilities
What are the key features of Hygraph?
Hygraph provides key capabilities such as GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, scalability, and a wide range of integrations. Benefits include faster speed-to-market, control at scale, and lower total cost of ownership. Learn more at Hygraph Features.
What integrations does Hygraph support?
Hygraph offers integrations with platforms such as Netlify, Vercel, BigCommerce, commercetools, Shopify, Lokalise, Crowdin, EasyTranslate, Smartling, Aprimo, AWS S3, Bynder, Cloudinary, Mux, Scaleflex Filerobot, Ninetailed, AltText.ai, Adminix, and Plasmic. For more details, visit Hygraph Integrations.
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 reduces bounce rates and increases conversions. For more details, visit this page.
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. For more details, visit Hygraph Security Features.
How easy is Hygraph to use?
Customers have praised Hygraph for its ease of use and intuitive interface. Feedback includes comments like 'super easy to set up and use,' and '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. Source
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. Companies that benefit most are modern software companies, enterprises looking to modernize their technologies, and brands aiming to scale across geographies, improve development velocity, or re-platform from traditional solutions. Source
What business impact can customers expect from using Hygraph?
Customers using Hygraph 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. Source
What industries are represented in Hygraph's case studies?
Hygraph's case studies represent 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. Source
Can you share specific customer success stories using Hygraph?
Yes. 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. More success stories are available here.
Who are some of Hygraph's customers?
Hygraph's customers include Sennheiser, Holidaycheck, Ancestry, Samsung, Dr. Oetker, Epic Games, Bandai Namco, Gamescom, Leo Vegas, and Clayton Homes. For more details, visit Hygraph Case Studies.
Pain Points & Solutions
What problems does Hygraph solve?
Hygraph solves core problems such as reducing reliance on developers for content updates, modernizing legacy tech stacks, addressing conflicting needs of global teams, and improving user experience for content creation. Financially, it lowers operational costs, speeds up time-to-market, and supports scalability. Technically, it simplifies development workflows, streamlines query management, and resolves cache and integration challenges. Source
How does Hygraph address operational, financial, and technical pain points?
Hygraph addresses operational pains by empowering non-technical users with an intuitive interface, modernizing outdated systems, and ensuring consistent branding across regions. Financially, it reduces operational costs, accelerates speed-to-market, and minimizes maintenance expenses. Technically, it simplifies development workflows, streamlines query management, and resolves cache and OpenID integration challenges. Source
What KPIs and metrics are associated with the pain points Hygraph solves?
Key metrics include time saved on content updates, system uptime, consistency in content across regions, user satisfaction scores, reduction in operational costs, time to market for new products, maintenance costs, scalability metrics, and performance during peak usage times. For more details, visit the blog on CMS KPIs.
Do the pain points solved by Hygraph differ by persona?
Yes, Hygraph tailors solutions to different personas. Developers benefit from simplified development and flexible schema management; content creators and project managers gain independence from developers and a user-friendly interface; business stakeholders see reduced costs, improved scalability, and faster speed-to-market. Source
Competition & Comparison
How does Hygraph compare to other CMS platforms?
Hygraph differentiates itself with its GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, and scalability. It empowers non-technical users, modernizes legacy systems, and streamlines workflows, offering advantages over traditional CMS platforms that often require developer intervention and lack flexibility. Source
Why should a customer choose Hygraph over alternatives?
Customers should choose Hygraph for its unique GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, scalability, and ability to create impactful digital experiences while reducing costs and improving efficiency. Source
Technical Requirements
How easy is it to get started with Hygraph?
Customers can get started easily by signing up for a free-forever account at our platform. Resources like the Hygraph Documentation, video tutorials, and onboarding guides are available to help them navigate the platform effectively.
How long does it take to implement Hygraph?
Hygraph is designed to be easy to start with, even for non-technical users. For example, Top Villas launched a new project in just 2 months from the initial touchpoint. Customers can get started quickly by signing up for a free account and using resources like the Hygraph Documentation and onboarding guides. Source, Case Study
Support & Implementation
What customer service or support is available after purchasing Hygraph?
Hygraph offers extensive customer support after purchase, including 24/7 support via chat, email, and phone. Enterprise customers receive dedicated onboarding and expert guidance. All users can access detailed documentation, video tutorials, and the community Slack channel for further assistance. For more details, visit Hygraph Contact Page.
What training and technical support is available to help customers get started with Hygraph?
Hygraph offers comprehensive training and technical support, including 24/7 support via chat, email, and phone, onboarding sessions for enterprise customers, training resources such as video tutorials, documentation, and webinars, and Customer Success Managers to provide expert guidance during onboarding. For more details, visit Hygraph Contact Page.
How does Hygraph handle maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting?
Hygraph offers 24/7 support through chat, email, and phone 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. Source
Hygraph & JavaScript Frameworks
How does Hygraph integrate with Svelte and React?
Hygraph provides a GraphQL API that can be integrated with both Svelte and React applications. The documentation and tutorials on the Hygraph blog demonstrate how to fetch GraphQL data using Apollo Client in React and svelte-apollo in Svelte. For more details, see the Svelte vs. React blog post and API Reference.
Blog & Resources
Where can I find the Hygraph blog?
You can visit the Blog section on the Hygraph website for news, developer tutorials, and essential guides to content modeling.
What kind of content can I find in the Hygraph Blog?
The Hygraph Blog includes developer tutorials, latest updates, and essential guides to content modeling. Source
Who authored the blog 'Svelte vs. React: Which should you choose for your project?'?
The blog was authored by Asaolu Elijah, an experienced software engineer and technical writer. Source
Svelte vs. React: Which should you choose for your project?
We'll discuss each framework's core concepts, explore its key features and use cases, and help you decide which one is best for your next project.
Written by Asaolu
on Apr 09, 2024
React and Svelte are two JavaScript frameworks that have revolutionized how we build web applications. Both offer powerful tools for creating dynamic and interactive UIs, but they take fundamentally different approaches.
In this article, we'll break down each framework's core concepts, explore its key features and use cases, and help you decide which one might be the best fit for your next project. We'll also build an app that fetches GraphQL data in both frameworks to explore their developer experience further.
Svelte is a robust open-source JavaScript framework designed for building user interfaces. It was created by Rich Harris and officially released in November 2016. Svelte was designed to take a unique approach compared to traditional frameworks by moving a significant portion of the work to compile time; this results in several key advantages, including exceptional performance, smaller bundle sizes, and even simplified development, as you don't need to write complex logic to manage virtual DOM updates.
Svelte's operation can be broken down into several key areas that distinguish it from other frameworks.
Compile-time optimization: Svelte pre-renders UI components during compilation, resulting in smaller bundle sizes and faster load times. This eliminates the need for a virtual DOM at runtime.
Reactive updates: Svelte employs a unique reactivity system where any variable in the component becomes reactive by default. Changes trigger efficient DOM updates, simplifying state management.
Zero runtime overhead: Svelte has a minimal runtime footprint, unlike other frameworks. The compiled code is lean, focusing solely on the application logic and leading to superior performance.
Creating a new Svelte application is pretty straightforward. With Node.js installed, you can set up a basic project by running the command below.
npx degit sveltejs/template <project-name>
cd <project-name>&& npm install
Running this command will scaffold a new svelte project and display a command to start your application once it is completed.
Svelte components
A typical Svelte component uses a concise and intuitive syntax, blending HTML, JavaScript, and CSS in a single file. Here's an example:
<script>
let count =0;
functionincrement(){
count++;
}
</script>
<h1>The count is:{count}</h1>
<button on:click={increment}>Increment</button>
In this example, the <script> tag contains the component's reactive state and logic, while the HTML-like syntax outside the <script> tag defines the UI. The {count} syntax is used for data binding, automatically updating the DOM when the count variable changes. The {count} tag scopes styles to the component, preventing unintended side effects.
State management in Svelte
Svelte embraces a reactive programming paradigm where variables declared within your component become automatically reactive; we saw this in the previous code example.
For more complex scenarios, Svelte offers writable stores. Stores are special objects that can hold state in a way that is accessible across multiple components. Here's a brief example:
<script>
import{ writable }from'svelte/store';
const count =writable(0);
functionincrement(){
count.update(n=> n +1);
}
</script>
<h1>The count is:{$count}</h1>
<button on:click={increment}>Increment</button>
In this code example, the count becomes a writable store. The $ symbol is used to automatically subscribe to store changes, making the syntax for using stores as reactive variables incredibly simple.
Handling events in Svelte
Event handling in Svelte is seamlessly integrated into the component markup. As shown in the previous example, listening for a button click is as simple as adding the on:click directive to the button element. Svelte supports a wide range of standard DOM events, and the syntax for listening to them follows this consistent pattern.
Beyond handling native DOM events, Svelte components can dispatch custom events, enabling complex interaction patterns between nested components.
<script>
import{ createEventDispatcher }from'svelte';
const dispatch =createEventDispatcher();
functionsayHello(){
dispatch('hello',{message:'Hello world!'});
}
</script>
<button on:click={sayHello}>SayHello</button>
In this example, the sayHello() function dispatches a hello event with an accompanying message. Parent components can listen for this event using the on:hello directive, enabling them to react accordingly.
React is a declarative, efficient, and flexible JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It was developed by Facebook and first released in 2013. React stands out for its virtual DOM feature that optimizes rendering and improves app performance, making it one of the most popular libraries for web development. Its component-based architecture enables developers to build large-scale applications with data that changes over time in an easy and maintainable way.
React's core functionalities can be broken down into the following concepts:
Declarative & component-based:React uses a declarative approach where you define UI for each state. Components manage their state and logic, promoting code reusability and separation of concerns. This separation also keeps the state from the DOM and allows easy data flow through the application.
Virtual DOM: React employs a virtual DOM, a lightweight copy of the real DOM. When the state changes, React updates the virtual DOM and efficiently calculates the minimal changes needed for the real DOM, resulting in performant UI updates.
Setting up a new React project is straightforward, especially with the Vite tooling system.
This will create a new React project, install dependencies, and launch a development server to test your application.
Let's examine a typical React component, Hello, which accepts a prop message and renders it within a paragraph element:
functionHello({ message }){
return(
<div>
<h1>Hello!</h1>
<p>{message}</p>
</div>
);
}
exportdefaultHello;
In this example, Hello is a functional component demonstrating the React component structure's essentials. The component receives props - in this case, {message} - as an argument. This prop is used within JSX to dynamically render the value of message passed to the Hello component.
JSX
JSX is the core of React component development. It resembles HTML in appearance but is syntactic sugar for React.createElement() calls allow developers to write components in a familiar and easy-to-understand syntax.
For instance, our Hello component above utilizes basic JSX to define the UI. JSX allows for the dynamic inclusion of JavaScript values and expressions using curly braces {}, which enables the rendering of dynamic data, as seen with {message}.
JSX contributes significantly to React's ability to build robust applications as it enhances the component code's expressiveness and facilitates the declaration of structures seamlessly combining HTML and JavaScript logic.
State Management in React
React employs the useState hook for basic state management within functional components. This hook lets you add React state to function components, making them "stateful." Here's a basic example:
importReact,{ useState }from'react';
functionCounter(){
const[count, setCount]=useState(0);
return(
<div>
<p>You clicked {count} times</p>
<button onClick={()=>setCount(count +1)}>
Click me
</button>
</div>
);
}
In this Counter component, useState is used to create a count state variable. The setCount function is used to update the value of count. React re-renders the component with the updated state whenever setCount is called.
Beyond useState, React offers more hooks for managing complex state logic, including useEffect for side effects, useContext for managing global state, and useReducer for more complex state logic, among others.
Handling Events in React
Event handling in React is achieved through JSX attributes that resemble the native HTML event attributes but are written in camelCase. Here's how you can handle events in React:
importReactfrom'react';
functionActionLink(){
functionhandleClick(e){
e.preventDefault();
console.log('The link was clicked.');
}
return(
<a href="#" onClick={handleClick}>
Click me
</a>
);
}
In the ActionLink component, the onClick attribute is used to attach a click event listener to the anchor tag. Then the handleClick function is executed whenever the link is clicked.
Now that we've covered the basics of both frameworks, including how they work behind the scenes and their features, here's a table outlining their major differences.
Feature
Svelte
React
Compilation
Compile-time to optimized JS.
Runtime library interpreting JSX.
DOM Updates
Direct, without virtual DOM.
Uses virtual DOM for diffing updates.
State Management
Reactive variables & stores.
useState, useReducer, context.
Syntax
Similar to HTML/CSS/JS, less boilerplate.
JSX, requires transpilation.
Reactivity
Automatic on variable changes.
Manually triggered via hooks.
Bundle Size
Smaller initial size due to compilation optimizations.
Larger, depending on library size and usage.
Ecosystem
Growing, with essential tools integrated (e.g., SvelteKit).
Extensive, with many third-party libraries.
Learning Curve
Considered lower due to simplicity and less boilerplate.
Despite their different approaches, Svelte and React share core concepts that make them both powerful UI tools:
Component-Based Architecture: Both frameworks utilize components for code reusability, maintainability, and a clear separation of concerns.
Declarative UI: With both frameworks, you can define your desired UI state, and the frameworks handle efficient updates. This simplifies development and debugging.
Data Binding: Both offer ways to link component state and UI, ensuring the UI automatically reflects the latest state.
Event Handling: Both provide ways to handle user interactions through event listeners, allowing you to react to user input and update your application state.
When choosing between Svelte and React for a project, it's essential to consider the project's specific requirements and goals due to each framework's distinct advantages.
Svelte shines in scenarios where performance and speed are paramount, such as in single-page applications (SPAs) and progressive web apps (PWAs). Its compile-time optimization leads to faster initial load times and efficient updates, making it ideal for creating responsive, high-performance web applications. Additionally, Svelte's minimalistic approach and smaller bundle sizes are particularly advantageous for developing embedded widgets or components seamlessly integrated into various environments without heavy dependencies.
On the other hand, React is highly favored for its robustness and versatility in building complex, large-scale applications. A vast array of libraries and tools backs its ecosystem. The React Native framework also extends this capability to mobile app development, allowing for the creation of cross-platform mobile applications with a single JavaScript codebase. React's virtual DOM ensures efficient rendering, making it suitable for dynamic web applications that require frequent data updates. Furthermore, React's popularity and extensive community support make it a reliable option for enterprise-level applications, where long-term maintenance and scalability are critical considerations.
Both frameworks offer robust methods for integrating GraphQL queries into your applications, albeit through slightly different approaches. Let’s explore how this works.
To fetch GraphQL data, you’ll need access to a GraphQL endpoint. You can easily create one from your Hygraph dashboard, configure the content structure to your choice, and easily retrieve your content API endpoints. However, for the sake of this tutorial, I've created one using the Hygraphlix template, with the following URL as the public GraphQL endpoint:
Here, we are importing the ApolloClient, InMemoryCache, and ApolloProvider from @apollo/client. We then initialize ApolloClient with our GraphQL API endpoint and wrap our application's component tree with ApolloProvider.
To add some aesthetic to our application, open src/App.css and paste the following code.
#root {
max-width: 1280px;
margin:0 auto;
padding: 2rem;
text-align: center;
}
.movies-container {
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap;
gap: 20px;
}
.movie-card {
border: 1px solid #ccc;
padding: 20px;
border-radius: 8px;
}
img {
width:100%;
max-height: 300px;
object-fit: cover;
border-radius: 4px;
}
Next, open src/App.jsx and replace its content with the code below.
import{ useQuery, gql }from"@apollo/client";
import"./App.css";
constGET_MOVIES= gql`
query Movies {
movies(first: 10) {
id
federateMovie {
data {
Title
Poster
Genre
Director
}
}
}
}
`;
functionApp(){
const{ loading, error, data }=useQuery(GET_MOVIES);
if(loading)return<p>Loading...</p>;
if(error)return<p>Error:(</p>;
return(
<div className="movies-container">
{data.movies.map(({federateMovie:{data: movieData }, id })=>(
In this updated code, we leveraged Apollo’s gql tag to define our query. We also used the useQuery hook to execute the query and access the loading, error, and data states. Finally, we looped through the data in our markup and rendered a movie card for each iteration.
Start your application by running the following command.
npm run dev
The movie data from our Hygraph GraphQL API should now be displayed in our browser, as shown in the image below.
Let’s recreate our movie app with Svelte to compare their developer experience!
Fetching GraphQL data in Svelte
Start by creating a new Svelte application by running the command below.
npx degit sveltejs/template svelte-hygraph
Change into your new app directory and install its default dependencies.
cd svelte-hygraph && npm install
Next, install GraphQL and the svelte-apollo client.
npm install svelte-apollo @apollo/client graphql
To proceed, create a new Movie.svelte component inside the default src/ directory and paste the following code into it.
<script>
import{ query }from"svelte-apollo";
import{ gql }from"@apollo/client/core";
constGET_MOVIES= gql`
query Movies {
movies(first: 10) {
federateMovie {
data {
Title
Poster
Genre
Director
}
}
id
slug
}
}
`;
const movies =query(GET_MOVIES);
</script>
<div class="movies-container">
{#if $movies.loading}
Loading...
{:elseif $movies.error}
Error:{$movies.error.message}
{:else}
{#each $movies.data.moviesas{federateMovie:{data: movie }, id }}
<div key={id}class="movie-card">
<h3>{movie.Title}</h3>
<img src={movie.Poster} alt={movie.Title}/>
<p>Genre:{movie.Genre}</p>
<p>Director:{movie.Director}</p>
</div>
{/each}
{/if}
</div>
<style>
.movies-container {
display: flex;
flex-wrap: wrap;
gap: 20px;
}
.movie-card {
border: 1px solid #ccc;
padding: 20px;
border-radius: 8px;
}
img {
width:100%;
max-height: 300px;
object-fit: cover;
border-radius: 4px;
}
</style>
In the code above, we create a new component to render our movies; this component defines the GraphQL query, fetches the data from our endpoint, and iterates through each movie data to render a card.
However, we're not done just yet; we also need to configure our graph client. Open src/App.svelte and replace its content with the following code.
Here, we set up a GraphQL client, defined our endpoint, and imported the Movies component we created earlier.
Start your application by running the following command.
npm run dev
You should now see the movie card displayed in your browser, similar to React’s example!
In evaluating the developer experience between React and Svelte from this basic app, notable distinctions emerge in syntax, state management, and component styling.
React uses JSX, which mixes HTML with JavaScript. Many developers are used to this and make things like looping through data with .map() natural to those accustomed to JS array operations. On the other hand, Svelte's way of doing things, such as looping with {#each ...} and conditionals ({#if ...}), might require a slight learning curve to grasp fully.
Svelte makes styling easy by letting you write CSS directly in your components. It keeps styles specific to each component without extra work. React often needs extra tools like styled components to do this, which means more steps and more code. Understanding these differences is crucial in deciding which framework best fits your needs.
In this tutorial, we explored the key differences between React and Svelte. We delved into their contrasting syntax, state management, and event-handling approaches. Additionally, we showcased how each framework tackles GraphQL data fetching, highlighting their unique developer experience.
If you're interested in diving deeper, explore the React app example and the Svelte example here.
Blog Author
Asaolu Elijah
Asaolu Elijah is an experienced software engineer and technical writer. He is passionate about sharing his knowledge and helping others achieve their goals in the tech industry. In his free time, Elijah enjoys gaming and exploring new technologies.
Share with others
Sign up for our newsletter!
Be the first to know about releases and industry news and insights.