Hygraph is a GraphQL-native Headless CMS designed to help businesses efficiently manage content, unify data from multiple sources, and deliver exceptional digital experiences at scale. Its primary purpose is to provide a flexible, scalable, and modern content management solution that supports both technical and non-technical users. Hygraph enables content federation, native localization, and schema modeling, making it ideal for organizations needing to centralize and streamline content operations. [Source]
How does Hygraph support content federation and metadata aggregation?
Hygraph enables content federation by allowing teams to programmatically feed content from multiple sources into a centralized hub. This approach simplifies the work for content editors and ensures that metadata is aggregated efficiently, reducing manual processes and the risk of errors. For example, Telenor's streaming platform uses Hygraph to federate metadata from external APIs, serving over 90% branded metadata and adding around 2,000 new videos per month. [Telenor Case Study]
What are the key features of Hygraph?
Key features of Hygraph include:
GraphQL-native Content APIs for efficient data querying and management
No-code schema editor for flexible content modeling
Intuitive user interface with granular roles and permissions
Content federation to unify data from multiple sources
Scalability to support millions of API calls with low latency (e.g., <100ms for Telenor)
Native localization support
Bulk content changes via GraphQL Mutations API
These features enable teams to build, scale, and adapt digital platforms quickly and efficiently. [Features]
Features & Capabilities
How does Hygraph's GraphQL-native architecture benefit users?
Hygraph's GraphQL-native architecture allows for highly efficient data querying and management, outperforming traditional REST APIs. This results in faster content delivery, reduced latency, and the ability to handle millions of API calls with maximum latency as low as 100ms, as demonstrated by Telenor's streaming platform. [Telenor Case Study]
Does Hygraph offer a no-code schema editor?
Yes, Hygraph provides a no-code schema editor that enables team members to make changes to the API schema without touching the codebase. This flexibility allows for rapid iteration and adaptation as project requirements evolve, supporting continuous delivery models and agile workflows. [Onboarding Overview]
What integrations does Hygraph support?
Hygraph supports a wide range of integrations, including:
Yes, Hygraph offers a robust GraphQL API as its primary interface for content management. This includes a Content API for querying and managing content, Mutations API for creating, updating, and deleting content, and an API Playground for testing queries and mutations. [API Reference]
Use Cases & Benefits
What business impact can customers expect from using Hygraph?
Customers can expect significant business impacts, including:
3X faster time-to-market (e.g., Komax case study)
20% increase in website monetization (Autoweb)
70% faster page loading times (Komax)
Global scalability and consistent branding (Samsung)
Ability to deliver content across 40+ global markets
Reduced maintenance overhead and improved customer engagement
Can you share specific case studies or customer success stories?
Yes, here are some examples:
Telenor: Federates metadata from external APIs, serving 90%+ branded metadata, with 2,000+ new videos added monthly and <100ms API latency. [Read more]
How easy is it to implement Hygraph and how long does it take to get started?
Hygraph is designed to be super easy to set up and use, even for non-technical users. For example, Top Villas launched a new project within 2 months from the initial touchpoint. The intuitive UI and no-code schema editor allow teams to quickly adapt and build their projects. Comprehensive documentation, onboarding guides, and 24/7 support are available to assist users at every step. [Top Villas Case Study]
What technical documentation and resources are available for Hygraph?
Hygraph provides comprehensive documentation, including developer guides, onboarding tutorials, content workflow configuration, and webhook usage. Resources are available at Hygraph Documentation and include step-by-step guides for both technical and non-technical users.
Support & Customer Experience
What customer service and support options are available after purchasing Hygraph?
Hygraph offers extensive support, including:
24/7 support via chat, email, and phone
Comprehensive documentation and tutorials
Community Slack channel for peer and expert support
Dedicated Customer Success Managers for enterprise customers
Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with critical issue resolution in less than an hour
Regular health checks and launch support for enterprise clients
What training and onboarding resources does Hygraph provide?
Hygraph provides a range of training and onboarding resources, including:
Comprehensive documentation and step-by-step guides
Professional onboarding support and architecture consultation
Video tutorials, webinars, and expert-led sessions
Dedicated Customer Success Managers for enterprise clients
Community Slack channel for additional assistance
These resources ensure both technical and non-technical users can adopt Hygraph effectively. [Documentation]
How does Hygraph handle maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting?
Hygraph provides 24/7 support for maintenance, upgrades, and troubleshooting via chat, email, and phone. Customers also have access to comprehensive documentation, a community Slack channel, and dedicated Customer Success Managers for enterprise clients. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) ensure critical issues are resolved within less than an hour. [Contact]
Security & Compliance
What security and compliance certifications does Hygraph have?
Hygraph is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant (achieved August 3rd, 2022), ISO 27001 certified for its hosting infrastructure, and GDPR compliant. These certifications demonstrate Hygraph's commitment to providing a secure and compliant platform for its users. [Security Features]
What security features does Hygraph offer?
Hygraph offers a range of security features, including:
Single Sign-On (SSO) integrations
Audit logs with 90-day retention
Sandbox environments for secure testing
Data encryption at rest and in transit
Custom roles and permissions for access control
Hygraph also supports GDPR and EU-US Privacy Shield standards. [Security Features]
Customer Experience & Feedback
What feedback have customers given about Hygraph's ease of use?
Customers describe Hygraph as a very good and intuitive product, with an interface that is easy to use for both technical and non-technical users. It is praised for being super easy to set up and use, allowing even non-technical users to start right away. The customizable UI and instant feedback for editors are also highlighted. Some users note that the interface can become complex with many languages, but overall, Hygraph is highly regarded for its ease of use. [Customer Feedback]
Pain Points & Solutions
What problems does Hygraph solve for its customers?
Hygraph addresses a range of operational, financial, and technical challenges, including:
Reducing dependency on developers for content updates
Modernizing outdated tech stacks
Enabling global team collaboration and content federation
Improving user experience for content creation
Lowering operational and maintenance costs
Accelerating speed-to-market
Minimizing expensive maintenance and scaling challenges
Simplifying development by reducing boilerplate code
Streamlining query management and schema evolution
Resolving cache and OpenID integration issues
These solutions help businesses modernize their content management and improve efficiency. [Product Page]
What are some common pain points Hygraph customers have expressed?
Common pain points include:
Dependency on developers for content updates
Outdated or legacy tech stacks
Conflicting needs from global marketing teams
Clunky user experience for content management
High operational and maintenance costs
Slow speed-to-market
Limited integration capabilities
Scaling challenges
Boilerplate code and complex queries
Cache issues and OpenID integration difficulties
Hygraph addresses these by providing an intuitive UI, modern architecture, and robust integration capabilities. [GraphQL Survey]
Competition & Comparison
Why should a customer choose Hygraph over alternatives?
Customers choose Hygraph for its GraphQL-native architecture, content federation capabilities, scalability, intuitive editorial interface, dedicated support, and lower total cost of ownership. Hygraph enables third-party systems to retain autonomy without data duplication and supports industry-leading performance. Case studies from companies like Samsung and Dr. Oetker demonstrate proven success in faster time-to-market and improved digital experiences. [Product Page]
How Telenor's streaming platform federates metadata from external APIs with Hygraph
2K
New Videos Programmatically Added per Month
100ms
Max Latency on Millions of Monthly API Calls
90%+
Branded Metadata Served from Hygraph
Snapshot
Telenor (TEL.OL) is a Norwegian multinational TelCo which is one of the largest mobile telecommunications companies in the world. Founded in 1855 as a state-owned telegraph services provider, Telenor is now a significant global player in a full range of telecommunications. With operations across the Nordics and Asia with 182 million global customers and annual sales of around USD 12 billion. A leading Nordic provider of mobile, broadband, and TV services, the Telenor Group is 19,000 people strong.
The Telenor TV distribution was founded in 1997 as a joint venture between French TV company Canal+ and Telenor called Canal Digital. Since 2003, Telenor has gained full ownership of Canal Digital. Canal Digital began as a direct broadcast satellite service but has since started offering cable television as well.
In 2013, Telenor created a video streaming service where users could stream content from several local television stations. The streaming platform for Telenor was previously a way for local television stations to make their content more accessible to a broader audience live on the platform for a longer time hosting adding around 2,000 videos/movies a month. As this was the first endeavor into a video streaming platform, there were many lessons to be learned. As the project continued to grow, it was clear that the stack needed to evolve so that the streaming service could continue to deliver a high quality experience at scale.
The Telenor team needed the scale of a database and ultimately chose Hygraph to provide the same power with an abstraction layer for content, native localization, and schema builder. With Hygraph, teams are able to programmatically feed content from multiple sources into Hygraph which simplifies the work for content editors.
When you work with a monolith, you become a spec writer. We needed the abstraction layer (of a database) and a UI on top of it, which would have used a large amount of development resources inhouse.
Lars-Flemming ClausenSenior Engineer at Telenor
The Process
There were several factors that were critical to choosing the new tech stack. Perhaps the most important being to remove this time consuming, manual process. The team needed to free up the development team’s time for more engaging tasks other than editing metadata. Centralizing the data and simplifying the process would also make it easier for the team to enact changes quickly. Another significant aim was to reduce the likelihood of incorrect information by creating a structure and organization to the centralized metadata hub so that the team could quickly adapt the information without a hassle.
It was clear that the team needed a powerful database-like solution with the capabilities of a CMS to achieve flexible content modeling and metadata aggregation. With the Telenor team being nearly 100 users, the solution needed the feature-heavy nature of a highly technical solution and a clean UI to make it easy for the content team to work with the data.
Taking the SaaS approach was more conducive to the working styles of the Telenor team. In reducing the overhead, the team was able to focus on features and workflows which were important to the project, rather than having to work around irrelevant features. The flexibility that Hygraph provides to set up and change the project schema as the project grows and develops makes the development of the projects faster and less of a hassle for developers to make changes later on in the development process. The intuitive UI helps ensure that the rest of the team can make manual changes to the content as efficiently as possible.
Why Hygraph?
The Telenor team chose Hygraph for the following reasons.
GraphQL Content APIs
Because the API is GraphQL native, rather than being built on top of a REST API, Hygraph realizes the performance benefits that GraphQL promises. Hygraph strikes the balance of a modern tech stack without sacrificing robust feature set and reliability. The Hygraph API is able to support the sustained high performance necessary for Telenor’s project of approximately 100 messages per second. Taking a programmatic approach to content creation and editing, ensures that data remains accurate and that manual entry mistakes are eliminated.
No-Code Schema Editor
The no-code schema editor made it easy for team members to make changes to the API schema without needing to touch the codebase. As the project continues to develop, it is simpler to make changes throughout the development process. This gives the team more flexibility to create a first iteration with the most important information, and make changes such as adding additional locales, as they have the resources. Because the streaming platform is constantly evolving, as the Telenor team has a continuous delivery model, the Hygraph schema editor enables the team to work with agility.
Intuitive UI
The clean UI and granular user roles and permissions make it easier for content teams, in addition to developers, to add, fix, and change data points. In addition to being more structured and organized than the previous collection of XML files, Hygraph has improved the workflows surrounding the metadata by creating a hybrid workflow of manual and programmatic content changes. The manual work that still remains when ensuring data integrity is more efficient with Hygraph. For larger changes, the GraphQL Mutations API is leveraged to quickly make bulk changes.
Results and Benefits
Full GraphQL Native support, including a powerful API and ecosystem support
API meets performance needs of less than 100ms latency on millions of API calls, making it significantly faster than other commercial GraphQL APIs on the market
High degree of flexibility with the tech stack
Hygraph enables a quick time to market with the first iteration of the project meeting 3 month deadline
Sleek UI, which makes it easy to add quick fixes to the content
No heavy licensing fees like that of monolith systems
Fast feature development
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