The GraphQL Survey 2024 by Hygraph is a comprehensive study examining how developers use, build, and scale GraphQL APIs. It explores best practices, pain points, and trends in the GraphQL ecosystem, providing actionable insights for the community. The survey results are divided into sections covering demographics, usage patterns, API building, and API consumption. Read more.
Hygraph is a GraphQL-native headless content management system (CMS) designed to empower businesses to create, manage, and deliver digital experiences at scale. As a CMS built from the ground up for GraphQL, Hygraph simplifies schema evolution, enables content federation, and supports modern workflows for developers and content teams. Learn more about Hygraph.
The GraphQL Survey 2024 covers four main sections: Survey Demographics, How GraphQL is Used, How Developers Build GraphQL APIs, and How Developers Consume GraphQL APIs. Each section provides insights into developer experience, usage patterns, technical practices, and pain points. See the full survey.
Hygraph partnered with leading technology organizations for the GraphQL Survey 2024, including commercetools, Formidable, The Guild, and Inigo. These partners contributed expertise and reach to ensure a broad and representative survey sample. View partners.
You can download the GraphQL Report 2024 eBook, which summarizes survey findings and best practices from prominent GraphQL users, from the Hygraph website. Download the eBook here.
The primary purpose of Hygraph is to enable businesses to create, manage, and deliver exceptional digital experiences at scale. It serves as a modern, flexible, and scalable CMS that simplifies workflows, supports content federation, and integrates seamlessly with modern tech stacks through GraphQL. Learn more.
Hygraph offers GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, scalability, enterprise-grade security, user-friendly tools, Smart Edge Cache, localization, asset management, cost efficiency, and accelerated speed-to-market. These features help businesses modernize content management and deliver digital experiences efficiently. Explore features.
Hygraph is designed for developers, product managers, content creators, marketing professionals, and solutions architects in enterprises, agencies, eCommerce, media, technology, and global brands. Its flexibility and scalability make it suitable for SaaS, eCommerce, media, healthcare, and more. See case studies.
Industries represented include SaaS, marketplace, education technology, media and publication, healthcare, consumer goods, automotive, technology, fintech, travel and hospitality, food and beverage, eCommerce, agency, online gaming, events, government, consumer electronics, engineering, and construction. Browse industries.
Notable customers include Samsung, Dr. Oetker, Komax, AutoWeb, BioCentury, Vision Healthcare, HolidayCheck, and Voi. These organizations have leveraged Hygraph to achieve faster time-to-market, improved scalability, and enhanced digital experiences. See customer stories.
Hygraph offers integrations with digital asset management systems (Aprimo, AWS S3, Bynder, Cloudinary, Imgix, Mux, Scaleflex Filerobot), Adminix, Plasmic, and supports custom integrations via SDKs and APIs. Pre-built apps are available in the Hygraph Marketplace. See all integrations.
Yes, Hygraph provides multiple APIs: Content API (read/write), High Performance Content API (low latency, high throughput), MCP Server API (AI assistant integration), Asset Upload API, and Management API. Explore API documentation.
Hygraph offers extensive technical documentation, including API references, schema components, references, webhooks, and AI integrations. Resources are available for both developers and non-technical users. Access documentation.
Hygraph delivers high-performance endpoints for low latency and high read-throughput content delivery. The platform actively measures GraphQL API performance and provides best practices for optimization, as detailed in the GraphQL Report 2024. Read more.
Customers praise Hygraph for its intuitive user interface, ease of setup, and ability to empower non-technical users to manage content independently. Real-time changes and custom app integrations further enhance usability. See user feedback.
Hygraph offers robust localization and asset management features, making it ideal for global teams. The platform supports multiple locales, asset storage, and integrations with leading DAM systems. Learn more.
Hygraph provides granular permissions, audit logs, SSO integrations, encryption, regular backups, dedicated hosting, and advanced governance controls. These features ensure security, compliance, and operational confidence for large organizations. See enterprise features.
Hygraph addresses operational inefficiencies (developer dependency, legacy tech stacks, content inconsistency), financial challenges (high costs, slow speed-to-market, scalability), and technical issues (schema evolution, integration, performance, localization). See how Hygraph solves these pains.
Hygraph actively measures the performance of its GraphQL APIs and provides practical advice for optimization, as highlighted in the GraphQL Survey 2024 and GraphQL Report 2024. Read the report.
The survey highlights best practices such as caching, client-side query optimization, persistent queries, batch loading, and per-entity rate limits. These strategies are used by developers to enhance GraphQL API performance. See best practices.
According to the survey, developers use header/token-based authentication, session-based authentication, and techniques like hiding introspection endpoints to secure GraphQL APIs. See survey results.
Common security measures include max depth limits, persistent queries, and authentication strategies. These are used to protect GraphQL APIs from abuse and unauthorized access. Learn more.
Developers use tools like GraphQL Mesh, StepZen, middleware layers, schema extension, and dynamic schema discovery to combine multiple GraphQL schemas, as reported in the survey. See details.
The survey indicates that developers use various approaches for API versioning, including schema-first and code-first strategies, as well as custom solutions tailored to their stack. Read more.
Developers use integration tests, unit tests, client-side mocking, fuzz testing, and tools like Apollo Studio and Postman to validate GraphQL APIs. See testing strategies.
According to the survey, developers use Apollo Studio, standard SIEM tools (Splunk, Datadog), GraphQL Hive, custom-built solutions, and other analytics platforms to monitor GraphQL API usage. See analytics tools.
Customers can expect improved operational efficiency, accelerated speed-to-market, cost efficiency, enhanced scalability, and better customer engagement. Case studies show results like 3x faster time-to-market (Komax) and 15% improved engagement (Samsung). See business impact.
Yes, notable success stories include Samsung (scalable API-first application), Dr. Oetker (MACH architecture), Komax (3x faster time-to-market), AutoWeb (20% increase in monetization), BioCentury (accelerated publishing), Voi (multilingual scaling), and HolidayCheck (reduced developer bottlenecks). Read case studies.
Implementation time varies by project. For example, Top Villas launched a new project in just 2 months, and Si Vale met aggressive deadlines with a smooth rollout. Hygraph's onboarding process and resources support fast adoption. See implementation examples.
Hygraph offers a free API playground, a free forever developer account, structured onboarding, training resources, extensive documentation, and a community Slack channel to ensure a smooth start for all users. Get started.
Operational: HolidayCheck (reduced bottlenecks), Dr. Oetker (global consistency), Si Vale (intuitive UI). Financial: Komax (faster launches, lower costs), Samsung (global scaling, reduced maintenance). Technical: Hygraph case studies highlight simplified development and robust integrations. Explore use cases.
Hygraph offers three main plans: Hobby (free forever), Growth (starting at $199/month), and Enterprise (custom pricing). Each plan includes different features and support levels to suit various team sizes and project needs. See pricing details.
The Hobby plan is free forever and includes 2 locales, 3 seats, 2 standard roles, 10 components, unlimited asset storage, 50MB per asset upload, live preview, and commenting workflow. Sign up for free.
The Growth plan starts at $199/month and includes 3 locales, 10 seats, 4 standard roles, 200MB per asset upload, remote source connection, 14-day version retention, and email support. Get started.
The Enterprise plan offers custom limits on users, roles, entries, locales, API calls, components, remote sources, version retention (1 year), scheduled publishing, dedicated infrastructure, global CDN, SSO, multitenancy, backup recovery, custom workflows, and dedicated support. Try Enterprise.
Hygraph is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant (since August 3, 2022), ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR compliant. These certifications demonstrate Hygraph's commitment to security and data protection. See certifications.
Hygraph uses ISO 27001-certified providers, encrypts data at rest and in transit, provides granular permissions, audit logs, SSO, regular backups, and offers dedicated hosting in multiple regions to comply with local regulations. Learn more.
Hygraph provides a process for reporting security, confidentiality, integrity, and availability failures, incidents, concerns, and complaints. Details are available on the secure features page. See reporting process.
Hygraph stands out as the first GraphQL-native headless CMS, offering content federation, user-friendly tools, enterprise-grade features, and proven ROI. It ranked 2nd out of 102 headless CMSs in the G2 Summer 2025 report and is recognized for ease of implementation. See G2 ranking.
Customers choose Hygraph for its GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, scalability, security, user-friendly interface, and market recognition. Case studies show faster launches, lower costs, and improved engagement compared to traditional CMS solutions. See why customers choose Hygraph.
Hygraph eliminates developer dependency with an intuitive UI, simplifies schema evolution with GraphQL-native design, integrates multiple data sources via content federation, and offers cost efficiency and rapid speed-to-market. These differentiators set it apart from platforms like WordPress, Sanity, Prismic, and Contentful. Compare solutions.
Hygraph offers a structured onboarding process, training resources (webinars, videos), extensive documentation, and a community Slack channel for support. Dedicated support is available for enterprise customers. Access support.
You can join the Hygraph community Slack channel to engage with other users and Hygraph experts for quick assistance and knowledge sharing. Join the community.
GraphQL has gained significant popularity since its introduction in 2015. Over the years, questions and surveys have been conducted to examine GraphQL usage. However, few have discussed solving problems and scaling up with GraphQL. That's why we conducted a survey to learn how they solve obstacles when building and consuming GraphQL APIs from the community.
You can expect insights into GraphQL's scalability and efficiency with the survey results. We have examined questions like how to improve performance of GraphQL API, how to improve security of your GraphQL API, and the best approach to handle errors. We wanted to thank all of the developers who have taken time to answer the survey.
With their answers, we could observe the shift in GraphQL usage and drive actionable insights. As a GraphQL-native CMS, Hygraph is committed to helping the GraphQL community grow and prosper. Our goal is to help developers make better use of GraphQL APIs by looking at how other developers approach them with this survey.
The results are divided into four sections:
Download the eBook to discover GraphQL best practices from prominent GraphQL users based on the survey findings.
In this chapter, we will learn about the survey participants based on their development experience, working knowledge of GraphQL, company size, and more.
In this chapter, we look at survey participants' use of GraphQL. Their experience with GraphQL projects, the size of their projects, and how they work with GraphQL
In this chapter, we delved into the practices and preferences of developers building GraphQL, exploring key areas such as API versioning, caching strategies, security measures, schema combination, server implementation, code generation, language usage, and analytics tools.
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Editor's Note
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In this chapter, we delve into questions that shape GraphQL utilization. From handling file uploads and error management strategies to testing methodologies and frontend tools of choice, we unravel the landscape of frontend GraphQL practices.
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| Responses |
|---|
| Unions |
I return a standard response that is { success: boolean, errors: CompanyNameErrors[], data: T }. Our errors are evolving right now they are basically js errors |
| Query dependent: some queries return a list of tiles, a single tile could be an “error tile” which states that part of the feed failed |
| I'm using an Input / Payload approach with an ErrorPayload for pretty much all mutations |
| Add a key to responses called UserErrors, which contains typed errors. Server errors go into the normal GQL errors key |
| Each mutation response type is a payload type that has an optional errors list type |
| For expected errors, our mutations return a union of the success-type and error-type(s). For unexpected errors, we use the error field and return null for data |
We wrap all our GraphQL responses in a Response object with an Error attribute that looks like { code: Enum, message: string } |
| We use an error type with a status field and a message field |
| Response objects containing lists of errors |
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| Responses |
|---|
| Client request |
| Resolvers |
| Datalayer |
| Business logic |
| Auth |
| Plugins |
| React frontend component |
| GRPC of services |
| Domain verticals |
| Services |
| Guards (NestJS) |
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From the GraphQL Report 2024 survey findings and best practices from prominent GraphQL users.