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graphql.js VS Explore GraphQL

Compare graphql.js VS Explore GraphQL and see what are their differences

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graphql.js logo graphql.js

A reference implementation of GraphQL for JavaScript - graphql/graphql-js

Explore GraphQL logo Explore GraphQL

GraphQL benefits, success stories, guides, and more
  • graphql.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-27
  • Explore GraphQL Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-09

graphql.js features and specs

  • Strongly Typed
    GraphQL.js allows for strongly typed schemas, making it easier to perform validation and introspection on your data, ensuring that queries conform to a specific structure before execution.
  • Efficient Data Fetching
    GraphQL.js enables clients to request exactly the data they need which can reduce over-fetching and under-fetching compared to REST APIs.
  • Rich Developer Tooling
    The introspection capabilities in GraphQL.js allow for rich tooling, enabling better development workflows including robust IDE support and tools like GraphiQL.
  • Evolving APIs
    GraphQL.js facilitates evolving APIs without the need for versioning, providing backward compatibility by introducing non-breaking changes.
  • Community Support
    GraphQL.js has a large and active community, providing numerous resources, plugins, and tools that support smooth development processes.

Possible disadvantages of graphql.js

  • Complexity
    Implementing GraphQL.js can add complexity to projects as developers may need to learn new concepts such as schemas, resolvers, and query languages.
  • Overhead
    The flexibility of GraphQL.js can introduce performance overhead, as the server may need to parse and execute more complex and dynamic queries.
  • Cache Invalidation
    Caching strategies for GraphQL.js can be more complex compared to REST, as caching needs to account for the structure and specifics of the queries requested.
  • Over-fetching Risks
    While GraphQL.js mitigates data over-fetching, it can also expose sensitive data if developers are not meticulous in specifying and controlling the schema and access permissions.
  • Debugging Complexity
    Debugging runtime errors in GraphQL.js can sometimes be more difficult, especially with deeply nested queries and complex resolvers.

Explore GraphQL features and specs

  • Efficient Data Fetching
    GraphQL allows clients to specify exactly what data they need, reducing over-fetching and under-fetching of data compared to traditional REST APIs.
  • Flexible Queries
    Clients have the power to request different data structures with GraphQL without changing the backend, allowing for greater flexibility in data retrieval.
  • Strongly Typed Schema
    GraphQL APIs are defined by a strongly typed schema, which can lead to greater consistency and predictability in API responses.
  • Single Endpoint
    All interactions with a GraphQL API happen through a single endpoint, which can simplify the API architecture and management.
  • Ecosystem and Tooling
    GraphQL has a rich ecosystem of tools and features, such as introspection for automatic documentation, which make development more efficient.

Possible disadvantages of Explore GraphQL

  • Complexity of Implementation
    Setting up a GraphQL server can be complex, and it requires changes in existing architecture, especially in transitioning from REST APIs.
  • Over-fetching at the Client
    If not managed properly, clients might request more data than needed, leading to performance issues, unlike REST where endpoint responses are fixed.
  • Caching Difficulties
    GraphQL’s flexibility can make caching responses challenging because the same endpoint can return vastly different responses based on the query.
  • Security Concerns
    GraphQL can be vulnerable to query complexities and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks because clients have the flexibility to craft expensive queries.
  • Learning Curve
    Developers familiar with REST may face a learning curve when adapting to GraphQL's concepts and paradigms.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to graphql.js and Explore GraphQL)
Project Management
100 100%
0% 0
APIs
0 0%
100% 100
Development
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, graphql.js seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 8 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

graphql.js mentions (8)

  • Diving into Open-Source Development
    To begin, I'm going to start with GraphQL. This repo is a JS-specific implementation for GraphQL, for which projects written in JS/TS can utilize to build an API for their web app. The reason why I chose this project is because I've always been intrigued by how GraphQl challenges the standard way of building an API, a.k.a REST APIs. I have very little knowledge about this project since I've never used it before at... - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • How to define schema once and have server code and client code typed? [Typescript]
    When I asked this in StackOverflow over a year ago I reached the solution of using graphql + graphql-zeus. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Apollo federated graph is not presenting its schema to graphiql with fields sorted lexicographically
    GraphiQL (and many other tools) relies on introspection query which AFAIK is not guaranteed to have any specific order (and many libs don't support it). Apollo Server is built on top of graphql-js and it relies on it for this functionality. Source: over 2 years ago
  • How (Not) To Build Your Own GraphQL Server
    Defining your schema and the resolvers simultaneously led to some issues for developers, as it was hard to decouple the schema from the (business) logic in your resolvers. The SDL-first approach introduced this separation of concerns by defining the complete schema before connecting them to the resolvers and making this schema executable. A version of the SDL-first approach was introduced together with GraphQL... - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
  • three ways to deploy a serverless graphQL API
    Graphql-yoga is built on other packages that provide functionality required for building a GraphQL server such as web server frameworks like express and apollo-server, GraphQL subscriptions with graphql-subscriptions and subscriptions-transport-ws, GraphQL engine & schema helpers including graphql.js and graphql-tools, and an interactive GraphQL IDE with graphql-playground. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
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Explore GraphQL mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Explore GraphQL yet. Tracking of Explore GraphQL recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing graphql.js and Explore GraphQL, you can also consider the following products

JsonAPI - Application and Data, Languages & Frameworks, and Query Languages

How to GraphQL - Open-source tutorial website to learn GraphQL development

Apollo - Apollo is a full project management and contact tracking application.

GraphQL Playground - GraphQL IDE for better development workflows

Graphene - Query Languages

GraphQl Editor - Editor for GraphQL that lets you draw GraphQL schemas using visual nodes