Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

OData VS graphql.js

Compare OData VS graphql.js and see what are their differences

OData logo OData

OData, short for Open Data Protocol, is an open protocol to allow the creation and consumption of queryable and interoperable RESTful APIs in a simple and standard way.

graphql.js logo graphql.js

A reference implementation of GraphQL for JavaScript - graphql/graphql-js
  • OData Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-02-21
  • graphql.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-27

OData features and specs

  • Interoperability
    OData allows for standardized communication between diverse systems by providing a common protocol, which improves data sharing and collaboration across different platforms.
  • Simplicity
    Using HTTP for query operations, OData simplifies data access through RESTful APIs, making it accessible for developers familiar with web services.
  • Flexibility
    OData supports a wide range of data formats such as JSON, XML, and AtomPub, giving developers the flexibility to choose the best format for their needs.
  • Data Querying
    The protocol allows complex querying capabilities directly in the URL through a standard syntax, which simplifies data retrieval and manipulation.
  • Integration
    OData is well-suited for integration with other Microsoft products and services, as well as many enterprise systems, due to its wide adoption and support.

Possible disadvantages of OData

  • Overhead
    While offering a standardized approach, OData can introduce additional overhead with metadata-heavy responses, which can be inefficient for larger datasets.
  • Complexity in Implementation
    Despite its simplicity in concept, implementing OData services can become complex, particularly when customizing or extending beyond basic functionalities.
  • Limited Industry Adoption
    Compared to other RESTful services, OData's adoption outside of Microsoft and SAP environments is relatively limited, which can restrict its use in certain industries.
  • Scalability Concerns
    OData services, when not implemented efficiently, may face scalability issues under high load due to verbose nature and complex processing requirements.
  • Security Challenges
    Ensuring security in OData services requires additional considerations and may involve more complex configurations to handle authentication and authorization.

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.

OData videos

Introduction To OData

More videos:

  • Review - Webinar: OData and ASP.NET Core 3.1 - State of the Union
  • Review - Enabling OData in ASP.NET Core 3.1 (Experimental)

graphql.js videos

No graphql.js videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to OData and graphql.js)
API Tools
76 76%
24% 24
Project Management
44 44%
56% 56
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Development
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.

OData mentions (0)

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

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 / over 1 year 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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What are some alternatives?

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

GraphQL - GraphQL is a data query language and runtime to request and deliver data to mobile and web apps.

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

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

Django REST framework - Django REST framework is a toolkit for building web APIs.

Graphene - Query Languages

Falcor - Falcor is a JavaScript library for efficient data fetching.