API Layer

Apollo GraphQL

GraphQLAPIServerClientSchema

The industry-standard GraphQL server (Apollo Server) and client (Apollo Client). Provides a complete solution for building and consuming GraphQL APIs, with caching, subscriptions, and Apollo Studio for monitoring.

License

MIT / Elastic License

Language

TypeScript

Used for

API Layer

Trust

Limited

Why Apollo GraphQL?

Building a GraphQL API server from scratch

React apps that need smart client-side GraphQL caching

Complex data graphs with nested relationships and real-time subscriptions

Signal Breakdown

What drives the Trust Score

Weekly npm downloads

3.5M/wk

GitHub commits (90d)

150

GitHub stars

13.5k

Stack Overflow questions

45k

Community health

Mature

Weighted Trust Score45 / 100

Download Trend

Last 12 months

Tradeoffs & Caveats

Know before you commit

Simple REST APIs — GraphQL adds overhead for CRUD

End-to-end TypeScript monorepos — tRPC has better type safety with less boilerplate

You just need schema validation — plain Zod is much simpler

Pricing

Free tier & paid plans

Free tier

Open source (MIT)

Paid

Apollo Studio managed from $59/mo

Self-hosted is fully free; Apollo Studio adds observability

Alternative Tools

Other options worth considering

tRPC87Strong

End-to-end typesafe APIs for TypeScript monorepos. Eliminates the need for code generation or a schema — your TypeScript types ARE your API contract. Pairs perfectly with Next.js.

View Compare

Zod93Excellent

TypeScript-first schema validation with static type inference. Define a schema once and get both runtime validation and TypeScript types. The standard for validating API inputs, forms, and environment variables.

View Compare

See all alternatives to Apollo GraphQL

Often Used Together

Complementary tools that pair well with Apollo GraphQL

Next.js

Frontend & UI

98Excellent

View

Prisma

Database & Cache

88Strong

View

Supabase

Database & Cache

95Excellent

View

tRPC

API Layer

87Strong

View

Clerk

Auth & Users

80Strong

View

Learning Resources

Docs, videos, tutorials, and courses

Apollo GraphQL Docs

docs

GitHub repo

github

Apollo Server getting started

tutorial

Get Started

Repository and installation options

View on GitHub

github.com/apollographql/apollo-server

npm (server)npm install @apollo/server graphql

npm (client)npm install @apollo/client graphql

Quick Start

Copy and adapt to get going fast

import { ApolloServer } from '@apollo/server';
import { expressMiddleware } from '@apollo/server/express4';
import express from 'express';

const server = new ApolloServer<{ userId: string }>({
  typeDefs,
  resolvers,
});
await server.start();

const app = express();
app.use('/graphql', express.json(), expressMiddleware(server, {
  context: async ({ req }) => ({ userId: req.headers['x-user-id'] as string }),
}));

app.listen(4000, () => console.log('Server on http://localhost:4000/graphql'));

Code Examples

Common usage patterns

Apollo Server with Next.js API route

Embed a GraphQL server inside a Next.js route handler

// app/api/graphql/route.ts
import { ApolloServer } from '@apollo/server';
import { startServerAndCreateNextHandler } from '@as-integrations/next';

const server = new ApolloServer({
  typeDefs: `
    type Query { posts: [Post!]! }
    type Post { id: ID! title: String! }
  `,
  resolvers: {
    Query: { posts: () => db.post.findMany() },
  },
});

const handler = startServerAndCreateNextHandler(server);
export { handler as GET, handler as POST };

Apollo Client with React

Fetch and cache GraphQL data in a React component

import { ApolloClient, InMemoryCache, ApolloProvider, gql, useQuery } from '@apollo/client';

const client = new ApolloClient({
  uri: '/api/graphql',
  cache: new InMemoryCache(),
});

const GET_POSTS = gql`
  query GetPosts {
    posts { id title }
  }
`;

function Posts() {
  const { loading, error, data } = useQuery(GET_POSTS);
  if (loading) return <p>Loading...</p>;
  if (error) return <p>Error: {error.message}</p>;
  return <ul>{data.posts.map(p => <li key={p.id}>{p.title}</li>)}</ul>;
}

export default function App() {
  return <ApolloProvider client={client}><Posts /></ApolloProvider>;
}

Community Notes

Real experiences from developers who've used this tool

import { ApolloServer } from '@apollo/server'; import { expressMiddleware } from '@apollo/server/express4'; import express from 'express'; const server = new ApolloServer<{ userId: string }>({ typeDefs, resolvers, }); await server.start(); const app = express(); app.use('/graphql', express.json(), expressMiddleware(server, { context: async ({ req }) => ({ userId: req.headers['x-user-id'] as string }), })); app.listen(4000, () => console.log('Server on http://localhost:4000/graphql'));

// app/api/graphql/route.ts import { ApolloServer } from '@apollo/server'; import { startServerAndCreateNextHandler } from '@as-integrations/next'; const server = new ApolloServer({ typeDefs: ` type Query { posts: [Post!]! } type Post { id: ID! title: String! } `, resolvers: { Query: { posts: () => db.post.findMany() }, }, }); const handler = startServerAndCreateNextHandler(server); export { handler as GET, handler as POST };

import { ApolloClient, InMemoryCache, ApolloProvider, gql, useQuery } from '@apollo/client'; const client = new ApolloClient({ uri: '/api/graphql', cache: new InMemoryCache(), }); const GET_POSTS = gql` query GetPosts { posts { id title } } `; function Posts() { const { loading, error, data } = useQuery(GET_POSTS); if (loading) return <p>Loading...</p>; if (error) return <p>Error: {error.message}</p>; return <ul>{data.posts.map(p => <li key={p.id}>{p.title}</li>)}</ul>; } export default function App() { return <ApolloProvider client={client}><Posts /></ApolloProvider>; }