| Product | Grafbase |
| Website | grafbase.com |
| Category | API Gateway / GraphQL Federation |
| Architecture | Edge-deployed GraphQL gateway (Rust) |
| Pricing | Free tier (1M requests), Growth from $29/month |
What Is Grafbase?
Grafbase is a GraphQL federation platform that combines multiple data sources — REST APIs, databases, other GraphQL APIs — into a single unified GraphQL endpoint deployed at the edge. Your frontend makes one GraphQL query, and Grafbase resolves it across your backend services, cached at edge locations worldwide for sub-50ms response times.
The core problem Grafbase addresses is API fragmentation. Modern applications consume data from many sources: a Postgres database, a CMS API, a payment service, an analytics API. Each has its own authentication, its own data format, and its own endpoint. Grafbase stitches them into one type-safe GraphQL schema with one authentication layer and one query language.
Key Features
GraphQL Federation
Compose multiple GraphQL subgraphs into a single supergraph. Each service owns its types and resolvers. Grafbase merges them into a unified schema, handles cross-service joins, and routes queries to the right subgraph. This is Apollo Federation implemented as an edge-deployed gateway.
Edge Caching
Cache GraphQL responses at the edge with fine-grained control. Set cache policies per type, per field, or per query. Stale-while-revalidate ensures users get cached data instantly while fresh data is fetched in the background. The caching happens at the edge gateway, so your origin servers handle fewer requests.
Connectors
Connect REST APIs, OpenAPI specs, MongoDB, and PostgreSQL as data sources without writing resolvers. Grafbase generates the GraphQL types from your data source schema and handles the translation. This means you can GraphQL-ify an existing REST API without modifying it.
Edge Gateway (Rust)
The gateway is written in Rust for performance and deployed at edge locations. Query parsing, validation, and execution happen at the edge, closer to your users. The Rust implementation handles high throughput with low latency and minimal resource usage.
Who Is This For?
- Teams with multiple backend services that need a unified API layer
- Organizations adopting GraphQL federation who want an alternative to Apollo
- Frontend teams that need to query multiple APIs from a single endpoint
- Applications with global users that benefit from edge-cached API responses
Pros
- Federate multiple data sources into one GraphQL API
- Edge-deployed for low-latency worldwide
- Fine-grained caching per type and field
- Connect REST/OpenAPI without writing resolvers
- Rust gateway (fast, low resource usage)
- Free tier: 1M requests/month
Cons
- GraphQL-specific (not useful if you don’t use GraphQL)
- Edge caching adds complexity (invalidation, consistency)
- Younger than Apollo (smaller ecosystem)
- Self-hosting is more complex than the managed service
- Learning curve for federation concepts
Verdict
Grafbase is the GraphQL gateway that should have existed when GraphQL federation was introduced. Apollo Graph Router is the incumbent, but Grafbase’s edge-first architecture and built-in caching make it a compelling alternative. Running the gateway at the edge instead of in a central data center changes the latency profile for global applications.
The connector system that auto-generates GraphQL types from REST/OpenAPI specs solves a real migration problem: you can adopt GraphQL without rewriting your backend services. This lowers the barrier to GraphQL federation from months to days.
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