# Grafbase vs Pothos

| Attribute | Grafbase | Pothos |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 56.2 (73% (medium)) | 60.8 (46% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 26 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 316 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 2,611 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | - | 487,927 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A GraphQL Federation platform providing enterprise-grade governance, control, and observability for unified API management. Supports cloud, hybrid, and on-prem deployment with AI-native capabilities. | Pothos is a GraphQL schema builder for TypeScript that emphasizes type-safety and ease of use. It features a plugin ecosystem for extending functionality while maintaining zero-overhead at runtime. |
| features.capabilities | `{"role":"gateway","caching":true,"language":"GraphQL","federation":true,"managed_cloud":true,"self_hostable":true,"subscriptions":true,"auth_directives":true,"schema_approach":"schema_first","db_introspection":true}` | `{"role":"schema_builder","federation":true,"self_hostable":true,"subscriptions":true,"schema_approach":"code_first","type_generation":true,"db_introspection":true}` |
| integrations.count | 7 | 6 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Snowflake"},{"name":"NATS"},{"name":"Kafka"},{"name":"Postgres"},{"name":"gRPC"},{"name":"REST"},{"name":"JWT"}]` | `[{"name":"Prisma"},{"name":"NestJS"},{"name":"Next.js"},{"name":"Apollo"},{"name":"Mercurius"},{"name":"OpenTelemetry"}]` |
| language.primary | - | TypeScript |
| license.spdx | - | ISC |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Open Source","features":["High performance Rust gateway","Open-source license","No feature gating","Community support"],"description":"High performance Rust gateway with no feature gating","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","features":["Unified schema composition","Schema proposal & approval workflows","Entity-level caching","Persisted queries","Intelligent query execution","Rate limiting","Trusted documents","SAML SSO","Fine-grained access control","Cloud, hybrid, or on-prem hosting","Dedicated customer success team","Slack Connect channel","24/7/365 enterprise support","Up to 99.99% SLA"],"description":"Fully self-hostable with dedicated support and 99.99% SLA","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Free open-source tier. 60-day free trial. Enterprise pricing available via contact sales.","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://grafbase.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T17:05:27.230Z","freeTrialDays":60,"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://pothos-graphql.dev/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T09:17:12.302Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | - |
| pricing.model | freemium | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | low | free |
| pricing.transparent | no | - |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/plugin-validation%404.3.2","date":"2026-08-25T22:31:21Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/plugin-validation@4.3.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/plugin-drizzle%400.18.0","date":"2026-08-21T02:07:00Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/plugin-drizzle@0.18.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/plugin-drizzle%400.17.6","date":"2026-08-18T20:51:35Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/plugin-drizzle@0.17.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/plugin-federation%404.5.0","date":"2026-07-23T19:25:33Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/plugin-federation@4.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/tracing-xray%401.1.4","date":"2026-07-08T23:28:11Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/tracing-xray@1.1.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/tracing-sentry%401.1.5","date":"2026-07-08T23:28:32Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/tracing-sentry@1.1.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/tracing-opentelemetry%401.2.1","date":"2026-07-08T23:27:47Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/tracing-opentelemetry@1.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/tracing-newrelic%401.1.4","date":"2026-07-08T23:28:29Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/tracing-newrelic@1.1.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/test-utils%402.2.1","date":"2026-07-08T23:28:17Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/test-utils@2.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/plugin-zod%404.3.1","date":"2026-07-08T23:28:35Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/plugin-zod@4.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/plugin-with-input%404.1.5","date":"2026-07-08T23:28:26Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/plugin-with-input@4.1.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/plugin-validation%404.3.1","date":"2026-07-08T23:28:47Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/plugin-validation@4.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/plugin-tracing%401.1.3","date":"2026-07-08T23:28:14Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/plugin-tracing@1.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/plugin-sub-graph%404.5.1","date":"2026-07-08T23:28:44Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/plugin-sub-graph@4.5.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/plugin-smart-subscriptions%404.1.5","date":"2026-07-08T23:28:38Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/plugin-smart-subscriptions@4.1.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/plugin-simple-objects%404.1.4","date":"2026-07-08T23:27:53Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/plugin-simple-objects@4.1.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/plugin-scope-auth%404.1.7","date":"2026-07-08T23:28:20Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/plugin-scope-auth@4.1.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/plugin-relay%404.7.1","date":"2026-07-08T23:28:02Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/plugin-relay@4.7.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/plugin-prisma%404.15.0","date":"2026-07-08T23:27:32Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/plugin-prisma@4.15.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/hayes/pothos/releases/tag/%40pothos/plugin-prisma-utils%401.3.4","date":"2026-07-08T23:27:41Z","type":"stable","version":"@pothos/plugin-prisma-utils@1.3.4"}]` |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.99 | - |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=%40pothos%2Fcore&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (GraphQL Tools)

| Capability | Grafbase | Pothos |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Role | Gateway / federation | Schema builder |
| Primary language | GraphQL | - |
| **Modelling** |  |  |
| Schema approach | Schema-first | Code-first |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Federation / subgraph composition | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Realtime** |  |  |
| Real-time subscriptions | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Performance** |  |  |
| Response / edge caching | ✓ | - |
| **DX** |  |  |
| Typed code generation | - | ✓ |
| **Automation** |  |  |
| Generates API from a database | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Security** |  |  |
| Built-in authz / permissions | ✓ | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Official hosted offering | ✓ | - |
| Self-hostable | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:20:02.175Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*