# Grafbase vs Relay

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Relay

| Attribute | Grafbase | Relay |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 56.2 (73% (medium)) | 66.9 (57% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 72 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 76,213 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 18,956 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | - | 5,142,504 |
| 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. | An open-source framework that enables type-safe GraphQL queries in JavaScript applications, with built-in support for caching, error handling, and server-side rendering via React Server Components. |
| 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":"client","caching":true,"language":"JavaScript / TypeScript","federation":false,"managed_cloud":false,"self_hostable":true,"subscriptions":true,"auth_directives":false,"schema_approach":"code_first","type_generation":true,"db_introspection":false}` |
| integrations.count | 7 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Snowflake"},{"name":"NATS"},{"name":"Kafka"},{"name":"Postgres"},{"name":"gRPC"},{"name":"REST"},{"name":"JWT"}]` | - |
| language.primary | - | Rust |
| license.spdx | - | MIT |
| market.availability | - | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| 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","summary":"Free and open-source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://relay.dev","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T16:35:58.790Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | low | free |
| pricing.transparent | no | - |
| release.cadence_days | - | 47 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v21.0.1","date":"2026-05-27T17:05:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v21.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v21.0.0","date":"2026-05-18T22:35:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v21.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v20.1.1","date":"2025-08-06T23:45:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v20.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v20.1.0","date":"2025-07-28T18:02:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v20.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v20.0.0","date":"2025-06-14T01:18:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v20.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v19.0.0","date":"2025-05-02T21:35:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v19.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v18.2.0","date":"2024-11-21T18:42:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v18.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v18.1.0","date":"2024-10-04T21:25:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v18.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v18.0.0","date":"2024-09-07T01:12:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v18.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v17.0.0","date":"2024-06-14T23:56:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v17.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v16.2.0","date":"2024-01-23T16:49:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v16.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v16.1.0","date":"2023-12-11T20:21:51Z","type":"stable","version":"v16.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v16.0.0","date":"2023-10-19T22:38:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v16.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v15.0.0","date":"2023-03-08T22:16:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v15.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v14.1.0","date":"2022-07-27T17:37:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v14.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v14.0.0","date":"2022-06-08T15:11:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v14.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v13.2.0","date":"2022-03-10T18:08:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v13.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v13.1.1","date":"2022-02-09T18:02:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v13.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v13.1.0","date":"2022-02-08T16:53:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v13.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebook/relay/releases/tag/v13.0.3","date":"2022-02-07T21:41:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v13.0.3"}]` |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.99 | - |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | - | 5.8 |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=relay-runtime&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (GraphQL Tools)

| Capability | Grafbase | Relay |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Role | Gateway / federation | Client |
| Primary language | GraphQL | JavaScript / TypeScript |
| **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 2026-09-01T20:42:55.108Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*