Altair GraphQL Client

Overview

Altair GraphQL Client is an IDE for building, running, and debugging GraphQL operations. It suits developers who want schema browsing and reusable request workflows alongside team query management. Its GraphQL focus is a strength, but the web app is positioned for occasional use rather than full development.

For adjacent categories, browse GraphQL Tools and API clients.

Key features

GraphQL request work

Altair handles queries, mutations, and subscriptions, with WebSocket support. Formatting, multipart file uploads, and collection export cover useful parts of a day-to-day request workflow. The schema documentation explorer helps users inspect types and available operations without leaving the client.

Reusable workflows and collaboration

Environment variables can be reused across endpoints, headers, and queries, which helps keep requests consistent across environments. Pre-request and post-request scripts add automation points, and plugins provide an extension path. Altair GraphQL Cloud adds centralized query management, collections, query versioning, and shareable URLs; that is most relevant to teams that need shared query workflows rather than only a local IDE.

Official integration packages cover Express and Koa middleware, a static build, and a Gatsby plugin. These are useful for teams working in those ecosystems, though they do not change the product's GraphQL-centered scope.

Pricing

Altair is freemium, with a free plan and paid plans from $7.99 a month. The Basic plan has no stated price: it supports up to 2 team members and 20 queries, with unlimited collections and query history up to 10 revisions. It is a constrained starting point for a small team, but the query cap and short history make it a poor fit for heavier shared use.

Pro costs $7.99 a month, billed $ 7.99 per user/month. It removes the Basic caps on team members and queries, allows unlimited teams and collections, and includes query history. The per-user charge matters as a team grows. Enterprise has custom pricing and adds full control alongside unlimited teams, members, queries, and collections. Self hosted has no stated price and offers the same unlimited team, query, and collection scope, plus query history and full control; it is the option to consider when self-hosting and control are priorities.

Platforms

Altair is available as a web app, desktop software, and an extension, with platform support for Linux, macOS, and Windows as well as self-hosted use. The maker cautions that the web app is intended for quick or one-time use and is not recommended for full development, so regular development work is better suited to another supported form.

Who it's for

Altair is a good fit for GraphQL developers who value schema documentation, reusable environments, scripting, and collection management in one client, especially when a team can use Cloud collaboration. It is less suited to people seeking a general-purpose API client or relying on the web app for sustained development. Teams should also weigh the terms: the maker does not obligate itself to maintain or support the services or provide updates, despite providing an email contact.

Pros and cons

GraphQL-specific workflow: schema exploration, query tools, and WebSocket support make it useful for working directly with GraphQL APIs.

Reusable and extensible: shared environment variables, scripts, and plugins support repeatable request workflows.

Team options: Cloud collaboration and higher-tier unlimited query and team allowances support shared management, though Pro is charged per user.

Basic has tight caps: 20 queries and history limited to 10 revisions can constrain a growing team.

Web-app caveat: the maker does not recommend it for full development.

Security work remains: GraphQL introspection can expose an API schema, and the documentation suggests considering disabling it in production. CSP support is beta, with configurations to be tested before production use.

Alternatives

Choose Apollo Studio if its free plan's stated allowance of up to 3 developers, 60 router requests per minute, and 1-day data retention fits your needs. Apollo Client is a free alternative for readers looking for a client with a free plan capped at 3 developers and a self-hosted router limited to 60 requests per minute, with 1-day retention and community support.

GraphQL Hive is another free option, with a Hobby plan that allows 1M operations per month, 7-day usage retention, and unlimited seats, projects, organizations, schema pushes, and checks. Hot Chocolate is a free, MIT-licensed option for commercial or private projects. GraphiQL is a free, MIT-licensed open-source project distributed as a package for React applications.

PostGraphile is another freemium alternative, with its V4 Core and V5 versions open source under the MIT license. WunderGraph Cosmo offers a free Developer plan with 1 federated graph, 10M requests per month, 10 subgraphs, 1 team member, 7-day retention, and community support. GraphQL Ruby is a free Ruby gem implementing the GraphQL server specification.

Verdict

Choose Altair if GraphQL schema browsing, reusable request workflows, and optional cloud-based query collaboration matter more than broad API coverage. Its strongest case is the combination of IDE tools and team query management; look elsewhere if the Basic caps, per-user Pro billing, web-app limitation, or support terms do not fit your work.