Altair GraphQL Client vs Netflix DGS

Altair GraphQL Client is an IDE for running and debugging GraphQL queries, mutations and subscriptions. It formats queries, supports file uploads using the multipart specification, and can export query collections. Users can set environment variables for endpoints, headers and queries, then browse schema types and operations in a documentation explorer. Pre-request and post-request scripts and an extensible plugin system add customization options. Altair GraphQL Cloud provides centralized query management, collections, query versioning and shareable query URLs. Official integration packages include Express middleware, Koa middleware, a static build and a Gatsby plugin. The free Basic plan lists up to two team members and 20 queries; Pro costs $7.99 a month per user and lists unlimited team members, teams and queries. The client is available as a web app and on desktop platforms, including Linux, macOS and Windows, with extension and self-hosted options. The maker says the web app is for quick or one-time use, not full development, because it has limitations. Documentation warns that introspection can expose an API schema and that Content Security Policy support is beta.

Netflix DGS is a free, open-source GraphQL server framework for Spring Boot, deployed as a self-hosted API service. Its annotation-based programming model supports Java and Kotlin, with Gradle or Maven builds. DGS favors schema-first development: schema files belong in src/main/resources/schema, and its Gradle plugin can generate Java types from a GraphQL schema. A test framework runs GraphQL queries in lightweight unit tests, while data loaders batch requests to help address the N+1 problem. The framework supports GraphQL Federation, WebSocket and SSE subscriptions, file uploads, error handling, and extension points. Spring Security integration allows @Secured on data fetchers after security configuration. DGS also integrates with Spring for GraphQL, although that path currently lacks SSE subscriptions and some DGS data-loader features do not work with Spring for GraphQL data loaders. A browser GraphiQL editor and an IntelliJ plugin are included. Current documentation requires Spring Boot 3 and JDK 17; DGS 11+ with Spring Boot 4 is actively maintained, while DGS 10.x receives most feature backports until the second half of 2026.