gqlgen vs GraphQL Kotlin
gqlgen
gqlgen.comGraphQL Kotlin
opensource.expediagroup.comSide by side
| Figure | gqlgen | GraphQL Kotlin |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · GraphQL Tools | 7.6 (#17) | 8.0 (#8) |
| Federation | The feature comparison lists federation support, and the configuration documentation shows Apollo Federation enabled by default in its example configuration. | The federation module can generate Apollo Federation compliant schemas. |
| Integrations | The documentation includes recipes for Apollo Federation, authentication, CORS, Gin, and subscriptions. | Reference client implementations use Ktor HTTP Client and Spring WebClient, and custom implementations can use other engines. |
| Security | The documentation provides an authentication recipe that passes authentication details through context. | The repository README directs users to SECURITY.md for security issue contact information and supported versions receiving security updates. |
| Support | The project directs users who find bugs or unexpected behavior to raise an issue on GitHub. | The maintainers invite questions through GitHub Discussions and the public #graphql-kotlin channel on Kotlin Slack. |
Plans
In their own words
GraphQL Kotlin
GraphQL Kotlin is a free Apache License 2.0 collection of libraries, built on graphql-java, for running GraphQL clients and servers in Kotlin. Its schema generator creates schemas from Kotlin code, and a federation module can produce Apollo Federation-compliant schemas. Gradle and Maven plugins generate type-safe Kotlin clients from existing schemas. Generated clients support queries, mutations, batching, coroutines, custom scalars, configurable enum defaults, and Jackson or kotlinx.serialization models. Reference HTTP integrations use Ktor HTTP Client and Spring WebClient, while custom engines are possible. Server implementations target Spring Boot and Ktor; the Spring server uses Spring WebFlux. Ktor supports Kotlin Flow subscriptions over WebSockets with the graphql-transport-ws subprotocol. Its plugin leaves route configuration to the application, allowing selective routes and added authentication logic. The schema generator supports Kotlin Lists, but Sets, arbitrary Maps, and arrays are not supported out of the box. The project is self-hosted, with security guidance in its repository and community support through GitHub Discussions and Kotlin Slack.