gqlgen vs Hot Chocolate
gqlgen
gqlgen.com
Hot Chocolate
chillicream.comSide by side
| Figure | gqlgen | Hot Chocolate |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · GraphQL Tools | 7.6 (#17) | 8.1 (#6) |
| Federation | The feature comparison lists federation support, and the configuration documentation shows Apollo Federation enabled by default in its example configuration. | A Hot Chocolate server can act as a Fusion subgraph, allowing services to be composed behind a gateway as teams need independent ownership and deployment. |
| Security | The documentation provides an authentication recipe that passes authentication details through context. | Hot Chocolate integrates with ASP.NET Core authentication and supports JWT, cookies, and other authentication schemes. |
| Support | The project directs users who find bugs or unexpected behavior to raise an issue on GitHub. | ChilliCream lists community support as free and paid support plans starting at $450 per month for Startup, with two critical incidents included. |
Plans
In their own words
Hot Chocolate
Hot Chocolate is an open-source GraphQL server for.NET that runs on ASP.NET Core and builds a GraphQL schema from C# types and resolvers. Developers can define typed schemas through implementation-first or code-first methods. It supports GraphQL over HTTP and WebSocket, plus Server-Sent Events for streaming responses. Documentation describes schema downloads, a Nitro GraphQL IDE endpoint, and a command-line interface for schema export. Data integrations include Entity Framework, MongoDB, and Marten; DataLoaders and batch resolvers help batch and cache related requests. OpenTelemetry instrumentation covers server, execution, and DataLoader activity. Security guidance recommends query cost analysis, pagination and execution-depth limits, and timeouts for public APIs; trusted documents can restrict private APIs to registered operations. Servers can act as Fusion subgraphs. Hot Chocolate implements the GraphQL 2025 specification and GraphQL over HTTP, and supports spec-compliant clients including Strawberry Shake, Relay, and Apollo Client. It is MIT licensed for commercial or private use. Community support is free; paid Startup support starts at $450 per month and includes two critical incidents.