Graphene vs GraphQL Kotlin
Graphene
graphene-python.orgGraphQL Kotlin
opensource.expediagroup.comSide by side
| Figure | Graphene | GraphQL Kotlin |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · GraphQL Tools | 7.9 (#9) | 8.0 (#8) |
| Intended users | The project describes Graphene as a library for developers building GraphQL APIs in Python. | The project describes its common use cases as running a GraphQL server and generating a type-safe client in Kotlin. |
| License | The project repository identifies its license as MIT. | The library is licensed under Apache License 2.0. |
| Purpose | Graphene is a Python library for building GraphQL APIs using a code-first approach. | GraphQL Kotlin is a collection of libraries built on graphql-java to run GraphQL clients and servers in Kotlin. |
Plans
In their own words
Graphene
Graphene has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
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.