GraphQL Hive vs GraphQL Kotlin
GraphQL Hive
the-guild.devGraphQL Kotlin
opensource.expediagroup.comSide by side
| Figure | GraphQL Hive | GraphQL Kotlin |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $20/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 1 |
| Spec score · GraphQL Tools | 8.3 (#4) | 8.0 (#8) |
| Federation | Hive supports Apollo Federation v1 and v2, and the product page says it scores 100% in the Federation audit. | The federation module can generate Apollo Federation compliant schemas. |
| Integrations | The documentation lists integrations or reference implementations for Apollo Gateway, Apollo Router, Apollo Server, GraphQL Yoga, GraphQL Ruby, GQLGen, and OpenTelemetry. | Reference client implementations use Ktor HTTP Client and Spring WebClient, and custom implementations can use other engines. |
| Intended users | The Hobby plan is described as being for personal or small projects, while Pro is described as being for scaling APIs and teams. | The project describes its common use cases as running a GraphQL server and generating a type-safe client in Kotlin. |
| Security | Hive Gateway lists JWT authentication, role-based access control, persisted documents, rate limiting, and protections such as CORS and CSRF prevention. | The repository README directs users to SECURITY.md for security issue contact information and supported versions receiving security updates. |
| Support | Hobby and Pro include GitHub issues and chat support; Enterprise includes a dedicated Slack channel, onboarding, 24/7 support, and a tailored SLA. | The maintainers invite questions through GitHub Discussions and the public #graphql-kotlin channel on Kotlin Slack. |
Plans
In their own words
GraphQL Hive
GraphQL Hive 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.