Best GraphQL Tools for 2025
GraphQL has firmly established itself as an API revolution, offering a flexible and efficient way to interact with data. Even if you're unfamiliar with GraphQL, you've likely already experienced its impact. Developed initially for Facebook, GraphQL is now used by large corporations such as Airbnb, GitHub, Pinterest, Shopify, and The New York Times to power their apps. Unlike traditional REST APIs, GraphQL allows developers to request only the needed data, reducing over-sampling and increasing performance.
With growing popularity comes the GraphQL ecosystem, making a vast marketplace of powerful tools that simplify development, drive productivity, and improve collaboration. In 2025, the GraphQL tools market will be more dynamic than ever, providing developers with innovative solutions tailored to every stage of the API lifecycle.
This blog post will examine the best GraphQL tools available in 2025. From schema design platforms to API monitoring solutions, we'll highlight the essential tools that optimize workflows and make working with GraphQL easier and more productive.
What is GraphQL?
According to the official website's definition, GraphQL is a query and data manipulation language for APIs that allows developers to request exactly the data they need—no more, no less. Unlike traditional REST APIs, which require multiple endpoints to retrieve different types of data, GraphQL allows clients to send a single request and receive structured, predictable responses. This decreased complexity improves system performance, eliminates unnecessary data transfer, and allows for more flexible and efficient API development. Intuitive syntax and a powerful type system allow developers to work with APIs more efficiently, paving the way for more dynamic and responsive applications.
The History of GraphQL
The history of GraphQL began in 2012, when Facebook developed it as a response to the increasing inefficiency of traditional REST APIs, especially in mobile application development. As Facebook's user base grew and applications became more complex, the organization faced API performance issues that required many requests to retrieve the data they needed. The rigid REST structure resulted in over- or under-sampling of data, causing delays that were particularly problematic for mobile users.
To overcome these limitations, Facebook engineers created GraphQL, which allows customers to make a single request for exactly what they need. This innovation has significantly increased productivity and flexibility and eased the work of developers. In 2015, Facebook released GraphQL as an open-source project.
Top GraphQL Tools
With GraphQL's growing popularity, an entire ecosystem of tools has emerged to support developers in designing, testing, monitoring, and optimizing GraphQL APIs. Whether you're building a new API from scratch or integrating GraphQL into an existing project, the right tools can make a big difference in performance and efficiency.
Apidog is a robust tool for developing, testing, debugging, and collaborating with APIs that offers functionality similar to that of Postman, Swagger, Mock, and JMeter. With its GraphQL Query Builder for simple-to-use GraphQL query authoring, multi-environment testing support, and auto-testing, Apidog simplifies API development by enabling teams to efficiently build, test, and manage GraphQL APIs.
Key features:
Unified platform for API documentation and team collaboration
Advanced tools for API design, development, and testing
Allows you to seamlessly share API documentation online
Supports both cloud and on-premises modeling for agile testing
Provides automated testing with test cases and suite management
Allows visual inspection with its visual interface that offers real-time feedback for error detection and correction
Includes Apidog Helper, a special IDEA plugin for advanced development
Cost: A free version is available. Paid plans with additional features start from $9/month (annually).
GraphQL Playground is a complete interactive development environment used to explore , test, and debug GraphQL API. It provides a seamless experience with features such as schema discovery, real-time querying, and an inline documentation view, which makes API development more efficient and easier.
Key features:
Interactive schema opening allows you to explore and understand API structures directly
Execute requests in real time
Integrated documentation viewer
Full-page GraphQL editor for writing and testing queries
API Explorer for quick navigation between endpoints and query history dropdown panel
Requires minimum setup
Customizable HTTP headers for testing different API responses
Support for multiple endpoints to switch between GraphQL environments
Cost: GraphQL Playground is free.
Insomnia is an open-source, cross-platform API client that supports GraphQL, REST, WebSockets, Server-Sent Events (SSE), gRPC, and other HTTP-based services. Due to its intuitive interface and long list of features, Insomnia simplifies creating, testing, debugging, and collaborating on APIs whether working solo and in teams.
Key features:
GraphQL queries supported with intelligent auto-completion for rapid development
Environment variables for easy management of different configurations
Built-in support for REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSockets, and SSE
Local scratchpad for rapid API debugging and prototyping
Built-in OpenAPI editor with graphical preview
Built-in test suites and collection runner for executing multiple requests
Built-in API mocking via cloud or standalone servers
Team collaboration capabilities with shared environments and versioning
Private projects and third-party plugin support (unlimited in paid plans)
Cost: Free, paid plans start at $12/month
Hasura is an open-source GraphQL engine that connects to databases and automatically generates a ready-to-use GraphQL API in real-time. Designed for speed and performance, Hasura simplifies API development by handling CRUD operations, authentication, and real-time data updates, which makes it ideal for applications that require dynamic data interaction.
Key features:
Automated CRUD operations
Role-based access control for secure authentication and data management
Event triggers for enabling real-time data updates and automating webhooks
Instant GraphQL API generation
Supports for multi-database deployment on PostgreSQL, MySQL, and SQL Server
High-performance GraphQL execution
Built-in query caching and horizontal scaling
Remote schema merging for combine multiple GraphQL services
Flexible deployment with cloud, on-premises, and standalone solutions
Cost: Free plan for individual developers is available, paid plans start from $5/month
Apollo Studio is an end-to-end platform for managing, monitoring, and collaborating on GraphQL APIs. It provides foundational tools such as schema registry, query performance monitoring, and collaborative documentation, making it easy for teams to build, manage, and scale high-quality GraphQL APIs. Apollo Studio simplifies team collaboration and knowledge sharing by streamlining the API development process.
Key features:
Schema registry and version control to manage API schemas and track API changes
Query performance monitoring and analysis to achieve peak query performance and identify performance issues
Collaborative documentation for documenting and discovering APIs as a team
API discovery tools for easily exploring and testing GraphQL APIs during development.
Apollo Studio sandbox, a browser-based tool for easily querying GraphQL APIs without registration
Cost: You can use most of the Studio tools, including Apollo Explorer, schema reference, and CI checks for free. Commercial offerings are available on request.
Prisma ORM delivers a type-safe Object-Relational Mapping (ORM) solution for Node.js and TypeScript, featuring global database caching, efficient connection pooling, and real-time database event handling. Within GraphQL resolvers, Prisma ORM simplifies database queries, seamlessly integrating with popular tools and libraries in the GraphQL ecosystem.
Prisma generates a type-safe data access layer from your database schema, streamlining data modeling and querying for developers. While it doesn’t directly create GraphQL APIs, it integrates effortlessly with GraphQL servers like Apollo Server to build robust APIs. Prisma also works seamlessly with popular frameworks and databases, providing powerful tools for efficient backend development.
It consists of:
Prisma Client: Automatic query builder for Node.js and TypeScript
Prisma Migrate: Declarative data modeling and migration system
Prisma Studio: A graphical interface for viewing and editing data in your database
Key features:
Automatically generated type-preserving GraphQL APIs to ensure secure and efficient data interaction
Powerful data modeling and querying capabilities
Seamless integration with popular frameworks and databases
Cost: Free plan is available. Paid plans with additional features start at $49/month.
Nexus is a type-safe GraphQL schema-building library for TypeScript and JavaScript that allows developers to define schemas using a declarative and intuitive API. Taking advantage of TypeScript's strong types, Nexus improves code readability, reduces runtime errors, and simplifies maintenance. Nexus makes schema development and refactoring easier and is appropriate for new and existing applications. It is fully compatible with GraphQL servers and widely used frameworks and provides a scalable, modern way to implement reliable APIs.
Key features:
A code-first approach with a fluent, programmatic syntax for defining GraphQL schemas, eliminating the need for separate SDL (Schema Definition Language) files
Strong type safety with TypeScript type inference ensuring type correctness throughout development.
Seamless integration with existing GraphQL servers and frameworks, including Apollo Server and Express.
Cost: Free
Bottom line
In 2025, the GraphQL ecosystem will be more active than ever, with a wide range of tools for each stage of API development, from schema design and testing to monitoring and collaboration. These solutions give developers many tools to meet different needs and preferences. Each tool has its strengths, and when used wisely, it can greatly simplify development workflows, increase productivity, and optimize API performance. Ultimately, this suite of GraphQL solutions allows teams to remain technically efficient while simplifying and making everyday development more intuitive.
