🔺GraphQL vs OpenAPI📋
GraphQL is a query language with a typed schema, while OpenAPI is a specification format that documents REST APIs. One is a runtime, the other a contract.
Run a moomz poll: who wins for you?
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🔺GraphQL
- ✓Strongly typed schema that doubles as a query language
- ✓Clients fetch exactly the fields they need
- ✓Self-documenting with built-in introspection
- ✓Rich tooling and a unified single endpoint
📋OpenAPI
- ✓Documents standard REST APIs precisely
- ✓Generates clients, servers and docs from one file
- ✓Works with the universal HTTP and REST model
- ✓Massive tooling support across all languages
Verdict
Pick GraphQL for flexible, typed APIs with client-driven queries. Pick OpenAPI to document and generate tooling for conventional REST services.
Frequently asked
Are GraphQL and OpenAPI competitors?+
Partly — GraphQL is a query language, OpenAPI documents REST, so they overlap but differ.
Which generates clients?+
Both can — OpenAPI from its spec file, GraphQL from its schema.
Which is easier to cache?+
OpenAPI-described REST caches naturally with HTTP; GraphQL needs deliberate strategies.
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