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  5. GraphQL Ruby vs PostGraphile

GraphQL Ruby vs PostGraphile

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

PostGraphile
PostGraphile
Stacks85
Followers214
Votes47
GraphQL Ruby
GraphQL Ruby
Stacks68
Followers76
Votes0
GitHub Stars5.4K
Forks1.4K

GraphQL Ruby vs PostGraphile: What are the differences?

Introduction

When considering implementing a GraphQL server for a web application, developers often evaluate different tools and frameworks available. Two popular options are GraphQL Ruby and PostGraphile, each offering unique features and benefits. In this comparison, we will highlight key differences between GraphQL Ruby and PostGraphile to help developers make an informed decision.

  1. Language Support: GraphQL Ruby is specifically designed for Ruby on Rails applications, providing seamless integration and compatibility with Ruby programming language. On the other hand, PostGraphile is primarily built for PostgreSQL databases, allowing developers to create GraphQL APIs directly from the database schema without the need for additional backend code.

  2. Customization and Extensibility: GraphQL Ruby offers more flexibility and customization options for developers to tailor the GraphQL schema and resolvers according to their specific requirements. In contrast, PostGraphile focuses on automatic generation of GraphQL schema from the database, limiting the level of customization available to developers.

  3. Performance and Scalability: GraphQL Ruby provides fine-grained control over query optimizations and caching mechanisms, allowing developers to optimize performance based on their application's needs. PostGraphile, being tightly integrated with the PostgreSQL database, offers optimized queries for better performance but may have limitations in scalability for complex data models.

  4. Community and Support: GraphQL Ruby has a vibrant community of developers contributing to its ecosystem, providing extensive documentation, tutorials, and support forums. PostGraphile, being a specialized tool for PostgreSQL, may have a smaller community but offers dedicated support for database-related GraphQL queries and optimizations.

  5. Learning Curve and Adoption: GraphQL Ruby leverages the familiarity and conventions of Ruby on Rails framework, making it easier for developers already familiar with Rails to adopt and integrate GraphQL into their applications. On the other hand, PostGraphile's focus on PostgreSQL may require developers to have a deeper understanding of database concepts and SQL queries to leverage its full potential.

  6. Integration with Ecosystem: GraphQL Ruby seamlessly integrates with existing Ruby on Rails applications, leveraging the powerful features and libraries available in the Rails ecosystem. In contrast, PostGraphile integrates directly with PostgreSQL database, which can be advantageous for applications heavily reliant on database interactions but may require additional tooling for frontend integration.

In Summary, key differences between GraphQL Ruby and PostGraphile lie in language support, customization, performance, community, learning curve, and integration with the existing ecosystem, providing developers with distinct choices based on their project requirements.

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Advice on PostGraphile, GraphQL Ruby

Raj
Raj

CTO & Founder at Novvum

Oct 5, 2020

Review

Hey Brian, it's hard to pick a best tool for any situation, however, there are tools that offer advantages dependent on use case.

Server Side

If you're looking to quickly generate a GraphQL API, you can use a Graphql As A Service like FaunaDB, Slash Graphql, or 8base.

If you want something more advanced on the server side: Prisma with Postgres, Nexus, & Apollo Server (js) is a great stack to try out. Examples here

Check out TypeORM and TypeGraphQL too

If you're have some existing data on Postgres, PostGraphile or Hasura are your best bet!

If you are using a lot of AWS services, check out Amplify and AppSync. Tutorial here

On the client side:

Check out Gatsby! Graphql is already configured and used to query static or remote information at build time. It's a great way to get your feet wet!

Apollo Client is often the choice for more advanced use cases. But URLQL and gqless are some pretty good alternatives too!

Hope this helps! 👍

294 views294
Comments
Raj
Raj

Oct 10, 2020

Review

It purely depends on your app needs. Does it need to be scalable, do you have lots of features, OR it is a simple project with very simple needs - many of those parameters clarify which technologies will fit.

If you are looking for a quick solution, that reduces lot of development time, take a look at postgraphile (https://www.graphile.org/postgraphile/). You have to just define the schema and you get the entire graph-ql apis built for you and you can just focus on your frontend.

On frontend, React is good, but also need to remember that it is popular because it introduced one way data writes and in-built virtual dom + diffing to determine which dom to modify. Though personally I liked it, am recently more inclined to Svelte because its lightweightedness and absence of virtual dom and its simplicity compared to the huge ecosystem that React has surrounded itself with.

In all situations, frameworks keep changing over time. What is best today is not considered even good few years from now. What is important is to have the logic in a separate, clean manner void of too many framework related dependencies - that way you can switch one framework with another very easily.

3.76k views3.76k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

PostGraphile
PostGraphile
GraphQL Ruby
GraphQL Ruby

Execute one command (or mount one Node.js middleware) and get an instant high-performance GraphQL API for your PostgreSQL database

Get going fast with the graphql gem, battle-tested and trusted by GitHub and Shopify.

instant GraphQL schema via reflection over PostgreSQL database API; compiles complex GraphQL queries into very few SQL statements resulting in high performance; built entirely from plugins - heavily customisable; support for PostgreSQL RBAC and RLS; watch mode (monitors for database schema changes) for great DX; standalone server, express middleware, or GraphQL schema; integration with Express auth via pgSettings (e.g. Passport.js, optional); JWT auth (optional); very strong support for PostgreSQL functions; simple to set up and scale
Define Your Schema - Describe your application with the GraphQL type system to create a self-documenting, strongly-typed API.; Run Queries - Serve queries to build a great UI or webservice.
Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
5.4K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
1.4K
Stacks
85
Stacks
68
Followers
214
Followers
76
Votes
47
Votes
0
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 10
    Postgres based authentication
  • 6
    Great developer support
  • 5
    Lightning fast
  • 5
    Database first with no braking changes
  • 4
    Simple to set up and scale
No community feedback yet
Integrations
Apollo
Apollo
ExpressJS
ExpressJS
Node.js
Node.js
PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL
Koa
Koa
GraphQL
GraphQL
Fastify
Fastify
Relay Framework
Relay Framework
graphql.js
graphql.js
Ruby
Ruby
GraphQL
GraphQL

What are some alternatives to PostGraphile, GraphQL Ruby?

GraphQL

GraphQL

GraphQL is a data query language and runtime designed and used at Facebook to request and deliver data to mobile and web apps since 2012.

Prisma

Prisma

Prisma is an open-source database toolkit. It replaces traditional ORMs and makes database access easy with an auto-generated query builder for TypeScript & Node.js.

OData

OData

It is an ISO/IEC approved, OASIS standard that defines a set of best practices for building and consuming RESTful APIs. It helps you focus on your business logic while building RESTful APIs without having to worry about the various approaches to define request and response headers, status codes, HTTP methods, URL conventions, media types, payload formats, query options, etc.

Oracle PL/SQL

Oracle PL/SQL

It is a powerful, yet straightforward database programming language. It is easy to both write and read, and comes packed with lots of out-of-the-box optimizations and security features.

SQL

SQL

SQL is designed for managing data held in a relational database management system (RDBMS), or for stream processing in a relational data stream management system (RDSMS).

Graphene

Graphene

Graphene is a Python library for building GraphQL schemas/types fast and easily.

JSON API

JSON API

It is most widely used data format for data interchange on the web. This data interchange can happen between two computers applications at different geographical locations or running within same hardware machine.

graphql.js

graphql.js

Lightest GraphQL client with intelligent features. You can download graphql.js directly, or you can use Bower or NPM.

JsonAPI

JsonAPI

t is a format that works with HTTP. A main goal of the specification is to optimize HTTP requests both in terms of the number of requests and the size of data packages exchanged between clients and servers.

Trino

Trino

It is a fast distributed SQL query engine for big data analytics that helps you explore your data universe. It is designed to query large data sets distributed over one or more heterogeneous data sources.

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