GraphQL - what are the benefits?

Easit GO

Two popular architectures used to manage data exchanges between clients and servers are REST (Representational State Transfer) and GraphQL. GraphQL has emerged as a powerful alternative to the more traditional REST API, providing unique benefits that can streamline the development process and improve application performance.

So what is GraphQL?

GraphQL is a query language and runtime execution environment for your APIs that allows clients to precisely define what data they need from an API. This often eliminates both over- and under-fetching of data, which is common in traditional REST APIs.

The biggest advantage for GO is that with GraphQL there is no need to configure export views and import managers. This makes the integrators more independent and frees up time from Designers.

In an integration project with REST, there is a lot of changing and screwing in many iterations and it often takes up two people because the designer is not the one who develops the integration and vice versa. You often have to wait for your colleague to have time to fix and tinker on their side. With GraphQL, in other words, the integrator can work independently.

General advantages of GraphQL over REST API

Efficient data retrieval

One of the biggest advantages of GraphQL is its ability to reduce the number of network calls by allowing clients to retrieve exactly the data they need with a single request. Unlike REST, where you may need to make multiple requests to different endpoints to gather the data you need, GraphQL can accomplish this in a single network call.

Reduced over- and under-fetching of data

GraphQL reduces over- and under-collection of data. Overfetching means you get more data than you actually need, while underfetching means you don't get enough data, forcing additional network calls. With GraphQL, the client specifies exactly what data is needed, making data exchange much more efficient.

Faster product development cycle

Because GraphQL allows front-end developers to retrieve data more independently, without having to constantly ask back-end developers to create or modify endpoints, product development cycles can be faster and smoother.

Strong typing and introspection

GraphQL's schema is strongly typed, and each API query is validated and executed within the defined schema. This reduces the risk of errors and makes the API more predictable. In addition, GraphQL's introspection capability allows clients to query for the type of information available, making it easier to build and maintain client applications.

Flexibility and scalability

With GraphQL, developers can easily add new fields and types to the GraphQL schema without affecting the existing queries. This provides great flexibility and makes it easier to iterate quickly on applications without breaking backward compatibility.

Executive summary

GraphQL offers many advantages over traditional REST APIs, including efficient data retrieval, reduced over- and under-fetching, faster product development cycles, and strong typing and introspection. These advantages make GraphQL an attractive choice for modern application development where efficiency and flexibility are paramount.

If you want to know more, you can read more here and if you want to get started with this API, contact us and we will help you.