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APIs · head to head

Apollo GraphQL vs Skyflow

Apollo GraphQL logo

Apollo GraphQL

APIs

GraphQL platform and API orchestration layer for building unified graphs

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Skyflow logo

Skyflow

APIs

Data privacy vault that holds sensitive records outside your own systems

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Apollo GraphQL has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Apollo GraphQL pricing beyond the Developer tier requires contacting sales, making cost comparison harder for mid-size teams.; Skyflow reported contracts near 195,000 US dollars a year with a platform fee before usage put this out of reach of early stage companies, which are precisely the ones whose architecture is still cheap to change.
  • They diverge on capability: Apollo GraphQL covers Apollo Connectors, Skyflow covers Tokenised storage.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Apollo GraphQL and Skyflow actually diverge.

Attributes where Apollo GraphQL and Skyflow differ
AttributeApollo GraphQLSkyflow
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreemiumquote
Free tierYesNo
Platformsweb, apiAPI, Web, Self-hosted

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (APIs).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Apollo GraphQL

  • Apollo Connectors
  • GraphOS Router
  • Schema registry
  • Schema checks
  • Response caching
  • Audit logging

Only in Skyflow

  • Tokenised storage
  • Polymorphic encryption
  • Field level access policies
  • Data residency
  • Secure functions
  • PCI scope reduction
  • Detokenisation gateway
  • Audit trail

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Apollo GraphQL

  • Federating multiple backend services into one GraphQL APInot Skyflow
  • Wrapping legacy REST APIs for frontend consumptionnot Skyflow
  • Enterprise API governance with schema checks and audit logsnot Skyflow
  • Reducing frontend over-fetching and under-fetching of datanot Skyflow

Skyflow

  • A fintech that wants card and bank account data out of its own infrastructure so its application servers leave PCI DSS assessment scopenot Apollo GraphQL
  • A company entering India or the EU with data localisation obligations that would otherwise require standing up regional databases and operationsnot Apollo GraphQL
  • A health technology business that needs protected health information isolated from the analytics stack while still supporting aggregate reportingnot Apollo GraphQL
  • An engineering team that wants support agents to see masked identifiers and payment services to see real ones, enforced centrally rather than in every servicenot Apollo GraphQL

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Apollo GraphQL

  • Pricing beyond the Developer tier requires contacting sales, making cost comparison harder for mid-size teams.
  • Adopting GraphOS effectively requires buy-in to the GraphQL paradigm, which is a larger architectural shift than adding a REST gateway.
  • The free plan's 1-day data retention and 60 req/min self-hosted router limit make it unsuitable for production use.
  • Volume-based per-request pricing can become expensive at very high request volumes compared to flat-rate API gateways.

Skyflow

  • Reported contracts near 195,000 US dollars a year with a platform fee before usage put this out of reach of early stage companies, which are precisely the ones whose architecture is still cheap to change.
  • Every read of a protected field becomes a network call to a third party, so latency and an external availability dependency enter paths that were previously local database reads, and outage planning has to account for a vendor you do not control.
  • Analytics and joins on vaulted data are constrained; work that was a simple SQL join now happens through secure functions or on tokens, and data teams routinely discover this after the engineering team has committed.
  • Unwinding the vault later is a rewrite rather than a migration because tokens are threaded through every service, so the switching cost climbs steadily and the negotiating position at renewal weakens with each release.
  • Scope reduction is an architectural claim your own assessor must accept, so the audit saving is real only if the implementation genuinely keeps sensitive values off your systems, and partial implementations that leave a cache or a log line in place deliver the cost without the benefit.

Pricing, plan by plan

Apollo GraphQL

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to 3 developers
    • 1-day data retention
    • Community support
  • Developer$5/month
    • $5 per million requests with volume discounts
    • $50 usage credit for new signups
    • Up to 10 developers
  • Standard$undefined/month
    • Up to 30 developers
    • 90-day data retention
    • Standard support with SLA
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Unlimited developers
    • 18-month data retention
    • 24x7x365 support with SLA

Skyflow

On request
  • Skyflow Data Privacy Vault$undefined/year
    • Platform fee plus usage by data subject count
    • Priced additionally per data residency region
    • PCI Level 1, SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001 and HIPAA coverage

Which should you pick?

Choose Apollo GraphQL if

  • You need apollo connectors.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, api.
  • You also want graphos router.
Apollo GraphQL review

Choose Skyflow if

  • You need tokenised storage.
  • You work on API, Web, Self-hosted.
  • You also want polymorphic encryption.
Skyflow review

Questions people ask

Is Apollo GraphQL or Skyflow better?
Neither clearly leads. Apollo GraphQL starts at Free and Skyflow at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Apollo GraphQL or Skyflow?
Apollo GraphQL has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Apollo GraphQL and On request for Skyflow.
Does Apollo GraphQL or Skyflow run on more platforms?
Apollo GraphQL runs on web, api. Skyflow runs on API, Web, Self-hosted.
Can I use Apollo GraphQL for free?
Yes. Apollo GraphQL has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Skyflow starts at On request.
What is Apollo GraphQL best used for?
Apollo GraphQL is most often used for federating multiple backend services into one graphql api, wrapping legacy rest apis for frontend consumption, enterprise api governance with schema checks and audit logs, reducing frontend over-fetching and under-fetching of data. Of those, federating multiple backend services into one graphql api and wrapping legacy rest apis for frontend consumption are not what Skyflow is typically brought in for.
What can Apollo GraphQL do that Skyflow cannot?
Apollo GraphQL covers Apollo Connectors, GraphOS Router, Schema registry, Schema checks. Skyflow covers Tokenised storage, Polymorphic encryption, Field level access policies, Data residency.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Apollo GraphQL: What does Apollo GraphQL cost?

The Free plan supports up to 3 developers at no cost. Developer plan starts at $5 per million requests with a $50 signup credit, while Standard and Enterprise require contacting sales for custom pricing.

Source
Skyflow: Does Skyflow really take my systems out of PCI scope?

It can, if card data never touches your infrastructure and the detokenisation happens at the boundary. Your QSA has to agree the design, so validate the architecture with your assessor before signing.

Apollo GraphQL: Is there a free plan and what are its limits?

Yes, the Free 'Forever Free' plan supports up to 3 developers, 1-day data retention for checks and insights, and a self-hosted router capped at 60 requests per minute.

Source
Skyflow: What does it cost?

Nothing is published. Reported annual contracts sit around 195,000 US dollars, built from a platform fee plus usage by data subject count and additional charges per data residency region.

Apollo GraphQL: How is usage metered on paid plans?

Standard requests are billed per million operations with tiered volume discounts, starting at $5.00/million for the first 250M and dropping to $3.00/million beyond 5B, with similar tiered pricing for subscription update events.

Source
Skyflow: How does it help with data localisation?

Records can be pinned to a specified region, so an Indian or EU residency requirement is met by the vault rather than by you running regional databases and operations teams.

Skyflow: Can I still run analytics on vaulted data?

Partly. Aggregates and comparisons are supported through polymorphic encryption and secure functions, but arbitrary joins against other datasets are harder than they were, and this is the most common late surprise.

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