Apollo Federation vs Schema Stitching

Developers should use Apollo Federation when building large-scale applications with multiple teams or services that need to expose a unified GraphQL API meets developers should use schema stitching when building applications that rely on multiple graphql services or need to integrate data from different sources, such as in microservices architectures or legacy system integrations. Here's our take.

Apollo Federation

Nice Pick

Developers should use Apollo Federation when building large-scale applications with multiple teams or services that need to expose a unified GraphQL API

Pros

• It is ideal for microservices environments where different services own specific data domains, as it enables schema composition and query planning across services
• Related to: graphql, apollo-server

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Schema Stitching

Developers should use schema stitching when building applications that rely on multiple GraphQL services or need to integrate data from different sources, such as in microservices architectures or legacy system integrations

Pros

• It is particularly useful for creating a unified GraphQL gateway that hides backend complexity, improves developer experience, and reduces network overhead by allowing single queries to fetch data from multiple services
• Related to: graphql, apollo-server

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Apollo Federation is a framework while Schema Stitching is a concept. We picked Apollo Federation based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Apollo Federation wins

Based on overall popularity. Apollo Federation is more widely used, but Schema Stitching excels in its own space.