Apollo GraphQL vs GitHub Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
| Apollo GraphQL | GitHub | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | Custom | $4/mo |
| Number of plans | 4 | 3 |
| Free plan | ||
| Free trial | ||
| Pricing model | usage-based | per-seat |
Free
- GraphOS - Apollo's complete API management platform
- Supports any GraphQL API
- Self-hosted GraphOS Router (limited to 60 requests per minute)
- Built-in support for GraphQL Federation, Connectors, Response Caching, Federated Subscriptions, and more.
- Up to 3
- 1 day
- Community Support
Developer
- GraphOS - Apollo's complete API management platform
- Supports any GraphQL API
- Self-hosted GraphOS Router
- Built-in support for GraphQL Federation, Connectors, Response Caching, Federated Subscriptions, and more.
- Up to 10
- 7 days
- Developer Support (8×5, no SLA)
Standard
- GraphOS - Apollo's complete API management platform
- Supports any GraphQL API
- Self-hosted GraphOS Router
- Built-in support for GraphQL Federation, Connectors, Response Caching, Federated Subscriptions, and more.
- Schema Proposals - Collaboration and approval workflows
- Single sign-on (SSO)
- Up to 30
- 90 days
- Standard Support (8×5, with SLA)
Enterprise
- GraphOS - Apollo's complete API management platform
- Supports any GraphQL API
- Self-hosted GraphOS Router
- Built-in support for GraphQL Federation, Connectors, Response Caching, Federated Subscriptions, and more.
- Schema Proposals - Collaboration and approval workflows
- Single sign-on (SSO)
- Audit logging
- Custom MSA
- Unlimited
- 18 months
- Business Support (24×7×365, with SLA)
- (Add-on) Premium Support Packages
- (Add-on) Professional Services Packages
Free
- Unlimited public/private repositories
- Dependabot security and version updates
- 2,000 CI/CD minutes/month
- 500MB of Packages storage
- Issues & Projects
- Community support
- GitHub Codespaces Access
Team
- Access to GitHub Codespaces
- Repository rules
- Multiple reviewers in pull requests
- Draft pull requests
- Code owners
- Required reviewers
- Pages and Wikis
- Environment deployment branches and secrets
- 3,000 CI/CD minutes/month
- 2GB of Packages storage
- Web-based support
- GitHub Secret Protection
- GitHub Code Security
Enterprise
Popular- Data residency
- Enterprise Managed Users
- User provisioning through SCIM
- Enterprise Account to centrally manage multiple organizations
- Environment protection rules
- Repository rules
- Audit Log API
- SOC1, SOC2, type 2 reports annually
- FedRAMP Tailored Authority to Operate (ATO)
- SAML single sign-on
- Advanced auditing
- GitHub Connect
- 50,000 CI/CD minutes/month
- 50GB of Packages storage
- Premium support
Apollo GraphQL vs GitHub FAQ
- Which one is cheaper?
- One or both use custom pricing, so it depends on your specific needs.
- Can I use either one for free?
- Both offer free plans, so you can try each without paying. Start with whichever fits your workflow better and upgrade when you hit the limits.
- How do they charge?
- Different approach here. Apollo GraphQL uses usage-based pricing, while GitHub goes with per-seat. That changes the math depending on your team size and usage.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. Apollo GraphQL: Apollo sits in a premium position for GraphQL infrastructure — they're not competing on being cheap, they're betting on being the de facto standard for federated GraphQL at scale. They're targeting mid-market to enterprise engineering teams who've already bought into the GraphQL ecosystem and need a managed, production-grade layer. GitHub: At $4/seat, Team is aggressively cheap compared to GitLab's equivalent tier and practically a non-decision for any funded team. The 'starting at $21' Enterprise framing signals there's room to negotiate upward, and they're clearly targeting orgs already deep in the GitHub ecosystem rather than trying to poach price-sensitive GitLab or Bitbucket users.
Still deciding? See the best Apollo GraphQL alternatives or the best GitHub alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
Keep tabs on both.
We'll monitor pricing changes for Apollo GraphQL and GitHub and let you know when something moves.