Elastic vs Apollo GraphQL Pricing (2026)
How do these two stack up on price? Here's what each one costs, what you get, and where the value sits.
| Elastic | Apollo GraphQL | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts at | Custom | $5/mo |
| Number of plans | 3 | 4 |
| Free plan | — | |
| Free trial | — | |
| Pricing model | usage-based | usage-based |
Elasticsearch
- Build search and vector database applications.
- Serverless
- Hosted
- Self-managed
Elastic Observability
- Monitor health and resolve issues for apps and infrastructure.
- Serverless
- Hosted
- Self-managed
Elastic Security
- Protect, investigate, and respond to cyber threats.
- Serverless
- Hosted
- Self-managed
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.
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.
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)
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
- (Add-on) Premium Support Packages
- (Add-on) Professional Services Packages
Elastic vs Apollo GraphQL 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?
- Apollo GraphQL has a free plan. Elastic doesn't — though they do offer a free trial.
- How do they charge?
- Both use a usage-based model, so the comparison is straightforward — it comes down to features and limits at each price point.
- Which one is a better deal?
- Depends on what you need. Elastic: Elastic sits in the premium-to-enterprise range of the search and observability space, competing with Datadog, Splunk, and OpenSearch-based alternatives. They're not trying to win on price — they're positioning against Splunk on flexibility and against Datadog on breadth across search, observability, and security in one platform. Apollo GraphQL: They're positioned as the accessible entry point into GraphQL federation tooling — $5/mo to start is nearly frictionless compared to enterprise API management suites that require sales calls from day one. The custom-priced tiers exist to compete for platform-level deals against players like Postman or enterprise API gateways once volume and compliance needs escalate.
Still deciding? See the best Elastic alternatives or the best Apollo GraphQL alternatives, ranked with verified pricing.
Keep tabs on both.
We'll monitor pricing changes for Elastic and Apollo GraphQL and let you know when something moves. See how competitor pricing monitoring works.