Best GraphQL Headless CMS: 2026 Guide

There is no single best GraphQL headless CMS. The right choice depends on whether GraphQL is the platform's native query layer, an add-on plugin, or something you layer on top through a gateway. This guide evaluates nine platforms on schema design, rate limits, auth, caching posture, and governance so you can make an informed decision for your team.

If you are early in your evaluation, our guide on how to choose a headless CMS covers the broader selection criteria before narrowing to GraphQL specifics.

Best GraphQL Headless CMS in 2026 (Quick Verdict)

No platform wins every scenario. Here are the best picks for the most common team profiles:

Best GraphQL-first CMS for rapid product teams → Hygraph. Built from day one on GraphQL, Hygraph auto-generates its entire API from the schema builder and supports content federation across multiple sources—all through a single GraphQL endpoint. It is the closest any commercial CMS comes to truly GraphQL-native.

Best for enterprise governance + GraphQL → Contentstack. Contentstack's GraphQL Content Delivery API reached general availability with an 80 req/s rate limit for uncached requests (unlimited for CDN-cached), relay-style pagination for references, and enterprise RBAC. For organizations that require workflow approvals, audit trails, and Forrester-validated compliance, Contentstack fits.

Best for high-scale content delivery → Contentful. Contentful's GraphQL API offers a 55 req/s base rate limit (higher on Premium+), persisted queries on Premium plans to bypass the 8 KB query-size cap, and a well-documented complexity limit of 11,000 entities per request. Its CDN-cached responses are not rate-limited.

Best open-source/self-hosted option → Payload CMS. Payload auto-generates a full GraphQL API (queries and mutations) alongside REST and Local APIs from a single TypeScript config. You control depth limits, auth, and rate limiting at the server level. No vendor lock-in, no usage-based pricing.

Best "GraphQL via gateway" approach → Any CMS + Apollo Router or a custom BFF. When the CMS GraphQL API is too limited (missing joins, no federation, restrictive rate limits), place an Apollo Router, Grafbase, or custom Node.js BFF in front. Sanity teams frequently take this route because Sanity's primary API is GROQ, and its GraphQL endpoint requires manual CLI deployment.

Mini Decision Matrix

What "GraphQL-First" Means in Headless CMS

"GraphQL-first" is used loosely in marketing. In practice, it describes a spectrum. Understanding where each CMS falls on this spectrum matters for long-term maintenance, schema evolution, and developer productivity. For definitions of key terms, see our glossary covering GraphQL, BFF, persisted queries, and RBAC.

Auto-Generated vs. Hand-Modeled Schema

Most headless CMS platforms auto-generate their GraphQL schema from the content model you define in the UI or in code. Hygraph generates its schema directly from a visual schema builder and exposes it through a single GraphQL endpoint—queries, mutations, and content federation all route through GraphQL. Contentful, Contentstack, Storyblok, and Kontent.ai also auto-generate delivery schemas from their content type definitions. Payload and Strapi generate schemas from code-defined configurations (TypeScript config and JSON schema respectively).

Sanity is the exception: you define schema-as-code in JavaScript, then manually run sanity graphql deploy via CLI to generate and deploy the GraphQL endpoint. The schema is not automatically kept in sync—any schema change requires redeployment. Sanity's own documentation recommends GROQ as its primary query language, noting that some Sanity Studio schema patterns are more flexible than what GraphQL can represent.

Query Ergonomics: Filtering, Sorting, Pagination

The depth and flexibility of filtering varies significantly. Hygraph provides native filtering across all field types including nested references and polymorphic unions—all through GraphQL. Contentful supports nested filtering (added in late 2023) and pagination via collections with limit and skip. Contentstack uses relay-style connection specification for referenced content, supporting skip and limit on references. Storyblok's GraphQL API supports filtering via starts_with, by_slugs, and content-type-specific parameters, though with less granularity than its REST counterpart. Strapi (v5) supports flat and relay-style _connection queries with filtering, sorting, and aggregation.

Polymorphic Content: Unions and Interfaces

Content polymorphism—where a reference field can point to multiple content types—is handled through GraphQL unions and interfaces. This is critical for page-builder patterns. Hygraph, Contentful, and Contentstack all model this cleanly. Strapi uses fragments with __typename for dynamic zones. Sanity's GraphQL API generates union types from reference fields, though complex schemas with many self-referencing types can hit performance limits during generation (an experimental --with-union-cache flag exists to mitigate this).

Localization and Variants

Most platforms expose localization through the GraphQL API, but the mechanism differs. Contentful supports a locale parameter on queries and field-level locale fallback. Storyblok supports field-level language parameters in GraphQL and starts_with for folder-based i18n. Hygraph supports localization natively within its schema builder with per-field locale configuration. Kontent.ai handles localization at the project environment level. Sanity's GraphQL API does not have built-in locale filtering—teams typically handle this through schema design or GROQ.

Content Delivery vs. Management APIs

A crucial distinction: most CMS platforms offer GraphQL only for content delivery (read-only), not for content management (write operations). Contentful, Contentstack, Storyblok, and Kontent.ai provide GraphQL as a delivery-only API. Their management operations (creating, updating, deleting content) require the REST Management API.

Hygraph is the notable exception—its GraphQL endpoint supports both queries and mutations for read and write operations. Payload and Strapi also expose mutations through their GraphQL APIs. Directus provides both queries and mutations, plus GraphQL subscriptions for real-time updates.

This matters for tooling: if your editors or CI/CD pipelines need to write content programmatically and you want a single API layer, platforms with mutation support reduce the number of API contracts you maintain.

The Real Trade-Offs: GraphQL vs. REST for Headless

Choosing GraphQL for your CMS API layer is not a default-good decision. There are genuine trade-offs that affect caching, security, and operational complexity.

Over-Fetching vs. Complexity

GraphQL's core advantage—requesting exactly the fields you need—reduces payload sizes and eliminates the over-fetching common with REST endpoints that return fixed shapes. For page-builder patterns where a single page may pull content from five different content types, a single GraphQL request replaces five REST calls. The cost is query complexity: deeply nested queries can be expensive to resolve, and complexity limits vary dramatically across platforms (Contentful caps at 11,000 entities; Kontent.ai at 2,000).

Caching and Persisted Queries

REST APIs benefit from straightforward HTTP caching: each URL maps to a cache key. GraphQL POST requests don't cache as cleanly at the CDN layer. Every CMS handles this differently. Contentful and Contentstack both serve CDN-cached GraphQL responses without rate limits—only uncached origin requests count. Contentful offers automatic persisted queries on Premium plans, allowing clients to send a hash instead of the full query, which bypasses the 8 KB size limit and improves CDN cache-ability. Hygraph serves cached responses from a global CDN with no rate limits on cache hits. Storyblok's GraphQL API uses region-specific base URLs with CDN caching.

For teams building with Next.js or Nuxt, ISR (Incremental Static Regeneration) and build-time generation largely sidestep the GraphQL caching challenge by querying at build or revalidation time rather than per-request at the edge.

Security: Introspection, Depth, and Cost Attacks

GraphQL introspection exposes your entire schema. In production, disabling introspection is a standard hardening step for self-hosted platforms (Payload, Strapi, Directus). For managed CMS platforms, introspection is typically available by design since the schema reflects your content model.

Depth and complexity limits are the primary defense against query cost attacks. Strapi defaults to a depth limit of 7 and an item limit of 100. Kontent.ai enforces a complexity cap of 2,000 and a nesting depth of 124. Contentful uses a complexity-based system capped at 11,000 entities. Contentstack limits single requests to 7,500 records. Hygraph enforces rate limits on uncached requests that vary by plan, with configurable limits on enterprise/dedicated clusters.

Developer Experience and Tooling

GraphQL provides strong typing, introspection-driven documentation, and excellent codegen support. Tools like graphql-codegen can generate TypeScript types directly from your CMS schema, eliminating manual type maintenance. This pairs well with CMS platforms that provide stable, auto-generated schemas. Payload takes this further by outputting a schema.graphql file alongside TypeScript types from a single configuration. Hygraph's schema is always current since it's generated from the content model in real time.

Evaluation Scorecard (GraphQL Edition)

Use the following weighted criteria when evaluating a CMS for GraphQL-first architecture. Adjust weights based on your team's priorities.

When scoring, pay special attention to plan gating. Features like persisted queries (Contentful Premium+), dedicated clusters (Hygraph Enterprise), or higher rate limits (Contentstack custom plans) can dramatically change the economics of your GraphQL integration. See our headless CMS pricing and plan tiers guide for current plan comparisons.

Shortlist — Best Headless CMS for GraphQL-First APIs (2026)

Hygraph

Overview: The original GraphQL-native headless CMS, built from the ground up on GraphQL with content federation support.

GraphQL model: Native. GraphQL is the primary and only API. Queries, mutations, and content federation all operate through a single GraphQL endpoint.

Strengths: True GraphQL-native architecture; remote sources allow federating external REST and GraphQL APIs into one schema; schema builder with components, relations, and localization; global CDN with no limits on cached requests; management SDK for programmatic schema migrations.

Constraints/limits: Rate limits on uncached requests vary by plan (configurable on dedicated clusters and enterprise plans). Smaller integration marketplace compared to Contentful. No native visual editor (structured content focus).

When NOT to choose it: If your editorial team requires a visual page builder or if you need an ecosystem of pre-built integrations comparable to Contentful's marketplace.

Sources: hygraph.com/docs/api-reference/basics/rate-limits, hygraph.com/docs/api-reference/basics/api-limits, hygraph.com/for-developers

Contentful

Overview: Pioneer headless CMS with mature GraphQL Content Delivery API, large ecosystem, and enterprise adoption.

GraphQL model: Native delivery API. GraphQL is read-only for content delivery. Management operations require the REST API.

Strengths: Automatic persisted queries (Premium+ plans) bypass the 8 KB query-size limit. Complexity limit of 11,000 entities per request. CDN-cached responses are unlimited. Nested filtering support. 55 req/s base rate limit (higher on Premium+). Broad ecosystem: apps, SDKs, and framework starters.

Constraints/limits: 8 KB query-size cap on non-Premium plans. No GraphQL mutations—content writes require REST. Rich Text field complexity can escalate quickly (default 1,000 linked entities per Rich Text field). Persisted queries are gated to Premium plans.

When NOT to choose it: If you need a unified GraphQL API for both reading and writing content, or if your team is on the Lite plan and runs complex queries that hit the 8 KB cap.

Sources: contentful.com/developers/docs/references/graphql/, contentful.com/blog/new-graphql-api-features-one-call-to-rule-them-all/

Contentstack

Overview: Enterprise headless CMS recognized as a Forrester CMS Leader (Q1 2025) with GraphQL Content Delivery API at general availability.

GraphQL model: Native delivery API. GraphQL is read-only. Management uses REST.

Strengths: 80 req/s rate limit for uncached GraphQL (no limit on CDN-cached). Relay-style pagination for references. Can query up to 3 content types per request. Strong RBAC, workflow approvals, and audit logging for enterprise governance. Branch support for multi-environment development.

Constraints/limits: Maximum 7,500 records per single GraphQL query. Limited to 3 content types per request. Introspection schema limited to first 100 content types. Enterprise pricing not publicly listed. GraphQL was in beta for an extended period before GA.

When NOT to choose it: If you have more than 100 content types and rely heavily on introspection, or if you need a self-hosted or open-source solution.

Sources: contentstack.com/docs/developers/apis/graphql-content-delivery-api, contentstack.com/blog/product-updates/graphql-content-delivery-api-general-availability

Storyblok

Overview: Visual-editing headless CMS with GraphQL as a content delivery option alongside its primary REST API.

GraphQL model: Native delivery API (read-only). Storyblok's own documentation recommends REST for new projects, noting it is more feature-rich than the GraphQL API.

Strengths: Auto-generated schema from content types (e.g., PageItem / PageItems). Region-specific GraphQL endpoints. Field-level language parameters for multi-language content. Strong visual editor and component-based content modeling. GraphQL API v2 with updated ID format (Snowflake-based, rolled out June 2025).

Constraints/limits: GraphQL is read-only and less feature-rich than the REST API. Cannot filter deeply into nested blocks fields. No mutations via GraphQL. Plan gating: GraphQL content delivery API availability may be restricted on lower-tier plans.

When NOT to choose it: If GraphQL is your team's primary API and you need parity with REST features, or if you need write operations through GraphQL.

Sources: storyblok.com/docs/api/graphql, storyblok.com/docs/api

Sanity

Overview: Developer-centric CMS with schema-as-code, real-time Content Lake, and GROQ as its primary query language.

GraphQL model: Generated and deployed manually via CLI (sanity graphql deploy). Not the primary API—GROQ is recommended.

Strengths: Schema-as-code with full version control. GraphQL API versions (latest: 2025-02-19) with perspectives support for Content Releases. Can deploy multiple GraphQL APIs per project with tags. Supports is_defined filter. CDN-available via API CDN endpoint.

Constraints/limits: Schema changes require manual redeployment via CLI. Some Sanity Studio schema patterns cannot be represented in GraphQL (anonymous inline objects need naming). GROQ is more capable for Sanity's data model. Breaking change detection during deploy requires --force for CI/CD. GraphQL Playground is public by default (disable with --no-playground).

When NOT to choose it: If your team expects automatic schema sync or if GraphQL is the only API your frontend team wants to use. GROQ proficiency is effectively required for Sanity projects.

Sources: sanity.io/docs/content-lake/graphql, sanity.io/docs/cli-graphql, sanity.io/docs/content-lake/graphql/changelog

Payload CMS

Overview: Open-source, TypeScript-native headless CMS that installs directly into Next.js apps with auto-generated GraphQL, REST, and Local APIs.

GraphQL model: Native. Full GraphQL API with queries and mutations, auto-generated from TypeScript collection and global configs.

Strengths: Unified query language across GraphQL, REST, and Local APIs. Custom queries and mutations via config. Schema output to schema.graphql file for codegen. GraphQL Playground included. Built-in auth, RBAC, and version history. No vendor lock-in—self-hosted on any Node.js infrastructure. GraphQL overhead is zero if unused (lazy initialization in 3.0+).

Constraints/limits: Self-hosted: you manage infrastructure, CDN, scaling, and rate limiting. No managed cloud option from Payload (though deployable on Vercel, Railway, etc.). No built-in CDN caching layer for the GraphQL endpoint. Smaller community compared to Strapi.

When NOT to choose it: If you need a fully managed, CDN-backed content delivery network with zero infrastructure responsibility.

Sources: payloadcms.com/docs/graphql/overview, payloadcms.com/docs/getting-started/concepts, payloadcms.com/docs/graphql/extending

Strapi

Overview: Popular open-source headless CMS with GraphQL support via official plugin built on Apollo Server 4.

GraphQL model: Add-on plugin (@strapi/plugin-graphql). Adds a /graphql endpoint with auto-generated schema (Shadow CRUD).

Strengths: Full queries and mutations. Strapi v5 supports flat and relay-style _connection queries. Draft/publish status filtering via GraphQL. Dynamic zone support with union types. Aggregation support. Configurable depth limit, item limit, and Apollo Server options. Open source with self-hosting and Strapi Cloud options.

Constraints/limits: Default depth limit of 7. Default item limit of 100 (configurable but warned against increasing due to DDoS risk). GraphQL does not support media upload—must use REST. Apollo Server 4 dependency. documentId replaces numeric id in v5 (migration required from v4). Stability has been a stated priority focus through 2026 per Strapi's own blog.

When NOT to choose it: If you need a production-hardened, deeply optimized GraphQL layer with persisted queries and CDN integration out of the box.

Sources: docs.strapi.io/cms/plugins/graphql, docs.strapi.io/cms/api/graphql, strapi.io/blog/commitment-to-a-even-more-robust-strapi

Kontent.ai

Overview: Cloud headless CMS with native Delivery GraphQL API, strong editorial workflow, and taxonomy support.

GraphQL model: Native delivery API (read-only). Management operations use REST.

Strengths: Dynamically generated schema (always current with content model). CDN-cached delivery. Preview API endpoint for unpublished content. Taxonomy concept filtering via GraphQL. Environment-scoped API keys. Complexity and depth limits clearly documented.

Constraints/limits: Complexity cap of 2,000 per request (lower than Contentful's 11,000). Nesting depth limit of 124. Maximum POST body size of 8 KB; GET limited by 2,000-character URL length. No GraphQL mutations. No persisted queries documented.

When NOT to choose it: If your pages require deeply nested content graphs that regularly exceed 2,000 complexity, or if you need write access through GraphQL.

Sources: kontent.ai/learn/docs/apis/delivery-graphql-api

Directus

Overview: Open-source data platform that wraps any SQL database with instant REST and GraphQL APIs.

GraphQL model: Native. Auto-generated from your data model with queries, mutations, and GraphQL subscriptions (real-time via WebSocket).

Strengths: Database-agnostic (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, MariaDB, MS-SQL, CockroachDB). Real-time GraphQL subscriptions for live data. Full CRUD through GraphQL. Role-based permissions respected across GraphQL. Self-hostable with BSL license (free for orgs under $5M revenue). Directus Cloud from $15/month.

Constraints/limits: GraphQL sits on top of the REST layer rather than being an independent engine. Enterprise-oriented features may require Directus Cloud or Enterprise license. Less CMS-specific than competitors (it's a general-purpose backend). No persisted query support documented.

When NOT to choose it: If you need a purpose-built content management experience with editorial workflows, visual preview, and rich CMS-specific tooling.

Sources: directus.io/features/graphql-apis, docs.directus.io/guides/real-time/subscriptions/graphql

Comparison Table

Architecture Blueprint — "GraphQL in Front of a Headless CMS"

When the CMS's native GraphQL API meets your needs, connect directly. When it doesn't—due to rate limits, missing joins, or schema federation requirements—add a gateway layer. For framework integration patterns, see our guide to using a headless CMS with Next.js, Nuxt, or Astro.

Direct CMS GraphQL vs. Gateway/BFF

Option A: Direct CMS GraphQL

[Frontend SSR/SSG] ──GraphQL──▶ [CMS GraphQL API] ──CDN──▶ [Origin]

Option B: GraphQL Gateway / BFF

[Frontend SSR/SSG] ──GraphQL──▶ [Gateway/BFF Layer]
├──▶ [CMS REST or GraphQL API]
├──▶ [Search Service]
├──▶ [Commerce API]
└──▶ [Analytics API]

When to use Option A (direct): Single content source; CMS GraphQL API covers your query needs; CDN caching is sufficient; team wants minimal infrastructure.

When to use Option B (gateway/BFF): Multiple data sources (CMS + commerce + search); need schema stitching or federation; CMS rate limits are too restrictive for your traffic; need custom resolvers for business logic; security requirements mandate an intermediate layer.

For Option B, Apollo Router (for federation), Grafbase, or a custom Node.js server with graphql-yoga or apollo-server are common choices.

Caching Strategy

A three-layer caching approach works for most headless CMS + GraphQL architectures:

Layer 1 — CMS CDN. All major cloud CMS platforms cache GraphQL responses at their CDN edge. Cached requests are not rate-limited on Contentful, Contentstack, and Hygraph. Leverage this by ensuring your queries are deterministic and cache-friendly.

Layer 2 — ISR / Build-time. If using Next.js, Nuxt, or Astro, resolve GraphQL queries at build time or during ISR revalidation. This eliminates per-visitor API calls entirely. Webhook-triggered revalidation keeps content fresh.

Layer 3 — Edge / Persisted queries. For platforms that support persisted queries (Contentful Premium+), clients send a query hash instead of the full query body. This improves CDN cache hit rates and reduces payload sizes. For self-hosted platforms (Payload, Strapi), implement persisted queries at your gateway layer using Apollo's Automatic Persisted Queries protocol.

Observability and Security Checklist

Observability:

• Track query latency by operation name (not just endpoint)
• Monitor complexity/cost headers returned by the CMS (Contentful returns X-Contentful-Graphql-Query-Cost; Kontent.ai returns X-Complexity)
• Set alerts on rate-limit responses (HTTP 429)
• Log query patterns to identify N+1 or overly complex queries

Security checklist for production:

• Disable introspection in production for self-hosted platforms (Payload, Strapi, Directus)
• Enforce depth limits (Strapi default: 7; adjust per requirements)
• Implement query allowlisting if using a gateway/BFF
• Use delivery tokens (read-only) for client-facing requests; never expose management tokens
• Enable rate limiting at the gateway layer for self-hosted setups
• Review CORS configuration on GraphQL endpoints
• Audit token scopes: environment-specific tokens where available (Contentful, Contentstack, Kontent.ai)

Implementation Plan (30–60 Days)

Week 0–1: Requirements + API Evaluation

• Define your GraphQL requirements: delivery-only or delivery + management? Real-time subscriptions needed?
• Identify data sources: single CMS or CMS + commerce + search?
• Decision: direct CMS GraphQL or gateway/BFF approach?
• Evaluate 2–3 shortlisted platforms against the scorecard above
• Run proof-of-concept queries in each platform's GraphQL playground
• Test rate limits and complexity caps against your largest content pages
• Compare platforms side by side using verified 2026 data

Week 2–3: Content Model + Schema Contract + Codegen

• Design content model with GraphQL consumption in mind (name all object types explicitly; avoid patterns that break GraphQL generation)
• For Sanity: ensure all inline objects are named and declared at top-level scope
• Set up graphql-codegen to generate TypeScript types from the CMS schema
• Establish schema contract: document expected query shapes, complexity budgets, and pagination approach
• For self-hosted platforms: configure depth and complexity limits in your server config

Week 3–4: Auth/RBAC Mapping + Performance Controls

• Map editorial roles to API token scopes (delivery vs. preview vs. management)
• Configure environment-specific tokens (Contentful, Contentstack, Kontent.ai)
• For Payload/Strapi/Directus: configure RBAC in the admin panel and verify GraphQL respects permissions
• Implement caching strategy: CDN layer + ISR/SSG + persisted queries where available
• Set up webhook-triggered revalidation for content publish events
• Test under load: verify rate limit headroom and cache hit ratios

Week 5–8: Monitoring, Rollout, and Training

• Deploy observability: query latency dashboards, 429 alert thresholds, complexity tracking
• Security hardening: disable introspection in production (self-hosted), audit token exposure, CORS lockdown
• Train editorial team on content model constraints that affect GraphQL (e.g., reference depth, component nesting)
• Document runbook: how to diagnose slow queries, handle rate limit spikes, and roll back schema changes
• Ship first production release; monitor for 2 weeks before declaring stable

Success Metrics

• API latency (p95): < 200ms for cached, < 500ms for uncached GraphQL responses
• Cache hit rate: > 90% for production delivery queries
• Editor velocity: Time to publish content should not increase vs. previous CMS
• Incident rate: Zero GraphQL-related outages in the first 60 days
• Developer onboarding: New developer productive with codegen + queries within 1 day