# Apollo GraphOS

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/federation/apollo-graphos/

Schema registry, router and observability for a federated GraphQL graph, billed by request volume rather than by seat.

## Who it suits

A federated graph whose traffic is spiky or unknown, where a $0 plan base and $5 per million requests means the bill tracks usage instead of a tier — and where metering subscription update events separately is a feature rather than a surprise.

Consider something else if You want a fixed number to budget. Apollo's price moves with every query and mutation whichever runtime processes them, and subscription events are counted on top; a flat plan at a higher headline figure can cost less and is easier to forecast.

## What the documentation says

### Pricing

- Free tier: Yes ([source](https://www.apollographql.com/pricing), read 2026-09-15)
- What the free plan includes: A self-hosted router rate-limited to 60 requests per minute, up to 3 developers, one day of retention for checks and insights, and community support. Federation, connectors, response caching and federated subscriptions are all included at this tier. ([source](https://www.apollographql.com/pricing), read 2026-09-15)
- Entry paid plan: Developer starts at $5 per million requests, billed monthly, with a $0 plan base price and automatic volume discounts — a per-request rate rather than a plan fee, so no magnitude is recorded. New signups get $50 of usage credit and a card is required. ([source](https://www.apollographql.com/pricing), read 2026-09-15)
- Pricing model: Per request, with a $0 plan base. Every query and mutation counts as a standard operation whichever runtime processes it, and subscription update events are metered independently on top. ([source](https://www.apollographql.com/pricing), read 2026-09-15)

### Data

- Real-time subscriptions: Federated subscriptions on every tier including the free one, but metered separately: update events are counted independently of standard operations and priced per million. ([source](https://www.apollographql.com/pricing), read 2026-09-15)

### Observability

- Self-hostable: Supported ([source](https://www.apollographql.com/pricing), read 2026-09-15)

## Compared with

- [Apollo GraphOS vs WunderGraph Cosmo](https://inetgeek.com/compare/apollo-graphos-vs-wundergraph-cosmo/)
- [Apollo GraphOS vs Grafbase](https://inetgeek.com/compare/apollo-graphos-vs-grafbase/)