Relay

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Freedom report

Two barsScore 5.6

Free tierNo free tier on record
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely3 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedPlans, terms and facts published

Relay is ranked #12 of 25 in GraphQL tools on Freedom251. It runs on Android, iOS, Web.

Compared on GraphQL tools

Free plan: Yes
Client code generation: Yes
Operation testing: Yes
Server languages: JavaScript, TypeScript, Flow

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The record

Product: Relay is a GraphQL client for React that combines component data needs into efficient pre-loadable queries.
Declarative data: Components declare the data they need, and Relay generates optimized queries for them.
Built-in UI patterns: Relay supports loading states, pagination, refetching, optimistic updates, and rollbacks.
Shared state: Relay maintains a normalized data store that keeps components observing the same data in sync.
Type safety: Relay generates TypeScript types for GraphQL snippets to catch errors statically.
Streaming: Relay can defer parts of a query and progressively re-render the UI as data streams in.
Editor support: Relay editor support provides GraphQL schema autocompletion and go-to-definition.
Network transports: Developers can configure HTTP, WebSockets, and application-appropriate authentication through Relay's network layer.
Network customization: The network layer can be customized for behaviors such as network-level caching, telemetry, or form-data uploads for mutations.
Security guidance: Relay recommends persisted queries, also called trusted documents, to restrict clients to queries locked in at build time.
Production setup: The production guide recommends running the Relay Compiler in CI and keeping generated artifacts in source control.
Company and project: The site identifies Meta Platforms, Inc. in its copyright notice and says Relay was built in tandem with GraphQL and is used at Facebook scale.
Data consistency: Relay maintains a normalized data store so components observing the same data stay in sync.
Optimizations: Relay aggregates and optimizes component data requirements, including deduplicating identical fields for efficient GraphQL requests.

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best GraphQL Tools in 2026#12 of 25

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Sources

relay.dev/docs/· checked 2 Oct 2026
relay.dev/docs/guides/network-layer/· checked 2 Oct 2026
relay.dev/docs/next/getting-started/production/· checked 2 Oct 2026
relay.dev· checked 2 Oct 2026
relay.dev/docs/getting-started/quick-start/· checked 3 Oct 2026
relay.dev/docs/v14.0.0/· checked 3 Oct 2026