Stellate
Stellate provides managed edge caching, observability, and security for GraphQL APIs via a Fastly-powered global edge network, serving 400+ startups and enterprises across e-commerce, media, and developer-tooling sectors. The product is now operated under The Guild following its 2024 acquisition.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2020
- HeadquartersMiddletown, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Stellate does
Stellate is a managed GraphQL infrastructure platform that provides edge caching, real-time observability, and security for GraphQL APIs. Its core technology sits in front of a customer's existing GraphQL server and routes traffic through 102 Fastly-powered edge POPs, using proprietary Partial Query Caching logic to automatically split queries and maximize cacheable content. The platform reports up to 99% origin traffic reduction, up to 90% API response-time reduction, and ~50ms global p95 latency. Complementary products include GraphQL Metrics (observability with 5-line-code integration), GraphQL Security (rate limiting, persisted operations, suggestion masking), and a GraphQL Developer Portal for external API access.
The company sells primarily through a product-led growth motion with a free tier (up to 100k requests/month), a Business tier starting at $249/month, and custom enterprise contracts with SAML SSO, 99.99% uptime SLA, and white-glove onboarding. Usage-based overages apply for metrics, edge caching, and rate limiting beyond plan limits. Customer base of 400+ spans e-commerce (PUMA, Italic, Vendure), news and media (Drive, FLOOD Magazine, Patronage), developer platforms (Hashnode, InnerSpace), and travel (Airheart). Distribution combines self-service signup (GitHub/GitLab OAuth), direct enterprise sales, and an agency partner program. Marketing is content-led through a technical blog, developer documentation, an active Discord community, and case studies with quantified outcomes.
Stellate was founded by Max Stoiber (creator of multiple GraphQL OSS projects), rebranded from GraphCDN, and acquired by The Guild — the maintainers of GraphiQL, GraphQL Yoga, Envelop, and GraphQL Mesh — in September 2024. The company has raised over $30M cumulatively across a 2021 seed, a $5M Series A from boldstart, and a $25M Series B led by Tiger Global, with strategic angel participation from leaders at Vercel, Netlify, GitHub, Algolia, Snyk, Prisma, Apollo, and Gatsby. Stellate holds SOC 2 Type 2 and GDPR compliance certifications and operates with a small 11–50 person team, now operating as a product line within The Guild's GraphQL platform portfolio.
Stellate firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Stellate
- Legal name
- Stellate
- Website
- https://stellate.co
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2020
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Stellate provides managed edge caching, observability, and security for GraphQL APIs via a Fastly-powered global edge network, serving 400+ startups and enterprises across e-commerce, media, and developer-tooling sectors. The product is now operated under The Guild following its 2024 acquisition.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Stellate industry classification
Industry- Product category
- GraphQL API Management Platform
- NAICS
- Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (518), Custom Computer Programming Services (541511), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151)
- SIC
- Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)
- akta.pro primary industry
- API Gateway & Edge API Management (Rate Limiting, Auth at Edge) (HDABAGAL)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- GraphQL, gRPC & Modern API Protocols (BPAMAOAK), Edge Storage & Data Management (Caching, Backup, Local Data Lakes) (HDABAOAD), Data Engineering, Integration & ETL/ELT Services (BPAEAHAB)
Keywords
Where Stellate is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Middletown
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Stellate business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Infrastructure, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- GraphQL Edge Caching & Metrics (SaaS): Subscription-based SaaS pricing with tiered plans (Free, Business, Enterprise). Revenue is generated through monthly/annual subscriptions based on request volume and feature access. Business tier starts at $249/month with additional charges for metrics and edge caching requests. Enterprise pricing is custom/individual.
- Usage-based Add-ons: Additional requests beyond plan limits are billed at $10/month per 1M metrics requests and $5/month per 1M edge caching requests. Usage-based overage charges supplement the base subscription.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier for indie hackers and side projects with up to 100k requests/month |
| Subscription | Monthly | Business tier at $249/month for growing and established teams |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Enterprise tier with individual pricing for large companies |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels8 records
Stellate product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Stellate provides a unified GraphQL API management platform delivered as a SaaS service. It offers edge caching, real-time observability, and security features for GraphQL APIs, operating on Fastly's global edge network across 102 worldwide locations. The platform reduces origin API traffic by up to 99% and improves API response times by up to 90% through proprietary Partial Query Caching technology.
Product overview
Stellate is a unified GraphQL API management platform consisting of three core products: GraphQL Edge Caching (for performance optimization through global edge caching), GraphQL Metrics (for real-time observability and performance monitoring), and GraphQL Security (for rate limiting and protection against abuse). The platform operates at 102 worldwide edge locations powered by Fastly, serving over 400 startups and enterprises processing billions of requests monthly. Additional offerings include a GraphQL Developer Portal for third-party API access, a Persisted Operations Registry for enhanced security, and an Enterprise tier with SSO and SLA guarantees. Formerly known as GraphCDN, the company was acquired by The Guild (maintainers of GraphiQL, urql, Pothos) in September 2024.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- GraphQL Edge Caching Flagship edge caching solution that caches GraphQL queries at 102 worldwide edge locations powered by Fastly. Reduces origin traffic by up to 99% and API response times by up to 90%, achieving ~50ms global p95 response times. Supports partial query caching, automatic mutation invalidation, and fine-grained cache control for businesses running GraphQL APIs.
- GraphQL Metrics Real-time observability platform for GraphQL APIs that requires only 5 lines of code to implement. Provides insights into usage, performance, errors, cache hit rates, and custom attribute tracking. Includes request tracking, latency monitoring, error replay, and schema usage analytics for development teams running GraphQL APIs.
- GraphQL Security Enterprise-grade security suite for GraphQL APIs that includes request-based and complexity-based rate limiting, persisted operations registry, security filters, and suggestion masking. Operates at the edge without requiring code changes, protecting against scrapers, traffic spikes, and escalating infrastructure costs for businesses running GraphQL APIs.
- GraphQL Developer Portal Self-service portal that allows companies to give third-party developers access to their GraphQL APIs. Includes documentation, schema exploration, and sandbox environments for API provider companies.
- CLI Tools
Quantifiable outcome
- Reduce origin traffic by up to 99%
- +6 more outcomes
Companies that use Stellate
Customer profileNamed customers13 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Stellate technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration9 records
Feature7 records
Stellate partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
15 partnerships are on record, tiered core infrastructure, flagship, core, supported and core use case.
- Fastlycore infrastructureFastly provides the underlying edge network infrastructure for Stellate's global caching and delivery. Stellate operates on Fastly's edge compute platform with 102 global Points of Presence, enabling low-latency GraphQL caching worldwide.
- The GuildflagshipStellate was acquired by The Guild (September 2024). The Guild is the company behind popular GraphQL tools including GraphQL Yoga, Envelop, GraphQL Mesh, and GraphiQL. Stellate is now operated as part of The Guild's ecosystem.
- GraphQL YogacoreStellate provides an official GraphQL Yoga Metrics Plugin for observability integration with The Guild's GraphQL Yoga server.
- Apollo ServercoreStellate provides an official Apollo Server Metrics Plugin for observability integration.
- GraphQL MeshcoreStellate provides an official GraphQL Mesh Metrics Plugin for observability integration with The Guild's Mesh gateway framework.
- GraphQL EnvelopcoreStellate provides an official Envelop Metrics Plugin for observability integration with The Guild's GraphQL plugin system.
- GraphQL RubysupportedStellate provides an official Ruby Metrics Plugin (gem) for GraphQL Ruby integration.
- Strawberry PythonsupportedStellate provides an official Strawberry Python Metrics Plugin for Python GraphQL integration.
- Hasuracore use caseStellate provides specific integration guides and optimizations for caching Hasura GraphQL APIs. Multiple case studies feature Hasura customers (InnerSpace, Gamma, RMRK).
- WPGraphQLcore use caseStellate provides WordPress plugin integration for WPGraphQL. Includes automatic cache invalidation. Case studies feature WPGraphQL users (Drive, Patronage, FLOOD Magazine).
- WordPresscore use caseStellate offers a dedicated WordPress plugin for easy integration with WPGraphQL. Automatic cache purging on content changes.
- VenduresupportedStellate provides integration documentation for Vendure e-commerce framework.
- ContentfulsupportedStellate provides integration documentation for Contentful headless CMS.
- SaleorsupportedStellate provides integration documentation for Saleor e-commerce platform.
- StrapisupportedStellate provides integration documentation for Strapi headless CMS.
Scale indicators9 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Stellate competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Apollo GraphQL (Apollo GraphOS): Apollo GraphOS is the most direct competitor — a full GraphQL API management platform spanning schema registry, observability (Apollo Studio), and a Router that performs query caching, persisted operations, and rate limiting. Closely aligned in target customer (engineering teams operating GraphQL at scale) and core functionality.
- WunderGraph: WunderGraph is an open-source GraphQL/API gateway platform focused on API composition, federation, and edge caching. Overlaps with Stellate in serving developers building production-grade GraphQL infrastructure with caching and observability needs.
- StepZen: StepZen provides a GraphQL API gateway with built-in caching, rate limiting, and observability for composing multiple data sources into a single GraphQL endpoint. Direct overlap in serving enterprises that need GraphQL performance optimization.
- GraphQL Hive (The Guild): GraphQL Hive is The Guild's own GraphQL observability and schema registry platform — now Stellate's sibling product under the same parent. Overlaps directly with Stellate's metrics and security feature set and represents both a distribution channel and a potential product overlap risk.
Emerging players
- Hasura: Hasura is a GraphQL backend engine that auto-generates APIs over databases with its own caching and rate-limiting features. Stellate's case studies prominently feature Hasura users, indicating Hasura is both an integration partner and a partial substitute for customers choosing between a Hasura-native or external caching layer.
Broad incumbents
- Cloudflare: Cloudflare offers a global edge network with Workers, Cache API, rate limiting, and WAF — capabilities that increasingly cover what Stellate provides. As a much larger platform incumbent, Cloudflare represents the primary structural bundling threat to a standalone GraphQL edge specialist.
- Fastly: Fastly is Stellate's underlying edge infrastructure provider and the closest incumbent comparable. Fastly offers its own Compute@Edge platform, VCL-based caching, and could expand higher-level GraphQL tooling — creating both partnership leverage and competitive risk for Stellate.
- AWS AppSync: AWS AppSync is the hyperscaler-managed GraphQL service with built-in caching, authorization, and integration with the broader AWS data services stack. Represents a primary bundled alternative for enterprises already standardized on AWS.
- Azure API Management: Azure API Management provides caching, throttling, and observability for APIs including GraphQL via policy fragments. As a broad incumbent from Microsoft, it competes in the same enterprise procurement process as Stellate for large Microsoft-centric customers.
- Akamai: Akamai operates one of the largest global edge networks with API acceleration, rate limiting, and bot management features that can be applied to GraphQL traffic. Comparable to Cloudflare and Fastly as a broad incumbent with edge delivery capabilities spanning the same problem space.
Market position
Strengths1 record
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Stellate social profiles
Digital presenceStellate compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Stellate financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Stellate leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles18 records
Stellate funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors4 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Stellate M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Stellate
What does Stellate do?
Stellate provides a unified GraphQL API management platform delivered as a SaaS service. It offers edge caching, real-time observability, and security features for GraphQL APIs, operating on Fastly's global edge network across 102 worldwide locations. The platform reduces origin API traffic by up to 99% and improves API response times by up to 90% through proprietary Partial Query Caching technology.
Is Stellate a public or private company?
Stellate is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Stellate founded?
Stellate was founded in 2020. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Stellate based?
Stellate is headquartered in Middletown, United States, in the North America region.
How does Stellate make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. GraphQL Edge Caching & Metrics (SaaS) is the primary driver. The others are usage-based Add-ons.
Who are Stellate's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Apollo GraphQL (Apollo GraphOS), WunderGraph, StepZen and GraphQL Hive (The Guild). Hasura is listed as an emerging player. Broad incumbents are Cloudflare, Fastly, AWS AppSync, Azure API Management and Akamai.
Does Stellate have an API?
Yes. Stellate provides both a public and private API for developers. The public API enables programmatic management of Stellate services, configuration, and features. The platform also offers a CLI tool (`stellate push`) for configuration management and a logging API for metrics collection. Documentation is available at /docs/reference/public-api and /docs/reference/private-api. Developer documentation is at stellate.co/docs.
What industry is Stellate in?
Stellate's product category is GraphQL API Management Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDABAGAL, API Gateway & Edge API Management (Rate Limiting, Auth at Edge), with a secondary code of BPAMAOAK, GraphQL, gRPC & Modern API Protocols. Its NAICS code is 518 and its SIC code is 7370.