tRPC vs GraphQL in 2026: the honest tradeoffs
tRPC is unbeatable for typed monorepos with a single client. GraphQL still wins anywhere you have multiple consumers, federation, or a public API surface.
I've shipped both in the last year, on similar problem domains. The choice keeps coming back to the same axis: how many clients, and how stable is the API contract?
tRPC is excellent when you own both ends. Same monorepo, same TS version, single Next.js app, one mobile client maybe. The DX is unmatched — type changes propagate at compile time and there's no schema language to maintain. The cost: it's a closed ecosystem. Want a third-party developer to integrate? Now you're writing OpenAPI separately.
GraphQL still earns its keep when you have multiple consumers, federation across teams, or a public API. The schema doubles as documentation, the resolver architecture scales to many teams, and tooling is mature. The cost: more ceremony for a single-client monorepo where you'd be just as productive with tRPC.