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SurrealDB

Multi-model database for the AI era — document, graph, vector, and relational in one

SurrealDB is a multi-model database that natively combines document, graph, relational, key-value, and vector storage in a single engine. It eliminates the need for separate databases by handling structured queries, graph traversals, full-text search, and vector similarity in one SQL-like query language called SurrealQL. Built in Rust for performance and safety, it supports real-time subscriptions, row-level permissions, and embedded or distributed deployment modes.

About SurrealDB

SurrealDB is a multi-model database designed to replace the common practice of stitching together separate document stores, graph databases, search engines, and vector databases for modern applications. Its unified engine handles relational tables, schemaless documents, graph edges, time-series data, and vector embeddings through a single query language called SurrealQL. This consolidation is particularly valuable for AI agent architectures where persistent memory requires both structured relationships and semantic similarity search.

The database is written entirely in Rust, delivering the memory safety and concurrency guarantees that production workloads demand. Deployment modes span from an embedded library for edge applications to a distributed cluster for horizontally scaled services. The real-time subscription system pushes live query results to connected clients, enabling reactive interfaces without polling. Row-level security and fine-grained permissions are defined declaratively in the schema, making multi-tenant and agent-facing access patterns straightforward to implement.

SurrealDB has raised over $33 million in funding and cultivated a large open-source community with over 26,000 GitHub stars. The managed cloud offering, Surreal Cloud, handles provisioning and scaling for teams that prefer not to self-host. The query language supports native graph traversals, computed fields, changefeeds, and built-in ML model execution, positioning the database as infrastructure specifically suited for applications where AI agents need to store, relate, and retrieve heterogeneous data at scale.

Pricing & Platform Specs

Pricing Summary

Multi-model database engine in Rust with free self-hosting under BSL 1.1 ($0). SurrealDB Cloud provides a free prototyping tier alongside pay-as-you-go Start and dedicated Enterprise tiers.

full pricing breakdown →

Supported Platforms

Windows, Linux, macOS, Docker, embedded mode

Explore categories, tags & use cases

GPU-accelerated open-source vector database

Milvus is an open-source vector database with 45K+ GitHub stars for billion-scale similarity search. Features GPU-accelerated indexing, hybrid search combining vector and scalar filtering, multi-tenancy, partitioning, and horizontal scaling. Supports HNSW, IVF, DiskANN, and GPU index types. SDKs for Python, Java, Go, and Node.js. Zilliz Cloud offers a managed version. A production-grade foundation for RAG pipelines and recommendation systems at enterprise scale.

freemiumOpen Source

Open-source vector database for AI-native applications and semantic search.

Weaviate is an open-source vector database purpose-built for AI applications. Supports vector, keyword, and hybrid search with built-in vectorization modules for OpenAI, Cohere, Hugging Face, and more. Used for RAG pipelines, semantic search, recommendation engines, and multimodal search. Written in Go for high performance.

freemiumOpen Source

High-performance vector database written in Rust for similarity search at scale.

Qdrant is a high-performance vector similarity search engine and database written in Rust. Designed for production-grade AI applications with advanced filtering, payload indexing, and distributed deployment. Supports billion-scale vector collections with sub-second query times. Popular choice for RAG, recommendation systems, and anomaly detection.

freemiumOpen Source

Side-by-Side Comparisons

SurrealDB logo
SurrealDB
vs
Milvus logo
Milvus

SurrealDB vs Milvus — Multi-Model Database vs Dedicated Vector Search Engine

SurrealDB and Milvus both support vector similarity search but approach the problem from opposite architectural philosophies. Milvus is a purpose-built vector database engineered for billion-scale similarity search with sub-millisecond latency. SurrealDB is a multi-model database that includes vector capabilities alongside document, graph, relational, and time-series storage in a single engine with one query language.

SurrealDBMilvus

Community experience

Sources & verification

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Content verified

Verification dates are editorial checks. Routine CMS saves and automatic updatedAt timestamps do not advance them.

FAQ

What is SurrealDB?

SurrealDB is a multi-model database that natively combines document, graph, relational, key-value, and vector storage in a single engine. It eliminates the need for separate databases by handling structured queries, graph traversals, full-text search, and vector similarity in one SQL-like query language called SurrealQL. Built in Rust for performance and safety, it supports real-time subscriptions, row-level permissions, and embedded or distributed deployment modes.

Is SurrealDB free?

SurrealDB offers a free tier alongside paid plans. Multi-model database engine in Rust with free self-hosting under BSL 1.1 ($0). SurrealDB Cloud provides a free prototyping tier alongside pay-as-you-go Start and dedicated Enterprise tiers.

Is SurrealDB still maintained?

Yes — SurrealDB is active. Its listing was last verified on September 6, 2026.

What are the best SurrealDB alternatives?

The first editor-selected SurrealDB alternatives are Milvus, Weaviate, Qdrant.