Softwr

Databases · head to head

Canary Labs vs SurrealDB

Canary Labs logo

Canary Labs

Databases

Industrial process historian with published per-tag pricing and no client licence fees

From
$3000/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
SurrealDB logo

SurrealDB

Databases

Multi-model database combining documents, graphs, vectors and time-series

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only SurrealDB has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Canary Labs pricing steps by tag band rather than actual tags, so a site sitting just above a threshold pays the next band in full; growth from 3,400 to 3,600 tags is a licence purchase, not a rounding error.; SurrealDB the listed $0.192/node/hr Scale pricing lacks transparent higher-tier rates, requiring a sales conversation for full production sizing.
  • They diverge on capability: Canary Labs covers Loss-less compression, SurrealDB covers Multi-model engine.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Canary Labs and SurrealDB actually diverge.

Attributes where Canary Labs and SurrealDB differ
AttributeCanary LabsSurrealDB
Starting price$3000/yearFree
Pricing modelPer tag band per yearusage-based
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWindows, Webweb, api, windows, mac, linux
FoundedUnknown2022

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Databases).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Canary Labs

  • Loss-less compression
  • Unlimited clients
  • Store and forward
  • Views service
  • Sparkplug B
  • Calculation engine
  • Axiom
  • ODBC and REST

Only in SurrealDB

  • Multi-model engine
  • ACID transactions
  • Hybrid retrieval
  • Horizontal scaling
  • Multi-region disaster recovery
  • FIPS-compliant cryptography

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Canary Labs

  • A manufacturer that needs a compliant historian but cannot justify a PI System enterprise agreementnot SurrealDB
  • A water utility replacing SCADA-embedded logging with a historian that survives the next SCADA replacementnot SurrealDB
  • An Ignition site that wants long-term storage and trending without paying per-client for dashboardsnot SurrealDB
  • A plant with regulatory data-retention obligations where swinging-door compression would not survive an auditnot SurrealDB

SurrealDB

  • AI agent memory and retrieval-augmented generationnot Canary Labs
  • Applications needing documents, graphs and vectors in one databasenot Canary Labs
  • Knowledge graph construction from unstructured datanot Canary Labs
  • Regulated workloads requiring SOC2/ISO27001/HIPAA-eligible hostingnot Canary Labs

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Canary Labs

  • Pricing steps by tag band rather than actual tags, so a site sitting just above a threshold pays the next band in full; growth from 3,400 to 3,600 tags is a licence purchase, not a rounding error.
  • CustomerCare at 18 percent of licence cost is effectively mandatory on perpetual licences because lapsing it removes upgrades, so the perpetual option is not really a one-time cost.
  • The storage format is proprietary; getting data out at volume means the ODBC connector, an additional 2,500 USD one-time or 1,000 USD a year, or writing against the REST API.
  • Canary is a small vendor with a limited partner network outside North America, so support coverage and integrator availability in Europe and Asia are thinner than for AVEVA or Ignition.
  • It is a Windows-only server product with no Linux or container deployment, which complicates placing collectors in modern edge estates.

SurrealDB

  • The listed $0.192/node/hr Scale pricing lacks transparent higher-tier rates, requiring a sales conversation for full production sizing.
  • As a newer multi-model database, it has a smaller ecosystem of drivers, ORMs and community tooling than established single-model databases.
  • HIPAA compliance is only available as an Enterprise add-on rather than included in standard paid tiers.
  • Combining multiple data models in one engine can add query-planning complexity compared to purpose-built single-model databases.

Pricing, plan by plan

Canary Labs

$3000/year
  • Subscription, 3,500 tags$3000/year
    • Unlimited Axiom clients
    • Unlimited Excel clients
    • Support and upgrades included
  • Perpetual, 3,500 tags$8730/one-time
    • 7,400 USD licence plus 1,330 USD first-year CustomerCare
    • CustomerCare renews at 18 percent of licence cost per year
    • Unlimited clients
  • Private cloud, 3,500 tags$12320/year
    • Hosted by Canary
    • 1,500 USD one-time setup fee per system
    • Scales to around 58,684 USD per year at 60,000 tags
  • Enterprise unlimited$undefined/year
    • Unlimited tags
    • Negotiated licensing terms
    • Quoted pricing

SurrealDB

Free
  • StartFree
    • 1 free instance, then from $0.021/hr
    • 1GB storage free forever
    • Vertical scaling to terabytes
  • Scale$0.192/month
    • $0.192/node/hr
    • Production-grade fault tolerance
    • Horizontal scaling to petabytes
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • Self-hosted, custom pricing
    • Clustered fault-tolerant deployments
    • FIPS-compliant cryptography

Which should you pick?

Choose Canary Labs if

  • You need loss-less compression.
  • You work on Windows, Web.
  • You also want unlimited clients.
Canary Labs review

Choose SurrealDB if

  • You need multi-model engine.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, api, windows, mac, linux.
  • You also want acid transactions.
SurrealDB review

Questions people ask

Is Canary Labs or SurrealDB better?
Neither clearly leads. Canary Labs starts at $3000/year and SurrealDB at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Canary Labs or SurrealDB?
SurrealDB has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $3000/year for Canary Labs and Free for SurrealDB.
Does Canary Labs or SurrealDB run on more platforms?
Canary Labs runs on Windows, Web. SurrealDB runs on web, api, windows, mac, linux.
Can I use SurrealDB for free?
Yes. SurrealDB has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Canary Labs starts at $3000/year.
What is Canary Labs best used for?
Canary Labs is most often used for a manufacturer that needs a compliant historian but cannot justify a pi system enterprise agreement, a water utility replacing scada-embedded logging with a historian that survives the next scada replacement, an ignition site that wants long-term storage and trending without paying per-client for dashboards, a plant with regulatory data-retention obligations where swinging-door compression would not survive an audit. Of those, a manufacturer that needs a compliant historian but cannot justify a pi system enterprise agreement and a water utility replacing scada-embedded logging with a historian that survives the next scada replacement are not what SurrealDB is typically brought in for.
What can Canary Labs do that SurrealDB cannot?
Canary Labs covers Loss-less compression, Unlimited clients, Store and forward, Views service. SurrealDB covers Multi-model engine, ACID transactions, Hybrid retrieval, Horizontal scaling.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Canary Labs: What does Canary cost?

8,730 USD for a 3,500 tag perpetual system including first-year CustomerCare, or 3,000 USD a year on subscription.

SurrealDB: What does SurrealDB cost?

SurrealDB Cloud's Start plan is free with one free instance (then from $0.021/hr), the Scale plan runs $0.192/node/hr for production workloads, and Enterprise self-hosted deployments use custom pricing.

Source
Canary Labs: Are client licences extra?

No. Unlimited Axiom browser clients and unlimited Excel clients are included on every tier.

SurrealDB: Is there a free plan and what are its limits?

Yes, the Start plan includes one free instance with 1GB of storage free forever and 1GB of outbound data transfer per month, aimed at prototypes and development.

Source
Canary Labs: Is perpetual cheaper than subscription?

Canary states perpetual pays off after roughly three years, and after that you still pay 18 percent CustomerCare annually.

SurrealDB: How is billing handled?

Customers are invoiced monthly based on actual usage in a pay-as-you-go model with no long-term commitments, though commitment-based discounts are available.

Source
Canary Labs: Does it use lossy compression?

No. Canary stores every collected value rather than approximating the trend, which matters for regulated data retention.

Share

Related pages

More on Canary Labs

More on SurrealDB

Keep looking

Other head to heads