Softwr

Developer Tools · head to head

Hookdeck vs SurrealDB

Hookdeck logo

Hookdeck

Developer Tools

Event gateway that receives, queues, retries and replays inbound webhooks

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit HookdeckFull review
SurrealDB logo

SurrealDB

Databases

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

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit SurrealDBFull review

The short version

  • Free plans on both; paid from $39/mo and $0.192/mo.
  • Only Hookdeck lists ingest and persist; only SurrealDB lists multi-model engine.
  • Where Hookdeck falls short: pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries.
  • Where SurrealDB falls short: the listed $0.192/node/hr Scale pricing lacks transparent higher-tier rates, requiring a sales conversation for full production sizing.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Hookdeck and SurrealDB actually diverge.

Attributes where Hookdeck and SurrealDB differ
AttributeHookdeckSurrealDB
Pricing modelPer month by delivered event countUsage-based
PlatformsWeb, Linux, macOS, WindowsWeb, API, Windows, macOS, Linux
CategoryDeveloper ToolsDatabases

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).

Not yet recorded: founded for Hookdeck.

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 Hookdeck

  • Ingest and persist
  • Automatic retries
  • Filters and fan-out
  • Transformations
  • Local development CLI
  • Rate limiting

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.

Hookdeck

  • A payments integration where losing a Stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfillednot SurrealDB
  • Fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separatelynot SurrealDB
  • Debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fixnot SurrealDB
  • Receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnelnot SurrealDB

SurrealDB

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

Where each one falls short

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

Hookdeck

  • Pricing meters delivered events, so fan-out multiplies the bill: one inbound event routed to four services counts as four deliveries
  • Free-tier retention is three days, which is shorter than the time it typically takes to notice a failing integration, so the payloads needed for a replay are often already gone
  • It becomes a single point of failure in front of every third-party integration, and an outage there means every provider webhook queues or fails at once
  • The transformation layer runs JavaScript in a constrained environment, so anything that needs a database lookup or an external call has to happen downstream instead
  • For a team already running Kafka or SQS the value is mostly the console and the replay UI, which is a hard cost to justify against infrastructure they already operate

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

Hookdeck

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • Up to ten thousand events per month
    • Three-day retention
    • One user
  • Team$39/mo
    • Ten thousand events included
    • Unlimited users
    • Pay as you go metering above the included events
  • Growth$499/mo
    • Ten thousand events included plus metered usage
    • Thirty-day retention
    • Uptime and latency SLAs
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Negotiated event volume
    • Custom retention
    • Dedicated support

SurrealDB

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Hookdeck if

  • You need ingest and persist.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want automatic retries.
Hookdeck review

Choose SurrealDB if

  • You need multi-model engine.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, API, Windows, macOS, Linux.
  • You also want acid transactions.
SurrealDB review

Questions people ask

Is Hookdeck or SurrealDB better?
Neither clearly leads. Hookdeck starts at Free and SurrealDB at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Hookdeck or SurrealDB?
Hookdeck starts at Free and SurrealDB at Free.
Does Hookdeck or SurrealDB run on more platforms?
Hookdeck runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows. SurrealDB runs on Web, API, Windows, macOS, Linux.
Can I use Hookdeck for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Hookdeck best used for?
Hookdeck is most often used for a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled, fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately, debugging a partner integration by replaying the exact failing payload after shipping a fix, receiving production-shaped webhooks on a developer laptop without running a public tunnel. Of those, a payments integration where losing a stripe event during a deploy causes an order to go unfulfilled and fanning one provider webhook out to several internal services without each subscribing separately are not what SurrealDB is typically brought in for.
What can Hookdeck do that SurrealDB cannot?
Hookdeck covers Ingest and persist, Automatic retries, Filters and fan-out, Transformations. SurrealDB covers Multi-model engine, ACID transactions, Hybrid retrieval, Horizontal scaling.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Hookdeck: Is there a free plan?

Yes, ten thousand events a month with three-day retention and one user.

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
Hookdeck: How is usage counted?

By delivered events, so a single inbound webhook fanned out to three destinations counts as three.

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
Hookdeck: Can I replay a failed webhook?

Yes, individually or in bulk from the console, with the original payload.

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
Hookdeck: Does it work for outbound webhooks too?

Yes, the same queueing, retry and observability applies to webhooks you send.

Share

Related pages

More on Hookdeck

More on SurrealDB

Keep looking

Other head to heads