Is MariaDB or SurrealDB better?

Neither clearly leads. MariaDB 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, MariaDB or SurrealDB?

MariaDB starts at Free and SurrealDB at Free.

Does MariaDB or SurrealDB run on more platforms?

MariaDB runs on Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS. SurrealDB runs on web, api, windows, mac, linux.

Can I use MariaDB for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is MariaDB best used for?

MariaDB is most often used for transaction processing, data storage, application backend, reporting. Of those, transaction processing and data storage are not what SurrealDB is typically brought in for.

What can MariaDB do that SurrealDB cannot?

MariaDB covers MySQL Compatibility, Aria Storage Engine, ColumnStore, Galera Cluster. SurrealDB covers Multi-model engine, ACID transactions, Hybrid retrieval, Horizontal scaling.

Database & Data Management · head to head

MariaDB vs SurrealDB

MariaDB

Database & Data Management

The open source relational database for the enterprise

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

SurrealDB

Database & Data Management

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

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: MariaDB jSON support using text fields rather than native binary type; lacks MySQL's JSON syntax and functions; 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: MariaDB covers MySQL Compatibility, SurrealDB covers Multi-model engine.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which MariaDB and SurrealDB actually diverge.

Attributes where MariaDB and SurrealDB differ
Attribute	MariaDB	SurrealDB
Pricing model	Unknown	usage-based
Platforms	Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS	web, api, windows, mac, linux
Founded	2009	2022

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Database & Data Management).

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 MariaDB

MySQL Compatibility
Aria Storage Engine
ColumnStore
Galera Cluster
MaxScale
Spider Engine
Temporal Tables
phpMyAdmin

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.

MariaDB

Transaction processingnot SurrealDB
Data storagenot SurrealDB
Application backendnot SurrealDB
Reportingnot SurrealDB
Data analyticsnot SurrealDB

SurrealDB

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

Where each one falls short

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

MariaDB

JSON support using text fields rather than native binary type; lacks MySQL's JSON syntax and functions
Galera Cluster maximum performance limited to the slowest node in cluster
InnoDB tables limited to 1,017 columns and 64 secondary indexes
Transaction size limits in Galera (128K rows and 2GB by default)
Less strict SQL type checking than PostgreSQL; allows implicit conversions

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

MariaDB

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the MariaDB review.

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 MariaDB if

You need mysql compatibility.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS.
You also want aria storage engine.

MariaDB 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 MariaDB or SurrealDB better?: Neither clearly leads. MariaDB 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, MariaDB or SurrealDB?: MariaDB starts at Free and SurrealDB at Free.
Does MariaDB or SurrealDB run on more platforms?: MariaDB runs on Linux, Unix, Windows, macOS. SurrealDB runs on web, api, windows, mac, linux.
Can I use MariaDB for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is MariaDB best used for?: MariaDB is most often used for transaction processing, data storage, application backend, reporting. Of those, transaction processing and data storage are not what SurrealDB is typically brought in for.
What can MariaDB do that SurrealDB cannot?: MariaDB covers MySQL Compatibility, Aria Storage Engine, ColumnStore, Galera Cluster. SurrealDB covers Multi-model engine, ACID transactions, Hybrid retrieval, Horizontal scaling.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

MariaDB: Is MariaDB completely free and open source?

Yes. MariaDB Server is licensed under GPLv2 and guaranteed to remain perpetually free and open source, independent of any commercial entities.

Source

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

MariaDB: Is MariaDB backward compatible with MySQL?

Yes. MariaDB was designed as a drop-in replacement for MySQL. Every application, driver, and configuration that worked with MySQL works with MariaDB without code changes.

Source

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

MariaDB: What are the storage engine options in MariaDB?

MariaDB supports multiple storage engines including InnoDB (transactional, default), Aria (crash-safe, good for read-heavy workloads), and MyISAM. The Aria engine is faster than InnoDB for certain read-heavy queries and full table scans.

Source

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

MariaDB: How much does MariaDB cost?

MariaDB Community Server is completely free to download and use. MariaDB offers paid enterprise support and managed cloud services for organizations needing professional support.

Source

MariaDB: Does MariaDB support native JSON storage?

MariaDB stores JSON using text fields (the JSON type is an alias for LONGTEXT), not as a native binary type like MySQL does. JSON support exists but is less sophisticated than MySQL's JSON functions and syntax.

Source

MariaDB: What scaling options does MariaDB provide?

MariaDB supports both scaling up (more cores, memory, storage) and scaling out (read replication, Galera Cluster with multi-node replication). However, Galera Cluster performance cannot exceed the slowest node in the cluster.

Source

MariaDB vs SurrealDB

MariaDB

SurrealDB

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in MariaDB

Only in SurrealDB

What people use each for

MariaDB

SurrealDB

Where each one falls short

MariaDB

SurrealDB

Pricing, plan by plan

MariaDB

SurrealDB

Which should you pick?

Choose MariaDB if

Choose SurrealDB if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on MariaDB

More on SurrealDB

Keep looking

Other head to heads