SurrealDB vs. MongoDB

SurrealDB 3.0 is a comprehensive database solution built to handle document, relational, graph, vector, full-text, and temporal queries in a single unified engine, offering a stark contrast to MongoDB, which started as a document store and later added separate subsystems for additional features. SurrealDB's architecture eliminates the need for global or table-level locking, providing ACID transactions across all data models without the associated overhead seen in MongoDB's coordination-heavy concurrency controls. By integrating all query primitives within a single execution plan, SurrealDB reduces coordination overhead and simplifies scaling, whereas MongoDB's document-centric approach and reliance on separate systems for search and vector queries can introduce complexity and increase costs. SurrealDB emphasizes correctness, composability, and consistent semantics, offering native support for temporal graph querying and flexible schema management, which stands in contrast to MongoDB's limitations in these areas. Additionally, SurrealDB's open-source model and unified platform design promise lower total cost of ownership and greater operational efficiency compared to MongoDB's commercial offerings, which depend heavily on the Atlas-managed services for advanced features and scalability.