You can start with SurrealDB in more than one way. This section orders them from the least to the most involved, so you can pick how much you want to set up.
Try it without installing
Surrealist Sandbox — Open Surrealist in the browser and use the built-in Sandbox. Nothing to install; data is not persistent, which is perfect for quick experiments and learning SurrealQL.
SurrealDB Cloud — Create a free SurrealDB Cloud instance (you will need an email to sign in). You keep persistence and a managed database without running a server on your own machine.
Installation — Install the
surrealbinary and run SurrealDB locally or on your own infrastructure. This is the path when you want full control, offline work, or production self-hosting.
How you run the database (self-hosted)
After you are running SurrealDB (locally or on servers you manage), you can choose storage and topology:
Run a single-node, in-memory server with optional persistence and versioning (SurrealMX)
Run a single-node, on-disk server (RocksDB or SurrealKV)