shouldiuse.io

Categories

VERDICT

Should I use Steampipe?

Instantly query your cloud, code, logs & more with SQL. Build on thousands of open-source benchmarks & dashboards for security & insights. - steampipe.io

Depends. Buy if your engineers write SQL and you manage multi-cloud inventory, security, or cost — the core CLI is free and open source. Skip if your team is non-technical or wants a hosted dashboard product; that is Turbot Pipes, a separate paid platform.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~20 public sources; no independent review ratings found; several sources date to 2021–2023.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo evidence found
  • Security postureNo findings in reviewed sources

Pricing

$0

Steampipe CLI (open source)

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Turbot Pipes (managed)Free tier; paid plans not confirmed in sources

Best for

  • Cloud and DevOps engineers
  • Security and compliance teams
  • FinOps cost analysis
  • SQL-comfortable startups

Not for

  • Non-technical teams — this is a SQL CLI, not a dashboard
  • Buyers wanting turnkey managed SaaS — that is Turbot Pipes, priced separately
  • Teams unwilling to self-host and maintain open-source tooling
  • One-off cloud inventory checks — your cloud console already does this free

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Open-source core is free, but the managed Pipes platform is separate — do not assume everything is free.

medium

You own install, upgrades, and plugin maintenance in the free core; nothing is vendor-hosted.

low

Much public evidence dates to 2021–2023; verify current pricing and roadmap before committing.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Queries cloud APIs live with SQL — zero-ETL, no pipelines to build
  • Free and open source; install and query immediately
  • Thousands of open-source benchmarks and dashboards for security insights
  • Covers cloud, code, logs, and SaaS platforms via plugins
  • Simpler than hand-writing API scripts like Boto3

Cons

  • CLI-first; requires SQL and terminal comfort
  • Managed SaaS (Turbot Pipes) is a separate, paid product
  • Self-hosted: you install, run, and maintain it yourself
  • Few independent review ratings found; niche adoption evidence

Sources & method

Analyzed 10/02/2026 - 12 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x6review x2security x1news x3

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Core CLI is free open source
  • Ease of use: 3/5. Powerful but demands SQL and terminal skills
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Thousands of benchmarks; cloud, logs, code, SaaS
  • Support quality. No evidence found
  • Security posture. No findings in reviewed sources
  • $0 Starting price Open-source CLI on GitHub
  • Free tier Managed platform Turbot Pipes SaaS
  • Jan 2021 First released Per official intro blog
  • Thousands Benchmark library Open-source benchmarks & dashboards

Pricing

Steampipe CLI (open source)

$0

  • Query cloud, logs, code via SQL
  • Community plugin library
  • Self-hosted

Turbot Pipes (managed)

Free tier; paid plans not confirmed in sources

  • Hosted workspaces and dashboards
  • Team sharing

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Developers praise the SQL-over-APIs concept and the Turbot team, but structured independent reviews are scarce.

“Easily Query Your Cloud Inventory with Steampipe”
CloudyAdvice blog review
“Super cool tool by Turbot”
TLDR Sec newsletter #87

Companies that use it

  • Tree53
Full analysis

Based on ~20 public sources; no independent review ratings found; several sources date to 2021–2023.

Free open-source SQL layer over cloud APIs. Great for DevOps who query; pointless for non-technical teams. Managed version costs extra.

Methodology

Based on ~20 public sources; no independent review ratings found; several sources date to 2021–2023.

Sources

  1. Steampipe homepagesteampipe.io
    official
  2. turbot/steampipe on GitHubgithub.com
    official
  3. Steampipe Downloadssteampipe.io
    official
  4. Steampipe Hub pluginshub.steampipe.io
    official
  5. Turbot Pipes blogturbot.com
    official
  6. Tailpipe homepagetailpipe.io
    official
  7. Easily Query Your Cloud Inventory with Steampipecloudyadvice.com
    review
  8. Why Steampipe over Boto3medium.com
    review
  9. Select * from cloud — Hacker Newsnews.ycombinator.com
    news
  10. How SQL can unify access to APIs — InfoWorldinfoworld.com
    news
  11. TLDR Sec #87tldrsec.com
    news
  12. Steampipe product security pagesteampipe.io
    security

Rate this review

Anonymous. You can change your vote.

Loading votes…

Comments

One queue. No nested comments. Give a display name first. Limit: 200 words per comment and 7 comments per day. You can edit or delete yours.

Save a name to write a comment.

0 / 200 words

No comments yet.