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Business Intelligence · head to head

Baremetrics vs Steampipe

Baremetrics logo

Baremetrics

Business Intelligence

Subscription analytics for SaaS

From
$75/month
Free plan
No
Visit BaremetricsFull review
Steampipe logo

Steampipe

Developer Tools

Query cloud APIs, SaaS tools and code with SQL, with no extract or load step

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit SteampipeFull review

The short version

  • Steampipe has a free plan, then $49/mo; Baremetrics starts at $75/mo.
  • Only Baremetrics lists revenue Metrics; only Steampipe lists SQL over live APIs.
  • Where Baremetrics falls short: payment Recovery and Cancellation Insights are separate add-ons at $129 a month each.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Baremetrics and Steampipe actually diverge.

Attributes where Baremetrics and Steampipe differ
AttributeBaremetricsSteampipe
Starting price$75/monthFree
Pricing modelSubscriptionOpen source, with paid hosting through Turbot Pipes
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, APImacOS, Linux, Windows, Self-hosted, Web
CategoryBusiness IntelligenceDeveloper Tools

Not yet recorded: founded for Steampipe.

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 Baremetrics

  • Revenue Metrics
  • Forecasting
  • Benchmarking
  • Cancellation Insights
  • Email Reports
  • Stripe
  • Braintree
  • Recurly

Only in Steampipe

  • SQL over live APIs
  • Wide plugin set
  • Embedded Postgres
  • Compliance benchmarks
  • Joins across providers
  • Hosted option

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Baremetrics

  • Subscription metrics and MRR reporting from Stripe and similar billing systemsnot Steampipe
  • Churn and retention analysisnot Steampipe
  • Failed payment recovery through the add-onnot Steampipe
  • Cancellation surveys to understand why customers leavenot Steampipe

Steampipe

  • Security teams answering posture questions against live cloud accounts rather than a nightly exportnot Baremetrics
  • Compliance evidence gathering where the answer must reflect the account at the moment it is askednot Baremetrics
  • Inventory and drift questions spanning several cloud providers in one querynot Baremetrics
  • Engineers who would rather write SQL than learn each provider command line toolnot Baremetrics

Where each one falls short

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

Baremetrics

  • Priced on the revenue it measures, so the bill rises with your ARR rather than with usage: $75 a month up to $360K ARR, $255 to $3.6M and $1,152 above that
  • Payment Recovery and Cancellation Insights are separate add-ons at $129 a month each
  • The advertised prices assume annual billing with a discount of up to 35 percent
  • There is no free tier, only a trial

Steampipe

  • AGPL-3.0 across all four engines is a procurement blocker at organisations that ban the licence outright, and the network clause reaches any internal portal or service that puts a web interface in front of it
  • Dashboards, benchmarks and mods were removed from Steampipe entirely at version 1.0 in October 2024 and now live in a separate product, so pre-2024 documentation and tutorials describe commands that no longer exist
  • Live querying is bound by cloud provider API rate limits and keeps no persistent store by default, which is why a separate DuckDB-backed product exists for log volumes and why large accounts return slowly
  • The company is fifteen people and bootstrapped, maintaining four command line tools plus a hosted service plus two further products, and the newer tools have thin community traction relative to that surface area
  • Hosted tiers include only three users regardless of tier, with additional Enterprise users charged separately, so a team of thirty costs an order of magnitude more than the headline figure before compute and storage are counted

Pricing, plan by plan

Baremetrics

$75/month
  • Launch$75/mo
    • Target $0-360K ARR
    • Single integration
    • Core analytics features
  • Growth$255/mo
    • Target $360K-$3.6M ARR
    • Two integrations
    • Advanced features
  • Scale$1,152/mo
    • Target $3.6M+ ARR
    • Unlimited integrations
    • Enterprise features

Steampipe

Free
  • Steampipe CLIFree
    • AGPL-3.0
    • All plugins
    • No user or query limits
  • Pipes DeveloperFree
    • One user
    • 400 compute minutes
    • 3GB storage
  • Pipes Team$49/mo
    • Three users
    • 2,000 compute minutes
    • 20GB storage
  • Pipes Enterprise$249/mo
    • Three users
    • 10,000 compute minutes
    • 100GB storage

Which should you pick?

Choose Baremetrics if

  • You need revenue metrics.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want forecasting.
Baremetrics review

Choose Steampipe if

  • You need sql over live apis.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on macOS, Linux, Windows, Self-hosted, Web.
  • You also want wide plugin set.
Steampipe review

Questions people ask

Is Baremetrics or Steampipe better?
Neither clearly leads. Baremetrics starts at $75/month and Steampipe at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Baremetrics or Steampipe?
Steampipe has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $75/month for Baremetrics and Free for Steampipe.
Does Baremetrics or Steampipe run on more platforms?
Baremetrics runs on Web, API. Steampipe runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Self-hosted, Web.
Can I use Steampipe for free?
Yes. Steampipe has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Baremetrics starts at $75/month.
What is Baremetrics best used for?
Baremetrics is most often used for subscription metrics and mrr reporting from stripe and similar billing systems, churn and retention analysis, failed payment recovery through the add-on, cancellation surveys to understand why customers leave. Of those, subscription metrics and mrr reporting from stripe and similar billing systems and churn and retention analysis are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
What can Baremetrics do that Steampipe cannot?
Baremetrics covers Revenue Metrics, Forecasting, Benchmarking, Cancellation Insights. Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Baremetrics: How much does Baremetrics' Launch plan cost per month?

Baremetrics' Launch plan starts at $75 per month with annual billing, or $49 per month with annual prepayment (35% discount when paying yearly).

Source
Steampipe: When did Steampipe become AGPL?

May 2021, about four months after the project went public. It is a settled licence rather than a recent change, and predates the Business Source Licence wave it is often confused with.

Baremetrics: What is the difference between Baremetrics plans?

Launch includes one integration and core analytics; Growth ($255/month) adds a second integration and advanced dashboards; Scale ($1,152/month) includes unlimited integrations and enterprise features.

Source
Steampipe: Where did the dashboards and benchmarks go?

Into Powerpipe. They were deprecated in March 2024 and removed from Steampipe at version 1.0 in October 2024, so the check, dashboard, mod and variable commands are gone.

Baremetrics: What add-ons are available in Baremetrics?

Payment Recovery and Cancellation Insights are available as add-ons at $129 per month each to automate failed payment recovery and churn reduction.

Source
Steampipe: Is it fast on a large cloud estate?

Not always. Queries call provider APIs at request time, so rate limits rather than query planning set the pace, and there is no persistent store by default.

Baremetrics: Is there a free trial for Baremetrics?

Yes, Baremetrics offers a free trial available for new users to test the platform before committing to a paid plan.

Source
Steampipe: Does the AGPL affect internal use?

Running it internally for your own analysis is fine. Putting a web interface in front of it that other people use is where the network clause becomes a question for your legal team.

Steampipe: Is a bootstrapped vendor a risk?

It cuts both ways. There is no investor pressure toward a licence change or an exit, and there are also fifteen people supporting a large product surface.

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