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Business Intelligence · head to head

ChartMogul vs Steampipe

ChartMogul logo

ChartMogul

Business Intelligence

Subscription analytics platform

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit ChartMogulFull 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

  • ChartMogul is a subscription analytics platform.
  • Free plans on both; paid from $59/mo and $49/mo.
  • Only ChartMogul lists MRR Analytics; only Steampipe lists SQL over live APIs.
  • Where ChartMogul falls short: the free tier stops at $10K MRR, so it lapses precisely as a company starts to matter.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which ChartMogul and Steampipe actually diverge.

Attributes where ChartMogul and Steampipe differ
AttributeChartMogulSteampipe
Pricing modelSubscriptionOpen source, with paid hosting through Turbot Pipes
PlatformsWeb, APImacOS, Linux, Windows, Self-hosted, Web
CategoryBusiness IntelligenceDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).

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 ChartMogul

  • MRR Analytics
  • Churn Analysis
  • Cohort Analysis
  • Customer Segmentation
  • Revenue Recognition
  • Stripe
  • Chargebee
  • 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.

ChartMogul

  • MRR trackingnot Steampipe
  • Churn analysisnot Steampipe
  • Revenue analyticsnot Steampipe
  • Subscription metricsnot Steampipe
  • Financial forecastingnot Steampipe

Steampipe

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

Where each one falls short

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

ChartMogul

  • The free tier stops at $10K MRR, so it lapses precisely as a company starts to matter
  • Starter is capped at 3 team members and a single billing system connection
  • Two-way CRM sync and warehouse integration require the Pro tier
  • Pricing scales with your ARR rather than with usage, so the bill rises as the business grows
  • Enterprise starts at $19,900 a year and is required above $10M ARR

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

ChartMogul

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to $120K ARR tracked
    • 1 billing source
    • Unlimited team members
  • Starter$59/mo
    • $59-$707/month based on ARR
    • Up to $10M ARR tracked
    • 1 billing source
  • Pro$99/mo
    • $99-$1,199/month based on ARR
    • Up to $10M ARR tracked
    • 5 billing sources
  • Enterprise$19,900/yr
    • Custom pricing available
    • Unlimited ARR tracked
    • 15 billing sources

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 ChartMogul if

  • You need mrr analytics.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want churn analysis.
ChartMogul 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 ChartMogul or Steampipe better?
Neither clearly leads. ChartMogul starts at Free and Steampipe at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, ChartMogul or Steampipe?
ChartMogul starts at Free and Steampipe at Free.
Does ChartMogul or Steampipe run on more platforms?
ChartMogul runs on Web, API. Steampipe runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Self-hosted, Web.
Can I use ChartMogul for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is ChartMogul best used for?
ChartMogul is most often used for mrr tracking, churn analysis, revenue analytics, subscription metrics. Of those, mrr tracking and churn analysis are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
What can ChartMogul do that Steampipe cannot?
ChartMogul covers MRR Analytics, Churn Analysis, Cohort Analysis, Customer Segmentation. Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

ChartMogul: How much does ChartMogul cost for a small SaaS startup?

ChartMogul offers a free plan for companies with up to $120K ARR. Starter plans begin at $59 per month for smaller ARR amounts and scale up to $707 per month, with a 17% discount available for annual commitments. Source: https://chartmogul.com/pricing

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.

ChartMogul: What are the team member limits on ChartMogul plans?

The Free and Pro plans include unlimited team members, while the Starter plan is limited to 3 team members. Enterprise plans offer unlimited users with custom pricing. Source: https://chartmogul.com/pricing

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.

ChartMogul: How many billing sources can each ChartMogul plan integrate?

Free and Starter plans support 1 billing source each. Pro plans increase to 5 billing sources. Enterprise plans support 15 billing sources with custom pricing and unlimited integration capabilities. Source: https://chartmogul.com/pricing

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.

ChartMogul: Does ChartMogul offer an annual payment discount?

Yes, ChartMogul provides a 17% discount when paying annually instead of monthly on Starter and Pro plans. Enterprise customers can discuss custom annual pricing with the sales team. Source: https://chartmogul.com/pricing

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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