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Cybersecurity · head to head

Endor Labs vs Steampipe

Endor Labs logo

Endor Labs

Cybersecurity

Security and AI agent governance for code and supply chain

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
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
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Endor Labs pricing requires contacting sales, no transparent rates; 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.
  • They diverge on capability: Endor Labs covers AI coding agent governance, Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Endor Labs and Steampipe actually diverge.

Attributes where Endor Labs and Steampipe differ
AttributeEndor LabsSteampipe
Pricing modelSeat-based per contributing developer with volume discountsOpen source, with paid hosting through Turbot Pipes
PlatformsWeb, CLI, IDEmacOS, Linux, Windows, Docker, Web
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools
Founded2021Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Endor Labs

  • AI coding agent governance
  • SAST scanning
  • Secrets detection
  • Reachability analysis
  • Open source dependency scanning
  • Package firewall
  • MCP server integration

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.

Endor Labs

  • Securing AI coding agent outputs before deploymentnot Steampipe
  • Reducing SAST false positives with reachability analysisnot Steampipe
  • Managing open source supply chain risknot Steampipe
  • Enforcing security policies in CI/CD pipelinesnot Steampipe

Steampipe

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

Where each one falls short

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

Endor Labs

  • Pricing requires contacting sales, no transparent rates
  • Developer tier lacks UI and historical scan data
  • Free tier limited to local scanning only
  • Seat-based model may become expensive for large teams

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

Endor Labs

Free
  • DeveloperFree
    • Local scanning
    • Read-only vulnerability data
    • No UI, policies, or scan history

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/month
    • Three users
    • 2,000 compute minutes
    • 20GB storage
  • Pipes Enterprise$249/month
    • Three users
    • 10,000 compute minutes
    • 100GB storage

Which should you pick?

Choose Endor Labs if

  • You need ai coding agent governance.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, CLI, IDE.
  • You also want sast scanning.
Endor Labs review

Choose Steampipe if

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

Questions people ask

Is Endor Labs or Steampipe better?
Neither clearly leads. Endor Labs 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, Endor Labs or Steampipe?
Endor Labs starts at Free and Steampipe at Free.
Does Endor Labs or Steampipe run on more platforms?
Endor Labs runs on Web, CLI, IDE. Steampipe runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker, Web.
Can I use Endor Labs for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Endor Labs best used for?
Endor Labs is most often used for securing ai coding agent outputs before deployment, reducing sast false positives with reachability analysis, managing open source supply chain risk, enforcing security policies in ci/cd pipelines. Of those, securing ai coding agent outputs before deployment and reducing sast false positives with reachability analysis are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
What can Endor Labs do that Steampipe cannot?
Endor Labs covers AI coding agent governance, SAST scanning, Secrets detection, Reachability analysis. Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Endor Labs: What is the difference between Endor Labs Developer and paid tiers?

Developer tier is free and provides local scanning via MCP server with read-only vulnerability access and no UI. Paid tiers (Core and Pro) add team features like policy enforcement, enterprise integrations, reporting, and scan history.

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.

Endor Labs: How does Endor Labs define seats for pricing?

Seats are calculated per contributing developer (those with commits in monitored repositories within the last 90 days). Volume discounts apply as team size grows.

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.

Endor Labs: Does Endor Labs support on-premises deployment?

The platform is cloud-based SaaS by default. Enterprise customers should contact sales to discuss custom deployment options.

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.

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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