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Business Intelligence · head to head

Evidence vs Steampipe

Evidence logo

Evidence

Business Intelligence

Business intelligence as code for teams and AI agents

From
$2500/month
Free plan
No
Visit EvidenceFull 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; Evidence starts at $2500/mo.
  • Only Evidence lists analytics Agent; only Steampipe lists SQL over live APIs.
  • Where Evidence falls short: high starting price at $2,500/month limits small team adoption.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Evidence and Steampipe actually diverge.

Attributes where Evidence and Steampipe differ
AttributeEvidenceSteampipe
Starting price$2500/monthFree
Pricing modelFlat team pricing with no per-user feesOpen source, with paid hosting through Turbot Pipes
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, EmbeddedmacOS, Linux, Windows, Self-hosted, Web
CategoryBusiness IntelligenceDeveloper Tools

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 Evidence

  • Analytics Agent
  • Code-based infrastructure
  • Development environment
  • Visualization tools
  • Embedded analytics
  • Enterprise security
  • Multi-channel access

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.

Evidence

  • Building version-controlled analytics infrastructurenot Steampipe
  • Enabling AI agents to answer business questionsnot Steampipe
  • Delivering analytics through multiple channels (web, Slack, ChatGPT)not Steampipe
  • Embedding white-labeled analytics in productsnot Steampipe

Steampipe

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

Where each one falls short

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

Evidence

  • High starting price at $2,500/month limits small team adoption
  • No freemium option for evaluation or learning
  • Code-based approach has steeper learning curve than visual tools
  • AI credits limited on Team plan; additional credits cost extra
  • Requires Git workflow familiarity for effective collaboration

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

Evidence

$2500/month
  • Team$2,500/mo
    • Unlimited users
    • Monthly billing
    • Analytics Agent
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • All Team features
    • SSO/SAML authentication
    • SCIM directory sync

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 Evidence if

  • You need analytics agent.
  • You work on Web, Embedded.
  • You also want code-based infrastructure.
Evidence 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 Evidence or Steampipe better?
Neither clearly leads. Evidence starts at $2500/month and Steampipe at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Evidence or Steampipe?
Steampipe has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $2500/month for Evidence and Free for Steampipe.
Does Evidence or Steampipe run on more platforms?
Evidence runs on Web, Embedded. 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. Evidence starts at $2500/month.
What is Evidence best used for?
Evidence is most often used for building version-controlled analytics infrastructure, enabling ai agents to answer business questions, delivering analytics through multiple channels (web, slack, chatgpt), embedding white-labeled analytics in products. Of those, building version-controlled analytics infrastructure and enabling ai agents to answer business questions are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
What can Evidence do that Steampipe cannot?
Evidence covers Analytics Agent, Code-based infrastructure, Development environment, Visualization tools. Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Evidence: Does Evidence have per-user pricing?

No, Evidence offers one flat price for unlimited users at $2,500/month on the Team plan with a 30-day free trial.

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.

Evidence: How many AI credits come with Team plan?

Team plan includes 20,000 AI credits monthly at $0.01 per additional credit. Enterprise offers custom credit packages.

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.

Evidence: What is included in the Enterprise plan?

Enterprise adds SSO/SAML, SCIM directory sync, row-level access rules, embedding capabilities, and custom deployment options at custom 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.

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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