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Business Intelligence · head to head

GoodData vs Steampipe

GoodData logo

GoodData

Business Intelligence

Analytics platform for data products

From
On request
Free plan
No
Visit GoodDataFull 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

  • GoodData is an analytics platform.
  • Steampipe starts at $49/mo; GoodData prices on request.
  • Only GoodData lists headless BI; only Steampipe lists SQL over live APIs.
  • Where GoodData falls short: pricing scales per workspace as customer base grows, increasing costs with scale.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which GoodData and Steampipe actually diverge.

Attributes where GoodData and Steampipe differ
AttributeGoodDataSteampipe
Starting priceOn requestFree
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebmacOS, Linux, Windows, Self-hosted, Web
CategoryBusiness IntelligenceDeveloper Tools

Not yet recorded: pricing model for GoodData, 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 GoodData

  • Headless BI
  • Semantic Layer
  • Embedded Analytics
  • Multi-tenancy
  • White-labeling
  • Snowflake
  • BigQuery
  • Redshift

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.

GoodData

  • Self-service analyticsnot Steampipe
  • Data explorationnot Steampipe
  • Ad-hoc reportingnot Steampipe
  • Collaborative analysisnot Steampipe
  • Embedded analyticsnot Steampipe

Steampipe

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

Where each one falls short

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

GoodData

  • Pricing scales per workspace as customer base grows, increasing costs with scale
  • Advanced security features like audit logging and HIPAA compliance only on Enterprise plan

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

GoodData

On request
  • ProfessionalOn request
    • Core BI and analytics
    • Full embedding with whitelabeling
    • Multi-tenancy support
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • All Professional features
    • Custom agents and Agent Builder
    • 99.5% guaranteed uptime SLA

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 GoodData if

  • You need headless bi.
  • You also want semantic layer.
GoodData 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 GoodData or Steampipe better?
Neither clearly leads. GoodData starts at On request and Steampipe at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, GoodData or Steampipe?
Steampipe has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for GoodData and Free for Steampipe.
Does GoodData or Steampipe run on more platforms?
GoodData runs on Web. 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. GoodData starts at On request.
What is GoodData best used for?
GoodData is most often used for self-service analytics, data exploration, ad-hoc reporting, collaborative analysis. Of those, self-service analytics and data exploration are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
What can GoodData do that Steampipe cannot?
GoodData covers Headless BI, Semantic Layer, Embedded Analytics, Multi-tenancy. Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

GoodData: Does GoodData offer a free tier?

No, GoodData does not offer a free tier. The platform has Professional and Enterprise pricing tiers that require sales contact for quotes.

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.

GoodData: What data warehouses can GoodData connect to?

GoodData supports direct connections to Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Azure Databricks, and PostgreSQL through a direct-query-only integration model.

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.

GoodData: Can you self-host GoodData?

Self-hosted deployment is only available on the Enterprise plan. Professional plan customers are limited to the managed SaaS offering.

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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