Softwr

Project Management · head to head

Huly vs Steampipe

Huly logo

Huly

Project Management

Open-source all-in-one project management and collaboration platform

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Steampipe logo

Steampipe

Developer Tools

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Huly cloud pricing charges separately for storage and video/audio bandwidth, which can be unpredictable.; 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: Huly covers Team Planner, 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 Huly and Steampipe actually diverge.

Attributes where Huly and Steampipe differ
AttributeHulySteampipe
Pricing modelfreemiumOpen source, with paid hosting through Turbot Pipes
Platformsweb, windows, mac, linuxmacOS, Linux, Windows, Docker, Web
CategoryProject ManagementDeveloper Tools

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 Huly

  • Team Planner
  • Project management
  • Virtual Office
  • Real-time chat
  • Document collaboration
  • GitHub sync

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.

Huly

  • Replacing multiple SaaS tools with one self-hostable platformnot Steampipe
  • Remote team collaboration with persistent virtual officesnot Steampipe
  • Issue tracking synced with GitHubnot Steampipe
  • Combined docs and project management for small teamsnot Steampipe

Steampipe

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

Where each one falls short

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

Huly

  • Cloud pricing charges separately for storage and video/audio bandwidth, which can be unpredictable.
  • AI features are listed as 'TBD' rather than fully available.
  • Being a broad all-in-one tool, individual modules are less deep than dedicated best-of-breed products.
  • Self-hosting requires operational effort compared to fully managed competitors.

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

Huly

Free
  • CommonFree
    • Unlimited users
    • Unlimited Huly objects
    • 10GB storage
  • Rare$19.99/month
    • Unlimited users
    • 100GB storage
    • 100GB video/audio traffic
  • Epic$99.99/month
    • Unlimited users
    • 1TB storage
    • 500GB video/audio traffic
  • Legendary$399.99/month
    • Unlimited users
    • 10TB storage
    • 2TB video/audio traffic

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 Huly if

  • You need team planner.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, windows, mac, linux.
  • You also want project management.
Huly 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 Huly or Steampipe better?
Neither clearly leads. Huly 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, Huly or Steampipe?
Huly starts at Free and Steampipe at Free.
Does Huly or Steampipe run on more platforms?
Huly runs on web, windows, mac, linux. Steampipe runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker, Web.
Can I use Huly for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Huly best used for?
Huly is most often used for replacing multiple saas tools with one self-hostable platform, remote team collaboration with persistent virtual offices, issue tracking synced with github, combined docs and project management for small teams. Of those, replacing multiple saas tools with one self-hostable platform and remote team collaboration with persistent virtual offices are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
What can Huly do that Steampipe cannot?
Huly covers Team Planner, Project management, Virtual Office, Real-time chat. Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Huly: What does Huly cost?

Huly's cloud offering has a free Common plan plus paid Rare ($19.99/mo), Epic ($99.99/mo) and Legendary ($399.99/mo) tiers based on storage and video/audio traffic, plus a custom plan.

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.

Huly: Is there a free plan, and what are its limits?

The free Common plan includes unlimited users and Huly objects but caps storage at 10GB and video/audio traffic at 10GB.

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.

Huly: How is usage metered?

Huly charges cloud users based on consumed storage (for attachments and documents) and network usage for audio/video calls, while Huly objects themselves stay unlimited on every plan.

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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