Softwr

Cybersecurity · head to head

Jumio vs Steampipe

Jumio logo

Jumio

Cybersecurity

Document-based identity verification for regulated onboarding

From
On request
Free plan
No
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

  • Only Steampipe has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Jumio no pricing is published at any tier, so a buyer cannot size the cost without entering a sales process, and benchmarking requires a competitive bid from a vendor that does publish.; 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: Jumio covers Document verification, Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Jumio and Steampipe actually diverge.

Attributes where Jumio and Steampipe differ
AttributeJumioSteampipe
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, with paid hosting through Turbot Pipes
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidmacOS, Linux, Windows, Docker, Web
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: 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 Jumio

  • Document verification
  • Liveness detection
  • AML screening
  • Identity orchestration
  • Risk signals
  • Data residency options
  • Case review console

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.

Jumio

  • A bank that needs iBeta certified liveness evidence to satisfy an internal control requirementnot Steampipe
  • A gambling operator required to verify age and identity across multiple regulated European marketsnot Steampipe
  • An organisation with an EU data residency mandate that cannot send biometric data to US processingnot Steampipe
  • A marketplace needing one vendor contract covering document checks, screening and ongoing monitoring rather than threenot Steampipe

Steampipe

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

Where each one falls short

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

Jumio

  • No pricing is published at any tier, so a buyer cannot size the cost without entering a sales process, and benchmarking requires a competitive bid from a vendor that does publish.
  • Contracts are structured on annual committed volume, meaning a business whose growth stalls pays for verifications it never consumed and there is usually no rollover.
  • AML screening is licensed separately from identity verification, so the quote that wins on document price can be materially more expensive once screening and monitoring are added.
  • Pass rates degrade for lower quality documents and older smartphones, and the resulting manual review queue is a staffing cost that does not appear in the vendor quote.
  • As an established vendor with a large enterprise base, product changes move at enterprise pace, and buyers wanting rapid iteration on new fraud vectors often find newer entrants ship faster.

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

Jumio

On request
  • Jumio Platform$undefined/year
    • Priced per verification with annual volume commitment
    • Overage rates apply above committed volume
    • AML screening priced separately from document checks

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 Jumio if

  • You need document verification.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want liveness detection.
Jumio 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 Jumio or Steampipe better?
Neither clearly leads. Jumio 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, Jumio or Steampipe?
Steampipe has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Jumio and Free for Steampipe.
Does Jumio or Steampipe run on more platforms?
Jumio runs on Web, iOS, Android. Steampipe runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker, Web.
Can I use Steampipe for free?
Yes. Steampipe has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Jumio starts at On request.
What is Jumio best used for?
Jumio is most often used for a bank that needs ibeta certified liveness evidence to satisfy an internal control requirement, a gambling operator required to verify age and identity across multiple regulated european markets, an organisation with an eu data residency mandate that cannot send biometric data to us processing, a marketplace needing one vendor contract covering document checks, screening and ongoing monitoring rather than three. Of those, a bank that needs ibeta certified liveness evidence to satisfy an internal control requirement and a gambling operator required to verify age and identity across multiple regulated european markets are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
What can Jumio do that Steampipe cannot?
Jumio covers Document verification, Liveness detection, AML screening, Identity orchestration. Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Jumio: Does Jumio publish prices?

No. Everything is quoted, normally as a per-verification rate against an annual committed volume with overage pricing above it.

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.

Jumio: Is biometric data processed in the EU?

Regional processing including EU data residency is offered. Confirm the specific region and retention period in the contract rather than assuming it.

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.

Jumio: Is AML screening included?

Not by default. Screening and ongoing monitoring are priced separately from document verification.

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.

Share

Related pages

More on Jumio

More on Steampipe

Keep looking

Other head to heads