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Project Management · head to head

LiquidPlanner vs Steampipe

LiquidPlanner logo

LiquidPlanner

Project Management

Predictive project management

From
On request
Free plan
No
Visit LiquidPlannerFull 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

  • LiquidPlanner is a predictive project management solution.
  • Steampipe has a free plan, then $49/mo; LiquidPlanner starts at $15/mo.
  • Only LiquidPlanner lists predictive scheduling; only Steampipe lists SQL over live APIs.
  • Where LiquidPlanner falls short: rebranded to Tempo Portfolio Manager; the pricing page shows no published figures, only an early access sign-up.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which LiquidPlanner and Steampipe actually diverge.

Attributes where LiquidPlanner and Steampipe differ
AttributeLiquidPlannerSteampipe
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelSubscriptionOpen source, with paid hosting through Turbot Pipes
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebmacOS, Linux, Windows, Self-hosted, Web
CategoryProject ManagementDeveloper Tools

Not yet recorded: 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 LiquidPlanner

  • Predictive scheduling
  • Resource management
  • Time tracking
  • Analytics
  • Workload management
  • Jira
  • Salesforce
  • Slack

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.

LiquidPlanner

  • Productivitynot Steampipe
  • Collaborationnot Steampipe
  • Task managementnot Steampipe
  • Organizationnot Steampipe

Steampipe

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

Where each one falls short

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

LiquidPlanner

  • Rebranded to Tempo Portfolio Manager; the pricing page shows no published figures, only an early access sign-up

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

LiquidPlanner

On request
  • Essentials$15/mo
    • Project management
    • Basic scheduling
  • Professional$25/mo
    • Predictive scheduling
    • Resource management
    • Analytics

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 LiquidPlanner if

  • You need predictive scheduling.
  • You also want resource management.
LiquidPlanner 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 LiquidPlanner or Steampipe better?
Neither clearly leads. LiquidPlanner 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, LiquidPlanner or Steampipe?
Steampipe has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for LiquidPlanner and Free for Steampipe.
Does LiquidPlanner or Steampipe run on more platforms?
LiquidPlanner 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. LiquidPlanner starts at On request.
What is LiquidPlanner best used for?
LiquidPlanner is most often used for productivity, collaboration, task management, organization. Of those, productivity and collaboration are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
What can LiquidPlanner do that Steampipe cannot?
LiquidPlanner covers Predictive scheduling, Resource management, Time tracking, Analytics. Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

LiquidPlanner: How is Tempo timesheets pricing calculated for my organization?

Pricing is per-user per month and scales based on organization size. For 1-10 users: $1.00/user; 11-100 users: $5.21/user; 101-250 users: $3.66/user; scaling down to $0.25-$0.39/user for organizations with 5,000+ users.

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.

LiquidPlanner: What license matching requirement exists for Tempo?

Your Tempo license size must match your Jira license size, with a user defined as anyone who can log into Jira.

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.

LiquidPlanner: Is there a free trial for Tempo timesheets?

Yes, Tempo offers a free trial available through the Atlassian Marketplace.

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.

LiquidPlanner: What deployment options are available for Tempo?

Both Cloud and Data Center deployment options are offered, with annual billing available.

Source
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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