Cybersecurity · head to head
Microsoft Defender vs Steampipe
Microsoft Defender
Cybersecurity
Always-on protection for you and your family's data and devices
- From
- $12/month
- Free plan
- No
Steampipe
Developer Tools
Query cloud APIs, SaaS tools and code with SQL, with no extract or load step
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
The short version
- Only Steampipe has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- Each has a real cost: Microsoft Defender defender Suite requires existing Microsoft 365 E3 or equivalent base licensing; 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.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Microsoft Defender and Steampipe actually diverge.
| Attribute | Microsoft Defender | Steampipe |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $12/month | Free |
| Pricing model | subscription | Open source, with paid hosting through Turbot Pipes |
| Free tier | No | Yes |
| Platforms | Web | macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker, Web |
| Category | Cybersecurity | Developer 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 Microsoft Defender
Nothing recorded that Steampipe does not also cover.
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.
Microsoft Defender
- Endpoint security and threat protectionnot Steampipe
- Identity and access securitynot Steampipe
- Email threat protectionnot Steampipe
- SaaS application security monitoringnot Steampipe
Steampipe
- Security teams answering posture questions against live cloud accounts rather than a nightly exportnot Microsoft Defender
- Compliance evidence gathering where the answer must reflect the account at the moment it is askednot Microsoft Defender
- Inventory and drift questions spanning several cloud providers in one querynot Microsoft Defender
- Engineers who would rather write SQL than learn each provider command line toolnot Microsoft Defender
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Microsoft Defender
- Defender Suite requires existing Microsoft 365 E3 or equivalent base licensing
- Some Defender products use pay-as-you-go pricing with variable costs
- Prices vary based on Microsoft agreements, requiring sales contact for custom quotes
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
Microsoft Defender
$12/month- Microsoft Defender Suite$12/month
- Endpoint protection
- Identity threat detection
- Email security
- Microsoft 365 E5 with Defender$60/month
- Includes Defender Suite
- Microsoft Teams included
- Comprehensive security and compliance
- Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management Add-on$2/month
- Vulnerability scanning and management
- One-month free trial available
- Annual commitment required
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 Microsoft Defender if
Nothing in the data separates Microsoft Defender from Steampipe on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.
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.
Questions people ask
- Is Microsoft Defender or Steampipe better?
- Neither clearly leads. Microsoft Defender starts at $12/month and Steampipe at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Microsoft Defender or Steampipe?
- Steampipe has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $12/month for Microsoft Defender and Free for Steampipe.
- Does Microsoft Defender or Steampipe run on more platforms?
- Microsoft Defender runs on Web. 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. Microsoft Defender starts at $12/month.
- What is Microsoft Defender best used for?
- Microsoft Defender is most often used for endpoint security and threat protection, identity and access security, email threat protection, saas application security monitoring. Of those, endpoint security and threat protection and identity and access security are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
- What can Microsoft Defender do that Steampipe cannot?
- Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Microsoft Defender: How much does Microsoft Defender Suite cost?
Microsoft Defender Suite costs $12/user/month (paid yearly), but requires existing Microsoft 365 E3 or equivalent base licensing. It includes endpoint protection, identity threat detection, email security, and SaaS application monitoring.
SourceSteampipe: 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.
Microsoft Defender: What add-ons are available for Microsoft Defender?
Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management Add-on costs $2/user/month with annual commitment and includes a one-month free trial. Additional pay-as-you-go products include External Attack Surface Management, Cloud Security Posture Management, and Sentinel.
SourceSteampipe: 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.
Microsoft Defender: Is Defender included in Microsoft 365 E5?
Yes, Microsoft Defender Suite is included in Microsoft 365 E5 at $60/user/month (paid yearly with Teams). Prices may vary based on Microsoft agreements, requiring contact with Sales for customized quotes.
SourceSteampipe: 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.
Related pages
More on Microsoft Defender
Other head to heads
- Microsoft Defender vs Bitdefender Total Security
- Microsoft Defender vs Norton 360
- Microsoft Defender vs 1Password
- Microsoft Defender vs LastPass
- Microsoft Defender vs McAfee Total Protection
- Microsoft Defender vs Proofpoint
- Microsoft Defender vs CrowdStrike Falcon
- Microsoft Defender vs Avast One
- Microsoft Defender vs ESET NOD32 Antivirus
- Microsoft Defender vs Cybereason Defense Platform
- Microsoft Defender vs Fortinet FortiGate
- Microsoft Defender vs VMware Carbon Black
- Microsoft Defender vs Wireshark
- Microsoft Defender vs WorkOS
- Microsoft Defender vs Zscaler Internet Access
- Microsoft Defender vs Milestone XProtect
- Microsoft Defender vs Osano
- Microsoft Defender vs Bitdefender VPN
- Microsoft Defender vs Atlantis
- Microsoft Defender vs Jitsu
- Microsoft Defender vs Frappe
- Microsoft Defender vs Visual Studio Code
- Microsoft Defender vs Penpot
- Microsoft Defender vs GNU Emacs
- Microsoft Defender vs Bazel
- Microsoft Defender vs Eclipse IDE
- Microsoft Defender vs Pants Build
- Microsoft Defender vs Swagger UI
- Microsoft Defender vs Ansible
- Microsoft Defender vs Helix
- Microsoft Defender vs Deep Code
- Microsoft Defender vs Deno
- Microsoft Defender vs Fig
- Microsoft Defender vs Git
- Microsoft Defender vs GoLand
- Steampipe vs Bitdefender Total Security
- Steampipe vs Norton 360
- Steampipe vs 1Password
- Steampipe vs LastPass
- Steampipe vs McAfee Total Protection
- Steampipe vs Proofpoint
- Steampipe vs CrowdStrike Falcon
- Steampipe vs Avast One
- Steampipe vs ESET NOD32 Antivirus
- Steampipe vs Cybereason Defense Platform
- Steampipe vs Fortinet FortiGate
- Steampipe vs VMware Carbon Black
- Steampipe vs Wireshark
- Steampipe vs WorkOS
- Steampipe vs Zscaler Internet Access
- Steampipe vs Milestone XProtect
- Steampipe vs Osano
- Steampipe vs Bitdefender VPN
- Steampipe vs Atlantis
- Steampipe vs Jitsu
- Steampipe vs Frappe
- Steampipe vs Visual Studio Code
- Steampipe vs Penpot
- Steampipe vs GNU Emacs
- Steampipe vs Bazel
- Steampipe vs Eclipse IDE
- Steampipe vs Pants Build
- Steampipe vs Swagger UI
- Steampipe vs Ansible
- Steampipe vs Helix
- Steampipe vs Deep Code
- Steampipe vs Deno
- Steampipe vs Fig
- Steampipe vs Git
- Steampipe vs GoLand