Documentation · head to head
MkDocs vs Steampipe
MkDocs
Documentation
Static site generator for project documentation in Markdown
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Steampipe
Developer Tools
Query cloud APIs, SaaS tools and code with SQL, with no extract or load step
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: MkDocs no built-in versioning, which Docusaurus provides and documentation teams eventually need; 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: MkDocs covers Plain Markdown, 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 MkDocs and Steampipe actually diverge.
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 MkDocs
- Plain Markdown
- Single YAML config
- Material theme
- Live preview
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.
MkDocs
- Project documentation for teams that would rather not run a JavaScript toolchainnot Steampipe
- Python projects keeping docs beside the codenot Steampipe
- Documentation that must build fast in CI on every commitnot Steampipe
Steampipe
- Security teams answering posture questions against live cloud accounts rather than a nightly exportnot MkDocs
- Compliance evidence gathering where the answer must reflect the account at the moment it is askednot MkDocs
- Inventory and drift questions spanning several cloud providers in one querynot MkDocs
- Engineers who would rather write SQL than learn each provider command line toolnot MkDocs
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
MkDocs
- No built-in versioning, which Docusaurus provides and documentation teams eventually need
- Extending past the theme means writing Python plugins
- Markdown only, so embedding interactive components is not the model
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
MkDocs
Free- MkDocsFree
- Full functionality
- Commercial use permitted
- Community support
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 MkDocs if
- You need plain markdown.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows.
- You also want single yaml config.
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 MkDocs or Steampipe better?
- Neither clearly leads. MkDocs 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, MkDocs or Steampipe?
- MkDocs starts at Free and Steampipe at Free.
- Does MkDocs or Steampipe run on more platforms?
- MkDocs runs on Web, Linux, macOS, Windows. Steampipe runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker, Web.
- Can I use MkDocs for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is MkDocs best used for?
- MkDocs is most often used for project documentation for teams that would rather not run a javascript toolchain, python projects keeping docs beside the code, documentation that must build fast in ci on every commit. Of those, project documentation for teams that would rather not run a javascript toolchain and python projects keeping docs beside the code are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
- What can MkDocs do that Steampipe cannot?
- MkDocs covers Plain Markdown, Single YAML config, Material theme, Live preview. Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
MkDocs: Is MkDocs free?
Yes, open source under the BSD licence. The Material theme has a free version and a paid Insiders edition.
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.
MkDocs: MkDocs or Docusaurus?
MkDocs is simpler and faster to adopt, especially for Python teams. Docusaurus offers versioning, internationalisation and React components, which matter once documentation grows.
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.
MkDocs: Does MkDocs support versioned docs?
Not natively. Plugins such as mike add it, where Docusaurus includes versioning in core.
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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