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Cybersecurity · head to head

Omada Identity vs Steampipe

Omada Identity logo

Omada Identity

Cybersecurity

Identity governance and administration focused on access certification and compliance evidence

From
On request
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

  • Only Steampipe has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Omada Identity pricing is per managed identity, so organisations with large numbers of contractors, service accounts or seasonal staff pay governance fees on identities nobody is really governing.; 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: Omada Identity covers Access certification, 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 Omada Identity and Steampipe actually diverge.

Attributes where Omada Identity and Steampipe differ
AttributeOmada IdentitySteampipe
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, with paid hosting through Turbot Pipes
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebmacOS, 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 Omada Identity

  • Access certification
  • Joiner mover leaver
  • Role modelling
  • Segregation of duties
  • Access request
  • Connectors

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.

Omada Identity

  • An organisation whose auditors flagged that access recertification is run on spreadsheets and cannot be evidencednot Steampipe
  • A company with high staff turnover where leavers keep access to systems weeks after their last daynot Steampipe
  • A regulated firm needing documented segregation of duties across finance and ERP entitlementsnot Steampipe
  • A business that abandoned a previous multi-year IGA implementation and needs something that reaches production this yearnot Steampipe

Steampipe

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

Where each one falls short

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

Omada Identity

  • Pricing is per managed identity, so organisations with large numbers of contractors, service accounts or seasonal staff pay governance fees on identities nobody is really governing.
  • It governs access but provides no single sign-on, multi-factor authentication or privileged session management, so it is always a second or third identity subscription rather than a consolidation.
  • The fast-deployment promise depends on accepting its standard process model; organisations with genuinely unusual entitlement structures end up in custom work and the timeline advantage disappears.
  • Connector coverage is strong for mainstream enterprise systems and thin for bespoke or industry-specific applications, and each custom connector is a project with ongoing maintenance.
  • Data quality in the HR system determines whether joiner mover leaver automation works, so companies with messy HR records find the tool exposes that problem rather than solving it.

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

Omada Identity

On request
  • Omada Identity Cloud$undefined/year
    • Priced per managed identity per year
    • SaaS on Microsoft Azure with regional deployment options
    • Implementation delivered on a defined methodology, quoted separately

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 Omada Identity if

  • You need access certification.
  • You also want joiner mover leaver.
Omada Identity 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 Omada Identity or Steampipe better?
Neither clearly leads. Omada Identity 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, Omada Identity or Steampipe?
Steampipe has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Omada Identity and Free for Steampipe.
Does Omada Identity or Steampipe run on more platforms?
Omada Identity 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. Omada Identity starts at On request.
What is Omada Identity best used for?
Omada Identity is most often used for an organisation whose auditors flagged that access recertification is run on spreadsheets and cannot be evidenced, a company with high staff turnover where leavers keep access to systems weeks after their last day, a regulated firm needing documented segregation of duties across finance and erp entitlements, a business that abandoned a previous multi-year iga implementation and needs something that reaches production this year. Of those, an organisation whose auditors flagged that access recertification is run on spreadsheets and cannot be evidenced and a company with high staff turnover where leavers keep access to systems weeks after their last day are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
What can Omada Identity do that Steampipe cannot?
Omada Identity covers Access certification, Joiner mover leaver, Role modelling, Segregation of duties. Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Omada Identity: Does it provide single sign-on?

No. Omada is governance only. You still need Entra ID, Okta or equivalent for authentication.

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.

Omada Identity: How is it licensed?

Per managed identity per year. Count contractors and service accounts before you compare quotes, because they usually count.

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.

Omada Identity: How long does deployment take?

Months rather than years is the positioning, and it is achievable if you accept the standard process model. Heavy customisation returns you to traditional IGA timelines.

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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