Softwr

Project Management · head to head

Paymo vs Steampipe

Paymo logo

Paymo

Project Management

Work & project management for teams

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit PaymoFull 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

  • Paymo is a work management solution.
  • Free plans on both; paid from $5.9/mo and $49/mo.
  • Only Paymo lists task management; only Steampipe lists SQL over live APIs.
  • Where Paymo falls short: every advertised price rises after 3 months, with Plus going from $10.90 to $15.90 per user and Pro from $16.90 to $23.90.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Paymo and Steampipe actually diverge.

Attributes where Paymo and Steampipe differ
AttributePaymoSteampipe
Pricing modelFreemiumOpen source, with paid hosting through Turbot Pipes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, Windows, macOSmacOS, Linux, Windows, Self-hosted, Web
CategoryProject ManagementDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).

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 Paymo

  • Task management
  • Time tracking
  • Invoicing
  • Gantt charts
  • Resource scheduling
  • Slack
  • Google Workspace
  • Zapier

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.

Paymo

  • Time tracking for freelancersnot Steampipe
  • Project management for small teamsnot Steampipe
  • Invoice generation and client managementnot Steampipe

Steampipe

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

Where each one falls short

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

Paymo

  • Every advertised price rises after 3 months, with Plus going from $10.90 to $15.90 per user and Pro from $16.90 to $23.90
  • The free plan allows 1 user, 1 client and 2 projects
  • The Solo plan is still capped at 3 clients and 5 projects
  • Gantt charts, task dependencies and scheduling require the Plus plan
  • Integrations are excluded from both the free and Solo plans

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

Paymo

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 1 user
    • unlimited time tracking
    • unlimited invoices
  • Solo$5.9/mo
    • 1 user
    • flat rate/retainer projects
    • 3 clients
  • Plus$10.9/mo
    • unlimited users
    • spreadsheet view
    • recurring tasks
  • Pro$16.9/mo
    • unlimited users
    • Gantt charts
    • task dependencies

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 Paymo if

  • You need task management.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS.
  • You also want time tracking.
Paymo 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 Paymo or Steampipe better?
Neither clearly leads. Paymo 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, Paymo or Steampipe?
Paymo starts at Free and Steampipe at Free.
Does Paymo or Steampipe run on more platforms?
Paymo runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS. Steampipe runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Self-hosted, Web.
Can I use Paymo for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Paymo best used for?
Paymo is most often used for time tracking for freelancers, project management for small teams, invoice generation and client management. Of those, time tracking for freelancers and project management for small teams are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
What can Paymo do that Steampipe cannot?
Paymo covers Task management, Time tracking, Invoicing, Gantt charts. Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Paymo: What is the storage limit by plan?

Free: 1GB, Solo: 5GB, Plus: 50GB, Pro: 500GB.

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.

Paymo: Can I use Paymo with multiple users on the Free plan?

No, Free and Solo plans are limited to 1 user only. You need Plus or Pro for multiple users.

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.

Paymo: What happens after the promotional pricing period ends?

Regular prices apply: Solo $9.90/month, Plus $15.90/user/month, Pro $23.90/user/month.

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.

Paymo: Is there a discount for annual billing?

Yes, annual payment offers up to 40% discount compared to monthly billing.

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.

Share

Related pages

More on Paymo

More on Steampipe

Keep looking

Other head to heads