Is PHP or Steampipe better?

Neither clearly leads. PHP 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, PHP or Steampipe?

PHP starts at Free and Steampipe at Free.

Does PHP or Steampipe run on more platforms?

PHP runs on Web. Steampipe runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker, Web.

Can I use PHP for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is PHP best used for?

PHP is most often used for server-side web development, content management systems, api backends. Of those, server-side web development and content management systems are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.

What can PHP do that Steampipe cannot?

Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.

Web Development · head to head

PHP vs Steampipe

PHP

Web Development

A popular general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited to web development

From: Free
Free plan: Yes

Full review Website

Steampipe

Developer Tools

Query cloud APIs, SaaS tools and code with SQL, with no extract or load step

From: Free
Free plan: Yes

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: PHP distributed under the Modified BSD License, also called the PHP License version 4, per php.net/license/; there is no paid tier or vendor price to compare; 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 PHP and Steampipe actually diverge.

Attributes where PHP and Steampipe differ
Attribute	PHP	Steampipe
Pricing model	open-source	Open source, with paid hosting through Turbot Pipes
Platforms	Web	macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker, Web
Category	Web Development	Developer Tools

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 PHP

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.

PHP

Server-side web developmentnot Steampipe
Content management systemsnot Steampipe
API backendsnot Steampipe

Steampipe

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

Where each one falls short

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

PHP

Distributed under the Modified BSD License, also called the PHP License version 4, per php.net/license/; there is no paid tier or vendor price to compare
PHP 8.2 lost active support on 31 Dec 2024 and enters full end of life on 31 Dec 2026, with only security fixes since, per php.net/supported-versions.php (Aug 2026)

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

PHP

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the PHP review.

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 PHP if

You want to start without paying.

PHP 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 PHP or Steampipe better?: Neither clearly leads. PHP 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, PHP or Steampipe?: PHP starts at Free and Steampipe at Free.
Does PHP or Steampipe run on more platforms?: PHP runs on Web. Steampipe runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker, Web.
Can I use PHP for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is PHP best used for?: PHP is most often used for server-side web development, content management systems, api backends. Of those, server-side web development and content management systems are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
What can PHP do that Steampipe cannot?: Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

PHP: Is PHP free to use?

Yes, PHP is completely free and open-source software under the PHP Foundation governance. There are no licensing fees or paid tiers.

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.

PHP: Does the PHP Foundation offer paid support?

The PHP Foundation accepts voluntary donations to support long-term development, but donations are optional and not required to use PHP.

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.

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.

PHP vs Steampipe

PHP

Steampipe

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in PHP

Only in Steampipe

What people use each for

PHP

Steampipe

Where each one falls short

PHP

Steampipe

Pricing, plan by plan

PHP

Steampipe

Which should you pick?

Choose PHP if

Choose Steampipe if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on PHP

More on Steampipe

Keep looking

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