Documentation · head to head
Read the Docs vs Steampipe
Read the Docs
Documentation
Documentation hosting with versioning built for open source
- 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: Read the Docs build configuration is finicky, and build failures on dependency changes are a common frustration; 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: Read the Docs covers Build on commit, 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 Read the Docs and Steampipe actually diverge.
| Attribute | Read the Docs | Steampipe |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free for open source; paid business plans for private documentation | Open source, with paid hosting through Turbot Pipes |
| Platforms | Web, Cloud | macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker, Web |
| Category | Documentation | 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 Read the Docs
- Build on commit
- Version by branch and tag
- Pull request previews
- Free for open source
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.
Read the Docs
- Open-source projects needing free hosted versioned documentationnot Steampipe
- Teams wanting docs rebuilt automatically on every commitnot Steampipe
- Reviewing documentation changes in a pull request before mergenot Steampipe
Steampipe
- Security teams answering posture questions against live cloud accounts rather than a nightly exportnot Read the Docs
- Compliance evidence gathering where the answer must reflect the account at the moment it is askednot Read the Docs
- Inventory and drift questions spanning several cloud providers in one querynot Read the Docs
- Engineers who would rather write SQL than learn each provider command line toolnot Read the Docs
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Read the Docs
- Build configuration is finicky, and build failures on dependency changes are a common frustration
- Default themes are recognisable and dated, so sites look alike unless customised
- Private documentation requires a paid business plan
- Build times on large projects are slow enough to interrupt a review cycle
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
Read the Docs
Free- FreeFree
- Core functionality
- Public projects
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 Read the Docs if
- You need build on commit.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Cloud.
- You also want version by branch and tag.
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 Read the Docs or Steampipe better?
- Neither clearly leads. Read the Docs 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, Read the Docs or Steampipe?
- Read the Docs starts at Free and Steampipe at Free.
- Does Read the Docs or Steampipe run on more platforms?
- Read the Docs runs on Web, Cloud. Steampipe runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker, Web.
- Can I use Read the Docs for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Read the Docs best used for?
- Read the Docs is most often used for open-source projects needing free hosted versioned documentation, teams wanting docs rebuilt automatically on every commit, reviewing documentation changes in a pull request before merge. Of those, open-source projects needing free hosted versioned documentation and teams wanting docs rebuilt automatically on every commit are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
- What can Read the Docs do that Steampipe cannot?
- Read the Docs covers Build on commit, Version by branch and tag, Pull request previews, Free for open source. Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Read the Docs: Is Read the Docs free?
Free for open-source public projects. Private documentation requires a paid business plan.
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.
Read the Docs: What does it build from?
Most commonly Sphinx or MkDocs sources kept in your repository.
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.
Read the Docs: How does versioning work?
It maps branches and tags to documentation versions, so several releases are served side by side without manual work.
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.
Related pages
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- Steampipe vs Docsify
- Steampipe vs GitBook
- Steampipe vs Doxygen
- Steampipe vs BookStack
- Steampipe vs Antora
- Steampipe vs Outline
- Steampipe vs Bump.sh
- Steampipe vs Fumadocs
- Steampipe vs Scalar
- Steampipe vs Grammarly
- Steampipe vs Slab
- Steampipe vs Starlight
- Steampipe vs VitePress
- Steampipe vs Guidde
- 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 JFrog Artifactory
- Steampipe vs Namespace
- Steampipe vs Nix
- Steampipe vs Nixpacks
- Steampipe vs Octopus Deploy
- Steampipe vs Okteto