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Cybersecurity · head to head

Shufti Pro vs Steampipe

Shufti Pro logo

Shufti Pro

Cybersecurity

Identity verification and AML screening at the low cost end of the market

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
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
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Steampipe has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Shufti Pro rates are not published despite the pay as you go framing, so the cost advantage over premium vendors has to be established through a quote rather than a price list.; 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: Shufti Pro covers Document verification, 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 Shufti Pro and Steampipe actually diverge.

Attributes where Shufti Pro and Steampipe differ
AttributeShufti ProSteampipe
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, with paid hosting through Turbot Pipes
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidmacOS, 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 Shufti Pro

  • Document verification
  • Facial biometrics
  • AML screening
  • KYB verification
  • Address verification
  • Age verification
  • Pay as you go option

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.

Shufti Pro

  • A crypto exchange onboarding users in markets where premium vendors have poor document coveragenot Steampipe
  • A gambling operator needing age assurance at high volume where per-check cost dominates the unit economicsnot Steampipe
  • A gig economy platform verifying couriers whose documents are photographed on low end phonesnot Steampipe
  • A startup that needs verification without signing an annual volume commitment before it knows its volumenot Steampipe

Steampipe

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

Where each one falls short

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

Shufti Pro

  • Rates are not published despite the pay as you go framing, so the cost advantage over premium vendors has to be established through a quote rather than a price list.
  • Accuracy on difficult document types trails the premium vendors, and the saving per check is often consumed by the manual review headcount handling the additional referrals.
  • The enterprise assurance profile is thinner than that of larger competitors, so regulated bank procurement teams frequently rule it out at the vendor risk stage rather than on capability.
  • Support responsiveness scales with contract size, and pay as you go customers have limited recourse when a document type suddenly starts failing in one market.
  • Country coverage is broad but uneven in depth, meaning the same product can perform very differently across two markets you are launching in simultaneously.

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

Shufti Pro

On request
  • Pay as you go$undefined/month
    • Consumption billing with no annual commitment
    • Rate quoted by sales, not published
    • Resubmission sessions stated as not billable
  • Monthly commitment$undefined/month
    • Lower per-verification rate against a volume commitment
    • AML screening and KYB priced as add-ons
    • Free trial available before contracting

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 Shufti Pro if

  • You need document verification.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want facial biometrics.
Shufti Pro 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 Shufti Pro or Steampipe better?
Neither clearly leads. Shufti Pro 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, Shufti Pro or Steampipe?
Steampipe has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Shufti Pro and Free for Steampipe.
Does Shufti Pro or Steampipe run on more platforms?
Shufti Pro runs on Web, iOS, Android. 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. Shufti Pro starts at On request.
What is Shufti Pro best used for?
Shufti Pro is most often used for a crypto exchange onboarding users in markets where premium vendors have poor document coverage, a gambling operator needing age assurance at high volume where per-check cost dominates the unit economics, a gig economy platform verifying couriers whose documents are photographed on low end phones, a startup that needs verification without signing an annual volume commitment before it knows its volume. Of those, a crypto exchange onboarding users in markets where premium vendors have poor document coverage and a gambling operator needing age assurance at high volume where per-check cost dominates the unit economics are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
What can Shufti Pro do that Steampipe cannot?
Shufti Pro covers Document verification, Facial biometrics, AML screening, KYB verification. Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Shufti Pro: Are failed attempts charged?

Shufti states that resubmission sessions are not charged and that billing follows successful verification attempts. Get that written into the contract, because it materially changes total cost.

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.

Shufti Pro: Is there a published price?

No. Plan structures are published but rates are quoted. Third party estimates put effective cost well below premium vendors.

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.

Shufti Pro: Can we start without a commitment?

Yes. A pay as you go option exists, which is unusual in this category and useful for early stage volume.

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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