Softwr

Cybersecurity · head to head

SonicWall vs Steampipe

SonicWall logo

SonicWall

Cybersecurity

Proven security, performance and simplicity for modern networks

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: SonicWall product line page names no price for any firewall model, series or bundled security service; 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 SonicWall and Steampipe actually diverge.

Attributes where SonicWall and Steampipe differ
AttributeSonicWallSteampipe
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 SonicWall

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.

SonicWall

  • Network security and firewallsnot Steampipe
  • Cloud securitynot Steampipe

Steampipe

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

Where each one falls short

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

SonicWall

  • Product line page names no price for any firewall model, series or bundled security service
  • Product tiers are segmented strictly by business size (TZ80 for micro-SMBs up to NSsp for large enterprises), so a growing business must migrate hardware series rather than scale within one model

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

SonicWall

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the SonicWall 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 SonicWall if

Nothing in the data separates SonicWall from Steampipe on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

SonicWall 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 SonicWall or Steampipe better?
Neither clearly leads. SonicWall 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, SonicWall or Steampipe?
Steampipe has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for SonicWall and Free for Steampipe.
Does SonicWall or Steampipe run on more platforms?
SonicWall 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. SonicWall starts at On request.
What is SonicWall best used for?
SonicWall is most often used for network security and firewalls, cloud security. Of those, network security and firewalls and cloud security are not what Steampipe is typically brought in for.
What can SonicWall do that Steampipe cannot?
Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

SonicWall: How much does SonicWall cost?

SonicWall does not publish pricing on its main website. The company directs customers to contact their sales team directly or access the partner portal for reseller pricing. Free trials are available through their sales channels.

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.

SonicWall: Does SonicWall offer a free trial?

Yes, SonicWall offers free trials for their products. Contact their sales team through the Contact Sales button to request trial access and pricing information.

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.

Share

Related pages

More on SonicWall

More on Steampipe

Keep looking

Other head to heads