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Developer Tools · head to head

Steampipe vs ThetaRay

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
ThetaRay logo

ThetaRay

Cybersecurity

Unsupervised AI transaction monitoring for cross-border and correspondent banking

From
On request
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Steampipe has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: 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.; ThetaRay unsupervised models are harder to justify to an examiner than explicit rules, and some regulators still expect documented threshold logic, which can force you to run both systems.
  • They diverge on capability: Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, ThetaRay covers Unsupervised detection.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Steampipe and ThetaRay actually diverge.

Attributes where Steampipe and ThetaRay differ
AttributeSteampipeThetaRay
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, with paid hosting through Turbot Pipesquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsmacOS, Linux, Windows, Docker, WebWeb
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity

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 Steampipe

  • SQL over live APIs
  • Wide plugin set
  • Embedded Postgres
  • Compliance benchmarks
  • Joins across providers
  • Hosted option

Only in ThetaRay

  • Unsupervised detection
  • Cross-border focus
  • Sanctions screening
  • Alert triage
  • Customer risk scoring
  • Cloud native

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Steampipe

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

ThetaRay

  • A correspondent bank that cannot see the ultimate originator and needs behavioural signals rather than counterparty listsnot Steampipe
  • A cross-border payments fintech whose rules engine produces more alerts than its compliance team can clearnot Steampipe
  • A bank under a regulatory consent order needing demonstrable improvement in detection within a fixed periodnot Steampipe
  • A payment institution entering a high-risk corridor where existing thresholds were calibrated on domestic trafficnot Steampipe

Where each one falls short

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

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.

ThetaRay

  • Unsupervised models are harder to justify to an examiner than explicit rules, and some regulators still expect documented threshold logic, which can force you to run both systems.
  • The alert reduction claim depends heavily on your data, so a parallel run is essential and adds months and cost before you can decommission the incumbent.
  • Coverage is strongest in cross-border and correspondent flows; institutions whose risk is domestic retail fraud will find the fit weaker than a general-purpose monitoring platform.
  • It is a smaller vendor than the incumbents, so integration connectors into legacy core banking systems are often bespoke work rather than a supported adapter.
  • Model retraining and tuning are vendor-led, which means changing detection behaviour is a support conversation rather than something your own analysts can do that afternoon.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

ThetaRay

On request
  • ThetaRay Sonar$undefined/year
    • Priced by monitored transaction volume and number of monitored entities
    • SaaS on Azure with regional data residency options
    • Parallel run and model tuning included in onboarding

Which should you pick?

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

Choose ThetaRay if

  • You need unsupervised detection.
  • You also want cross-border focus.
ThetaRay review

Questions people ask

Is Steampipe or ThetaRay better?
Neither clearly leads. Steampipe starts at Free and ThetaRay at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Steampipe or ThetaRay?
Steampipe has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Steampipe and On request for ThetaRay.
Does Steampipe or ThetaRay run on more platforms?
Steampipe runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, Docker, Web. ThetaRay runs on Web.
Can I use Steampipe for free?
Yes. Steampipe has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. ThetaRay starts at On request.
What is Steampipe best used for?
Steampipe is most often used for security teams answering posture questions against live cloud accounts rather than a nightly export, compliance evidence gathering where the answer must reflect the account at the moment it is asked, inventory and drift questions spanning several cloud providers in one query, engineers who would rather write sql than learn each provider command line tool. Of those, security teams answering posture questions against live cloud accounts rather than a nightly export and compliance evidence gathering where the answer must reflect the account at the moment it is asked are not what ThetaRay is typically brought in for.
What can Steampipe do that ThetaRay cannot?
Steampipe covers SQL over live APIs, Wide plugin set, Embedded Postgres, Compliance benchmarks. ThetaRay covers Unsupervised detection, Cross-border focus, Sanctions screening, Alert triage.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

ThetaRay: Does it replace a rules engine entirely?

Rarely on day one. Most institutions run it alongside existing rules during a parallel period, and some keep specific regulator-mandated rules permanently.

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.

ThetaRay: Where is the data processed?

SaaS runs on Microsoft Azure with regional deployment options, which is the mechanism for meeting data residency conditions in regulated markets.

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.

ThetaRay: Is sanctions screening included?

Screening is available on the same platform but licensed as part of the commercial package rather than bundled by default. Confirm it is in your quote.

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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