Steampipe + Powerpipe vs CloudQuery
Both are alternatives to Vanta. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as CloudQuery vs Steampipe + Powerpipe — same comparison, one verdict.
Steampipe + Powerpipe
Query your cloud configuration as SQL, with compliance mods on top.
Steampipe exposes cloud and SaaS configuration as SQL tables; Powerpipe runs benchmark mods against them, including CIS, SOC 2, HIPAA and PCI packs. The most flexible option here — if you can express a control as a query, you can check it continuously.
CloudQuery
Sync cloud infrastructure into your own database, then ask compliance questions of it.
An ELT framework that pulls cloud, SaaS and identity configuration into Postgres or a warehouse you own. Compliance becomes a query against your own data rather than a feature of somebody's platform, which also makes the evidence yours to keep.
Side by side
| Steampipe + Powerpipe | CloudQuery | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty Score | 86 | 80 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first | Yes | Yes |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MPL-2.0 (core) |
| Pricing | Free / self-host; paid Turbot Pipes hosted option | Free / self-host core; paid cloud and premium plugins |
Steampipe + Powerpipe edges it on the Sovereignty Score, but the right pick depends on the trade-offs below.
Steampipe + Powerpipe
Strengths
- +SQL over live cloud state is unusually powerful for bespoke controls
- +Large library of community compliance benchmarks
- +Composes well with existing data tooling rather than being another silo
Trade-offs
- −Assumes comfort with SQL and with defining your own controls
- −Split across two tools since the 2024 Powerpipe separation
- −No evidence archive, policy engine or auditor-facing output
CloudQuery
Strengths
- +The evidence lands in a database you control and can retain for years
- +Broad source coverage beyond cloud — identity, SaaS, code hosting
- +Fits teams that already have a warehouse and BI layer
Trade-offs
- −You build the compliance logic; it ships the data, not the verdict
- −Several plugins and features sit behind the commercial tier
- −Furthest of these from anything an auditor would recognise unaided
Related alternative guides
Facts verified 2026-09-01. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.