Prowler vs Steampipe + Powerpipe
Both are alternatives to Vanta. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as Steampipe + Powerpipe vs Prowler — same comparison, one verdict.
Prowler
TOP PICKOpen-source cloud security posture scanning with framework check packs.
Scans AWS, Azure, GCP and Kubernetes against hundreds of checks and maps them to compliance frameworks including CIS, SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR and NIST. Runs as a CLI in CI or as a self-hosted app, and produces the technical-control evidence a compliance platform would otherwise gather for you.
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.
Side by side
| Prowler | Steampipe + Powerpipe | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty Score | 92 | 86 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first | Yes | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Pricing | Free / self-host; optional paid hosted Prowler Cloud | Free / self-host; paid Turbot Pipes hosted option |
Prowler is Macrostack's recommended Vanta alternative, so it's our pick here.
Prowler
Strengths
- +Framework mappings are built in — SOC 2, CIS, HIPAA, GDPR, NIST and more, not just raw findings
- +Runs in CI, so posture is checked on every change rather than the week before an audit
- +Covers the part of compliance that is genuinely automatable: technical control state
Trade-offs
- −Produces evidence, not an audit — no auditor relationship, no report
- −No policy management, security training tracking or vendor review workflow
- −Someone has to own the findings; the tool will not chase them
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
Related alternative guides
Facts verified 2026-09-01. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.