trueno
trueno vs Steampipe

trueno or Steampipe?Honest answer below.

Steampipe is an open-source SQL engine that turns cloud APIs into queryable tables — extraordinary power if you're comfortable with SQL and ops. trueno is the opposite: hosted, opinionated, packaged with a UI so non-engineers can use it. These tools target different shapes of team and often pair well rather than compete.

01 · When to choose what

Pick the tool that matches your team, not the louder one.

Choose Steampipe if

  • Your team is engineers-first and writes SQL casually. The leverage of SELECT * FROM aws_ec2_instance WHERE ... is enormous in the right hands.
  • You want multi-cloud (and multi-SaaS) — Steampipe has 100+ plugins covering AWS, GCP, Azure, GitHub, Snowflake, and more.
  • You're comfortable running Postgres + the Steampipe CLI (or paying for Turbot Pipes hosting) and writing your own dashboards.
  • You want maximum extensibility — writing custom mods, publishing them, hooking into Powerpipe / Flowpipe.

Choose trueno if

  • Your team includes execs, ops, finance, or compliance people who'll never write SQL.
  • You want a finished product — curated rules engine, opinionated severity, dashboard pre-built, alerting baked in.
  • You'd rather pay $0 (Free) or $49/seat (Command) than run your own Postgres + cron + dashboards.
  • You want continuous monitoring with alerting on day one, not “build it yourself with Flowpipe.”
02 · Side by side

Capability matrix

A flat comparison across the capabilities both products cover. Cells say what's actually shipped — not what's on the roadmap.

CapabilitytruenoSteampipe
AWS scanners (cost, security, identity, network, ops)Via SQL on aws plugin
Multi-cloud & SaaS plugins100+ plugins
Hosted (no ops to run)Turbot Pipes (paid)
Curated rules engine + severityBYO via mods
Web dashboard (non-SQL UI)Powerpipe (separate tool)
Continuous monitoring + alertingFlowpipe (separate tool)
Self-serve free tier
Read-only IAM model
Open-source rules libraryRoadmap
SQL access to raw query data
03 · Where Steampipe wins

The honest part.

The cases where Steampipe is genuinely the right answer. Promoting these matters more than hiding them — a customer who picks the wrong tool is a churn risk and a bad review.

SQL is a force multiplier in engineering hands

Anyone who can write SQL gets enormous leverage with Steampipe — joining EC2 instances to security groups to CloudTrail events to GitHub commits is a single query. No product can match that ceiling for power users.

Open source + extensible by design

Custom mods, custom plugins, custom dashboards, custom workflows — Steampipe is a foundation you build on. trueno is a finished product. Pick the foundation when you want to invest in building; pick the finished product when you don't.

Multi-cloud + multi-SaaS reach

100+ plugins covering AWS, GCP, Azure, Kubernetes, GitHub, GitLab, Snowflake, Datadog, PagerDuty, and more. trueno is AWS-only by design; if your scope crosses clouds or SaaS tools, Steampipe is unmatched.

Free forever for self-hosted

The Steampipe CLI + Postgres backend are free forever for self-hosted use. You only pay for Turbot Pipes if you want hosting. trueno's Free tier is hosted but capped at one AWS account.
04 · Where trueno wins

The cases that brought you here.

Designed for teams that include non-engineers

trueno's UI doesn't require SQL. An exec looking at this week's cost spike, an ops person triaging a public-IP finding, a compliance person reviewing IAM drift — all of them get a usable interface. Steampipe expects everyone in the loop to write queries.

Curated rules + opinionated severity

Steampipe gives you the data; the rules and queries are up to you. trueno ships with a maintained rules engine (50+ AWS scanners) and an opinionated severity model — you don't have to decide what counts as a critical finding on day one.

Hosted + alerted out of the box

trueno's scan pipeline runs in the background, emits notifications, and routes Slack alerts. The Steampipe equivalent is running your own Postgres + Flowpipe pipelines + alerting; powerful, but it's infrastructure you maintain.

Pair well, don't always compete

Many teams use both — Steampipe for ad-hoc analytical queries, trueno for continuous monitoring and the dashboard non-engineers actually look at. Picking one isn't always the right framing.
05 · Next step

Try trueno or stay on Steampipe — both are fine.

The Free tier lets you connect one AWS account and run a real scan in ~5 minutes, no credit card. If it doesn't beat what Steampipe gives you, the trust policy is one IAM-role deletion to revoke.

Run a real scan

One AWS account, read-only IAM role, ~5 minutes from sign-up to first finding.
Start FreeHow it works