CGPulse vs Powerpipe

CGPulse scans Azure and AWS resources for misconfigurations and tracks cloud compliance against policy rules and frameworks. Its coverage lists 621 rules across 19 frameworks, including Azure, AWS and cross-cloud policies. Scanning uses read-only access and does not modify cloud resources. Users can review supported fixes before applying them; fixes marked dangerous require a warning and confirmation. The service can generate Terraform, Bicep and CLI remediation templates, while a YAML editor lets users create custom rules. It also provides a REST API and an MCP server for AI assistants including Claude and Copilot. CGPulse is available on the web and through an API, with Free, Team and Business plans. Free costs nothing and allows two cloud accounts and 10 scans monthly; Team costs €99 a month and Business costs €299 a month. Team and Business list a 7-day free trial. CGPulse describes itself as a posture assessment tool, not a certified compliance audit.

Powerpipe is a free, open-source tool from Turbot for turning cloud infrastructure data into dashboards and security or compliance benchmarks. Prebuilt dashboards cover AWS, Azure, GCP, Kubernetes, and more, with views of resource quantity, cost, usage, and relationships. Benchmarks assess environments against frameworks including CIS, GDPR, NIST, PCI, and SOC 2. Users can write dashboards and benchmarks in HCL or combine existing ones, then version and share the code using Git tooling. Powerpipe serves a locally hosted web interface for filtering, grouping, pivoting, and snapshotting results. Its CLI lists and runs benchmarks and controls, and exports results in formats such as CSV, HTML, JSON, Markdown, and ASFF. It works with PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, or DuckDB without requiring Steampipe. Installation options include macOS, Linux, and Windows; the tool can also be self-hosted. Powerpipe Hub offers hundreds of dashboards, benchmarks, and examples. Listed uses include security and compliance monitoring, cost management, detections, and asset inventory.