Retool

Build internal software better, with AI.

Screenshots & Images
Overview

Retool is an enterprise-grade app builder that lets teams rapidly create, deploy, and govern internal and customer-facing applications, mobile apps, AI agents, and workflows by combining natural-language prompts, a visual canvas, and code for full customization and security.

Description

Retool: Build internal software faster with AI

Retool is a platform that lets you build custom internal tools quickly while staying secure and scalable. With AI-assisted app generation, a flexible development environment, and enterprise-grade governance, you can move from idea to production in record time.

Why choose Retool

  • Build at the speed of thought with AI-enabled tooling
  • Governed, enterprise-grade platform from day one
  • Connects to your data wherever it lives and ships to cloud or self-hosted deployments
  • Scales from a single app to an organization-wide toolkit
  • Designed for developers and non-developers alike, with strong collaboration and control

What you can build

  • Admin panels that consolidate access, data, and actions across systems
  • Data dashboards and write-back apps that stay in sync with your data sources
  • AI-powered apps that connect to LLMs and private models, with guardrails and governance
  • Custom tools tailored to your team’s unique workflows and branding

Core features

  • App builder that blends AI, visuals, and code
  • 100+ extensible React components and a full IDE
  • Natural-language prompts to generate queries, logic, and UIs
  • Code-first capabilities with SQL and JavaScript
  • AI-assisted development
  • AppGen for AI-enabled app creation
  • AI primitives and actions to automate common tasks
  • Visual canvas for rapid experimentation and prototyping
  • Human-in-the-loop governance to productionize safely
  • Rich data and integration layer
  • Connect to 70+ systems, databases, data lakes, and cloud services
  • Supports write-back, data transformations, and complex queries
  • Integrations with popular SaaS apps and external APIs
  • Security, governance, and compliance
  • Granular RBAC, data-level permissions, and SSO-ready auth
  • Audit logs, versioning, and self-serve governance across environments
  • Self-hosted options for on-prem or private VPC deployments
  • Deployment and scale
  • Cloud or self-hosted deployment options
  • Independent workspaces, environments, and modules
  • Platform APIs and workflow triggers for automation at scale
  • Collaboration and reuse
  • Share components, queries, and apps across teams
  • Source-control-friendly workflows and environment management
  • Portals and embedded apps to extend internal and external experiences

Use cases by teams

  • Data teams: turn warehouses and databases into governed, actionable apps; write-back analytics with safety and governance
  • Operations: automate repetitive tasks, streamline workflows, and connect disparate tools
  • Engineering and platform teams: ship apps with central governance, visibility, and security
  • Financial services and manufacturing: compliant, scalable internal software that integrates with core systems

Why enterprises trust Retool

  • Production-ready from day one: secure, auditable, and scalable
  • One platform to manage, orchestrate, and extend
  • Flexible pricing and deployment models to fit growing teams and compliance needs
  • Trusted by thousands of teams, including large enterprises and Fortune 500 companies

How it works (in short)

  • Connect: bring in data from databases, APIs, and SaaS apps
  • Build: design with visuals, code, and AI prompts in a single, unified workspace
  • Deploy: push production-ready apps to cloud or self-hosted environments
  • Govern: apply governance, security, and observability to sustain scale
Features
What you're building
The technical artifact this tool produces
Web app
Mobile app
API / backend
Automation / workflow
App type
The domain or industry the built app is intended for
Business app
Dashboard / analytics
Chatbot
Productivity
How you build
The interface and interaction model used to create the app
Prompt / chat
Visual drag & drop
Code editor
The builder runs as
How and where the builder tool itself is accessed
Web app
Min skill level
The minimum technical skill level required to use the builder effectively
Intermediate
Coding required
The degree to which writing code is necessary
Code optional
Includes
Built-in components and capabilities the tool provides out of the box
UI builder
Backend logic
Database
Auth / user management
API layer
Custom domain
Whether the tool allows publishing the app under a custom domain
Export formats
File formats or frameworks the tool can export the app as
React Native
ZIP
APK / IPA
You own / can export the code
Whether the user can export and fully own the underlying source code
Enterprise features
Advanced features typically required by teams and organizations
SSO / SAML
Role-based permissions
Audit logs
White-labeling
Pricing
Available pricing and access models
Free plan available
Free trial
Paid
Usage-based
Pricing
Builders (per-seat) ( Per Seat )
Free
$0 /mo
Team
$10 /mo
Business (Builders)
$50 /mo
Enterprise
User Reviews
1,247 reviews
MK
Marcus K.
✔ Verified·SaaS Founder·Used 2 years
4.8
★★★★★
Overall
Ease of use
4.0
Features
5.0
Performance
4.5
Value
4.8
Support
4.5
Scalability
4.8
Plugins
5.0
Built my entire SaaS on Bubble — $40k MRR now

I was skeptical about no-code but Bubble proved me wrong. I built a B2B client portal with complex permissions, Stripe billing, and real-time notifications. The learning curve is real — give yourself 2–3 weeks — but once it clicks, you're unstoppable. Performance has been solid at our scale.

SaaSB2BStripe
SP
Sara P.
✔ Verified·Designer → Builder·Used 8 months
3.9
★★★★☆
Overall
Ease of use
2.5
Features
5.0
Performance
3.0
Value
4.0
Support
4.5
Scalability
3.5
Plugins
4.5
Incredibly powerful, but the learning curve is steep

Coming from Webflow, Bubble felt overwhelming at first. The editor UX isn't as polished, and performance on complex apps can feel sluggish. That said, nothing else lets you build a full database-driven app without code. The community forums are excellent — almost every problem has been solved by someone.

Webflow migrantDesign
JL
James L.
✔ Verified·Product Manager·Used 3 months
3.1
★★★☆☆
Overall
Ease of use
3.5
Features
4.5
Performance
3.0
Value
1.5
Support
3.0
Scalability
2.5
Plugins
4.0
Great for MVPs, but pricing scales poorly

Used Bubble to ship our MVP in 6 weeks, which was genuinely impressive. But once we needed real capacity, the jump from Growth to Team ($29 to $529/mo) was brutal for a bootstrapped startup. The server unit model is also confusing to reason about. Would love a mid-tier option.

MVPPricing concernBootstrapped
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Latest Updates
Mar 2025
Major
AI Autocomplete in Workflow Editor

Bubble now suggests the next workflow action based on your current logic using an embedded AI assistant — dramatically speeds up building complex multi-step flows.

Feb 2025
Improvement
Responsive Engine 2.0

Completely redesigned responsive layout system with per-breakpoint controls. Existing apps auto-migrate with one-click. Mobile apps now build 3× faster.

Jan 2025
Major
Native Git-style Version Branches

Team plan subscribers can now create development branches, make changes in isolation, and merge them back — similar to Git branching. Long requested by professional teams.

Dec 2024
Fix
Database Performance Improvements

Fixed significant performance degradation on apps with 1M+ rows caused by query planner regression. Apps now load 40–60% faster under heavy data loads.

Nov 2024
Improvement
Improved Plugin API v3

Rebuilt plugin API with TypeScript support, better error handling, and a new sandbox testing environment. Developer documentation fully rewritten.

Frequently Asked Questions
You can build web apps, native mobile apps, AI-powered apps, custom automations and workflows, dashboards, and internal business tools that connect to any datastore or API.
Developers are the most common builders and can typically understand Retool in ~10 minutes and be productive within an hour; users who know SQL can also learn quickly and non-technical builders often become effective with some practice.
Use Retool Mobile to build native iOS and Android apps when you need native performance and features; use Retool web apps for browser-based apps (web apps also support mobile layouts).
Builders are users who edited or created apps/workflows during the billing cycle (full create/edit/deploy access). Internal users are organization members who use apps but did not edit them during the billing cycle; their permissions can be restricted on certain plans.
Retool is available as a hosted cloud product or as a self-hosted deployment in your VPC (Docker-based). Enterprises can choose the cloud or self-hosted option to meet security and data residency requirements.
Retool offers enterprise-grade security, access controls, and governance. For details on security practices and data handling, refer to Retool's security documentation and Trust Center.
Yes — students and educators can apply for a free Business account via an application form, and nonprofits can apply to claim free seats or discounts. Separate application forms are provided for each.
Agents are AI-powered digital workers that use LLMs to complete tasks, make decisions, and automate workflows (useful for triage, data analysis, orchestration, etc.).
Agents are priced per hour to mirror how teams value labor; this model aligns cost with productive time spent executing tasks rather than token- or run-based models.
Runtime is wall-clock time from when an agent starts to when it finishes, including execution, waiting on APIs/tool responses, and model invocation; idle time awaiting human input is excluded.
Yes — Retool supports using customer-managed model keys in addition to models provisioned through Retool.
Agent execution will pause when free hours are exhausted and you'll be prompted to upgrade to a paid plan or purchase more hours to continue uninterrupted.
Links
Website retool.com
Linkedin linkedin.com
ToolStack Verdict
9.1
Exceptional

Bubble remains the gold standard for full-stack no-code development. The power ceiling is unmatched — if you're willing to climb the learning curve, you can build virtually anything. Best for ambitious founders and product teams.

Pros

  • Full-stack in one tool
  • Huge plugin ecosystem
  • Real-time features built-in
  • Thriving community

Cons

  • Steep learning curve
  • No code export
  • Performance at scale
  • Pricing jump is large
Quick Facts
Founded2012
HeadquartersNew York, USA
Funding$100M+ (Series A)
Users4M+ builders
Apps built2M+ total
Free planYes
Pricing from$29/mo
CategoryVisual App Builder
Mobile appsWeb only
Open sourceNo
Last reviewedMar 2025
Best For
SaaS MVPs & startups
Marketplaces & directories
Client portals & dashboards
Community platforms
Native mobile apps
Static marketing sites