The 12 Best Retool Alternatives to Build Faster in 2025 🧰

Retool is a powerful low-code app-building platform. However, some folks find the platform’s learning curve too difficult and will seek out competitors. 

The best alternatives are Blaze because it offers no-code simplicity for building unlimited apps, Appsmith because it’s open-source and developer-friendly, and Softr for quickly creating a frontend from pre-existing data. 

Read on to learn more about:

• How we picked our Retool competitors 
• Our 12 favorite Retool alternatives
• An overview of how they outperform Retool, pricing, and ideal users

Let’s now examine our selection criteria for choosing Retool alternatives. 

How We Chose These Retool Alternatives

Ultimately, a plethora of no-code, low-code, and traditional development options are out there. To guide our decision, we selected the competitors to Retool based on the following:

• Flexibility: The best Retool alternatives offer enough flexibility to create custom apps, by using a drag-and-drop interface. They also provide premade templates for rapid app creation and UI components, such as widgets, charts, forms, and more. You can customize and configure each piece to meet your operational and brand needs. 

• Integrations: Integration capabilities are of the utmost importance because they allow you to pull data from third-party apps you already use — native integrations, connection with a platform like Zapier, or APIs, make this possible. For instance, you can transfer data from your QuickBooks software and Shopify account to your app’s database for accounts receivable and inventory analysis. 

• Pricing: The Retool alternatives on our list offer a range of pricing models to suit different team sizes and budgets, providing transparency. We also ensured that each platform offers a free demo, trial, or version so you’ll be able to familiarize yourself with it before you make any payments. 

• Onboarding support: Whichever platform you choose, you can rest assured that you’ll have all the support you need to get off on the right foot. Some platforms offer documentation, tutorials, and YouTube videos. Others provide chat, email, or phone support, while a few, like Blaze, provide live, in-person onboarding support.

Here are some secondary considerations we kept in mind:

• Role-based permissions: Robust role-based permissions are crucial, as they allow you to enforce granular access controls for your app's users. For example, if you’re building an app with a client portal, you can ensure that your clients can’t access sensitive company documents. 

• Deployment options: Sometimes, large organizations prefer to host their app on-prem, or on a server located on their office’s premises, for better security and scalability control. We ensured that a few of the Retool alternatives offer on-prem hosting. Yet, we also picked many options that provide secure cloud hosting, which is usually cheaper than on-prem. 

• Scalability: The Retool alternatives we picked provide the bandwidth to accommodate increasing users and data as your business grows. Some app builders allow you to purchase more storage space à la carte, while others offer unlimited app and cloud hosting baked into their monthly pricing tiers. 

The 12 Best Retool Alternatives: Quick Overview

1. Blaze.tech: The Best Overall 
2. Appsmith: The Best Open Source Alternative
3. Softr: For a simple frontend
4. Noloco: For Smaller to Medium Companies
5. Jet Admin: For Customizable Backend Logic 
6. ToolJet: Best for Developers

Special Mentions 

7. DronaHQ
8. Glide
9. Budibase
10. Xano
11. Microsoft Power Apps
12. UI Bakery

#1 Blaze.tech: The Best Overall

Blaze is a no-code app builder that lets you create apps and software for your business. It’s flexible enough to make nearly any enterprise operations application and intuitive enough for rapid development.

What It Does Better than Retool

• Zero development experience required: Unlike Retool, which is a low-code platform, Blaze is a no-code platform — this means you won’t need any technical expertise or coding knowledge to build your apps. Blaze’s simple drag-and-drop interface is intuitive and easy to learn. 

• Helpful support: When you sign up for Blaze, the Blaze team will help you onboard and ensure that you know what you’re doing with the platform. They’ll teach you how to use the drag-and-drop interface, and how to connect external databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, Airtable, and others. 

• Security is a cornerstone of Blaze’s platform: It supports industry-standard certifications like SOC 2 and HIPAA, and it features 2-factor authentication, the ability to grant role-based permissions, single sign-on, and more. 

Ideal Users

Blaze is ideal for medium-sized organizations and up, who don’t want to hire any engineers and don’t have any technical or coding know-how. 

Pricing

Blaze pricing starts at $500/month.

The Bottom Line

Blaze is our top Retool alternative because of its robust security, helpful implementation team, and no-code ease. You’ll be able to create and publish several apps to meet your scaling needs rapidly.  

2. Appsmith: The Best Open Source Alternative

Many folks are dismayed to find that Retool isn’t open source. For those who want an open-source Retool competitor, Appsmith, another low-code platform, is a viable alternative.  

What It Does Better than Retool

• Because it’s open source, Appsmith gives you complete visibility into its codebase, freedom from vendor lock-in, and the ability to self-host or customize the platform as needed. This makes it ideal for teams with developers who need ultra-customized apps.

• For rapid development, Appsmith offers a drag-and-drop frontend builder and pre-made widgets and components, including tables, forms, charts, modals, and file pickers. 

• Appsmith’s premade components are also customizable through JavaScript and bindings, so techies on your team can fine-tune behavior without writing full-fledged backend logic. You can also create custom reusable components to maintain UI consistency across multiple apps.

Ideal Users

Appsmith is ideal for businesses of all sizes with tech-knowledgeable development teams. It allows you to make highly customizable internal tools without compromising on performance or security.

Pricing

After the free version, get Appsmith for $15/month per user. This plan lets you create an unlimited number of apps and host them on-prem. The $2,500/month plan allows for up to 100 users and provides advanced security through Auth0 and Okta.

The Bottom Line

Appsmith delivers flexibility for technical users by offering an open-source foundation, granular control over logic, and deployment through low-code features. However, you’ll need technical skills and some coding knowledge to utilize the platform.

3. Softr: For a Simple Frontend

Softr is a no-code web app builder that lets you create a frontend from a premade database. It uses a simple drag-and-drop editor, making it a Retool alternative that doesn’t require any technical background. 

What It Does Better than Retool

• Softr’s visual builder offers several premade templates and over 60 pre-designed elements, making it easy to assemble apps by dragging and dropping components like charts, forms, dashboards, and calendars. 

• The platform integrates with over a dozen data sources, include MySQL, Airtable, Xano, and others.

• You’ll also get a wide variety of integrations with third-party apps, such as Stripe, PayPal, Mailchimp, QuickBooks, and Zapier, making it easy to transfer data between apps or set up automations. 

Ideal Users

Softr is ideal for entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small to medium-sized businesses that want to develop apps quickly without coding or technical expertise. It’s particularly well-suited for organizations that already have data sources, as it transforms these databases into interactive web apps with minimal effort. 

Pricing

Get Softr for $59/month and publish up to 3 apps with no more than 20 logged-in users. The $167/month version lets you release an unlimited number of apps with up to 100 logged-in users.

The Bottom Line

Softr is a simple Retool alternative that combines no-code simplicity with rapid deployment capabilities, given you already have a premade database. If you don’t, you’ll need to build one with another database provider, which is one of the platform's major drawbacks. 

4. Noloco: For Smaller to Medium Companies

Noloco is a no-code platform for creating internal tools like client portals, project management apps and internal business software and tools. 

What It Does Better than Retool

• Unlike Retool, you won’t need to bring any coding or technical knowledge to Noloco, as the platform is no-code and beginner-friendly.

• Don’t have a premade database? Noloco is an excellent choice, as it provides its own simple and intuitive database builder. But if you do have one, Noloco integrates with several third-party database providers like PostgreSQL, Airtable, Google Sheets, and others. 

• The platform provides a wealth of onboarding resources, including help from the support team, documentation, tutorials, and other guides. This means that when you onboard with Noloco, the team will help ensure you know what you’re doing.

Ideal Users

Noloco is ideal for small to medium-sized businesses, agencies, and teams that need to build secure internal tools without developer resources. It’s especially valuable for organizations already managing data in Airtable or Google Sheets, as Noloco can convert these sources into apps.

Pricing

Small teams will find the $49/month version viable, as it allows for up to 4 app editors and up to 10 logged-in users. The $149/month plan provides up to 10 editors and 50 logged-in users. 

The Bottom Line

Noloco is a powerful Retool alternative for creating flexible apps with deep integration capabilities and a polished user interface. However, the platform only supports a limited number of data items, which could be an issue for medium-sized companies that are scaling and larger organizations.

5. Jet Admin: For Customizable Backend Logic

Jet Admin is a no-code Retool alternative that’s designed for building custom business apps, internal tools, and client-facing portals. 

What It Does Better than Retool

• Jet Admin’s intuitive codeless builder lets you craft pixel-perfect interfaces with drag-and-drop components and configurable layouts and templates. The platform supports custom colors, backgrounds, and fonts, ensuring that apps can match any brand or operational requirement.
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• The platform features a powerful workflow builder supporting both complex and straightforward automations through customizable backend logic. You can set up multi-branch workflows, schedule jobs, trigger API calls, and deploy built-in functions and formulas to automate repetitive processes. 
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• Jet Admin offers simple native integrations with over 60 data sources, including Airtable, Xano, Supabase, and SQL databases. If you use an obscure database, you’ll most likely be able to connect it to your Jet Admin app through its support for REST, GraphQL, and SOAP APIs.

Ideal Users

Jet Admin is ideal for businesses of all sizes, from the startup that launched yesterday to established global enterprises. Because of its flexibility with database integrations, it is well-suited for organizations that need to integrate multiple data sources and automate complex workflows.

Pricing

Jet Admin offers two pricing tiers: One for customer portals, which starts at $49/month that lets you build 1 app with up to 500 logged-in users. The other tier, with plans starting at $30/month, is for creating internal business tools used by your team, like project management boards and accounts payable tracking. 

The Bottom Line

Jet Admin is a Retool alternative that combines no-code simplicity with depth and flexibility by providing robust backend building tools. The main drawback is that customer support and onboarding aren’t as strong as those of other platforms.

6. ToolJet: Best for Developers

ToolJet is an open-source, low-code platform designed for building internal tools, dashboards, and AI-powered applications. It offers both cloud-based and on-prem hosting capabilities.  

What It Does Better than Retool

• ToolJet employs AI, which lets you transform natural language descriptions (i.e., prompts) into working code, streamlining everything from UI changes to complex business logic. For advanced customization, you can utilize JavaScript or Python. 

• Its drag-and-drop frontend builder accelerates your app-building speed while also offering customizable widgets, charts, tables, and forms. These capabilities couple well with the advanced customization components that it provides. 

• Not only does ToolJet connect to several databases, like Postgres, MySQL, and MongoDB, but it also offers REST, GraphQL, and SOAP APIs to transfer data from third-party apps. 

• ToolJet also integrates AI models like Claude and ChatGPT-4, allowing you to build AI-powered agents and automate business processes.

Ideal Users

ToolJet is ideal for small to large organizations with technical teams. It’s flexible for those who want customizable deployment, as it offers both cloud and on-premises hosting.

Pricing

Both cloud and self-hosting plans start at $99/month, allowing you to build up to 5 apps with 100 end users. The $249/month version lets you create an unlimited number of apps for an unlimited number of users and gives you priority support. 

The Bottom Line

ToolJet is the Retool alternative that offers open-source flexibility, low-code customization with AI capabilities, and the ability to host on your own server. Yet, you’ll need to have some experience writing code if you want to get the most out of the open-source features. In short, ToolJet is not beginner-friendly.  

Special Mentions

7. DronaHQ

DronaHQ is a powerful low-code Retool competitor that enables engineering teams to rapidly build internal tools with enterprise-grade security. 

Its intuitive drag-and-drop UI builder, combined with a library of over 150 pre-built components and templates, lets you create pixel-perfect frontends. But it still offers the flexibility to add custom JavaScript and advanced logic for tailored solutions.

DronaHQ also excels in integration, supporting 70+ native connectors. You can also connect to lesser-known apps using Drona’s REST and GraphQL APIs. It’s best suited for medium to large enterprises and fast-growing startups.

8. Glide

Glide is a no-code platform for creating sleek internal business tools for field sales, customer portals, dashboards, CRMs, and inventory management. It features a simple drag-and-drop builder and integrates with data sources like Airtable and Google Sheets.

The platform offers gorgeous, pre-built templates and components that are second to none in terms of looks. It also provides AI-powered tools that automate repetitive tasks, visualize key metrics, and streamline processes like sales tracking or inventory management. 

Glide is best suited for small to medium-sized operations teams, marketing teams, business managers, and non-technical users. It’s also ideal for app-building agencies, as its components offer enough visual aesthetic to make your apps stand out from the competition. 

9. Budibase

Budibase is an open-source, low-code platform built for rapidly creating internal business tools, automating workflows, and managing business data. 

Its core features include a drag-and-drop frontend builder and a database builder, as well as the ability to connect to a wide range of data sources, such as MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Airtable, S3, and REST APIs. This makes it easy to unify and automate business processes across your organization.

The platform offers an enormous library of powerful pre-made components and flexible automation tools for repetitive tasks. Additionally, you’ll get a robust plugin system that extends functionality with APIs and third-party integrations. 

Budibase is highly customizable, supporting custom JavaScript and Python snippets. It also offers open-source extensibility while providing enterprise-grade security with role-based permissions. The platform offers both cloud and self-hosted deployments, even on its free plan.

Budibase is best suited for IT teams, operations managers, and business analysts in small to large organizations who need to quickly build and iterate on internal apps. However, you’ll need to have a few techies using Budibase, as the app builder is low-code. 

10. Xano

Xano is a no-code backend development platform. It enables users to visually create and manage databases, APIs, and backed logic for nearly any application. The platform offers a drag-and-drop Function Stack that makes it easy to build complex workflows, automate tasks, and customize logic. 

You’ll also get a customizable database layer, powered by PostgreSQL, that supports everything from simple spreadsheet-like tables to enterprise-grade data management. This also lets you add images, files, raw JSON, and geo-coordinates to your database with ease.

The platform also excels in integration, allowing seamless connections to any REST or GraphQL API, external databases, and third-party services via webhooks or its JavaScript SDK. 

Overall, Xano is best suited for businesses of all sizes: Startups, small and medium businesses, and large enterprises. It provides the tools to launch and scale backend infrastructure for web, mobile, or internal tools without relying on traditional development.

11. Microsoft Power Apps

Microsoft Power Apps is a low-code platform for creating custom web and mobile business applications. Being on the Microsoft ecosystem, it works well with Microsoft Teams, Copilot, Office, and other Microsoft tools and platforms. 

The platform also uses AI tools that can generate layouts, automate tasks, and even write custom code based on your prompts. You’ll also get prebuilt templates, rapid deployment pipelines, and the ability to generate working apps from images or Figma files to streamline the development process.

Power Apps offers robust governance and security features, including role-based permissions, unified management tools, and compliance with enterprise standards through Microsoft Dataverse. 

This goes without saying, but the platform is best suited for organizations of all sizes already on the Microsoft ecosystem. It’s also a strong fit for companies already using Microsoft 365, Azure, or Teams, as it integrates natively with these environments while supporting app development on a large scale. 

12. UI Bakery   

UI Bakery is a low-code Retool alternative designed for developers and teams who want to rapidly build internal tools, customer portals, admin panels, dashboards, and vendor apps. It features a responsive drag-and-drop builder offering over 75 customizable components. 

The platform’s flexibility enables you to create complex interfaces for both desktop and mobile environments, while supporting custom business logic operations with Python. UI Bakery seamlessly integrates with 30+ native data sources, including SQL and NoSQL databases, REST, OpenAPI, and GraphQL APIs.

UI Bakery also allows teams to work in parallel and in real time, synchronize changes across multiple instances, and manage releases with Git integration and easy rollback options. The platform supports both cloud and self-hosted (on-prem) deployments. 

The platform is best suited for companies of all sizes that want to quickly build internal business tools without sacrificing flexibility or control. It’s particularly valuable for engineering teams that need to connect and unify data from multiple sources. It’s also helpful to automate workflows and iterate quickly, as well as for organizations requiring on-premises deployment. 

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is the Best Alternative to Retool?

If you’re looking for a no-code option, Blaze is a popular option. We built Blaze to offer the power, customization, security, and scalability that companies need to develop enterprise workflow automations. 

If you want a low-code Retool alternative, ToolJet is a good choice. ToolJet, on the other hand, offers open-source flexibility combined with low-code customization, making it a shortlist-worthy option for tech-savvy users.

Is Retool Open-Source?

No, Retool is not. If you’re looking for an open-source Retool competitor, try Appsmith or Jet Admin. 

Can Non-Developers Use Retool Alternatives?

Blaze, Softr, and Noloco are excellent Retool alternatives for non-developers. Softr and Noloco are good for small businesses, but aren’t scalable enough to meet the needs of enterprises. That’s where Blaze comes in — the platform lets you build an unlimited number of apps for as many users as you need. 

Are There Retool Alternatives With Better UI Design Control?

Yes, several Retool alternatives offer better UI design control. Jet Admin provides pixel-perfect customization for client-facing apps. UI Bakery gives techies full control with responsive design using Python. 

For no-code tools, Glide stands out for its sleek aesthetics and modern templates and components. Softr is a good choice if you want to create a frontend quickly with its AI generation tool and simple block-based building interface. 

Try Blaze’s No-Code Platform Today

Low-code a little too complex? Then go with Blaze, a powerful Retool alternative that offers a no-code solution for rapidly building enterprise apps. 

Here are some of Blaze's flagship features: 

• Premade components: You can drag and drop pre-built pieces like forms, widgets, charts, and more, offering seamless and code-free development.

• Enterprise compliance: Blaze offers advanced security options like two-factor authentication, single-sign-on, and automatic audit logs, as well as HIPAA compliance, keeping your company and client data under lock and key.
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• Integrations: Blaze has a large portfolio of native integrations with third-party platforms, and you won’t need to know about APIs or configure backends to use them. Point, click, and automate your tasks. 

Schedule a free demo with Blaze’s helpful implementation team today.