Guides / Comparisons

Retool Alternatives: 5 Internal Tool Builders Compared for 2026

The best Retool alternatives compared: Appsmith, Budibase, ToolJet, Softr and AI app builders. Pricing as of September 2026 and who each suits.

Mythex Team · 2026-09-29 · 6 min read

The best Retool alternatives are Appsmith, Budibase and ToolJet if you want a similar low-code builder with a free self-hosted edition, Softr if your data lives in Airtable or a spreadsheet and your team isn't technical, and an AI app builder like Mythex if you'd rather describe the tool and get a complete custom app with its own database. Retool itself remains one of the most complete internal tool platforms, with AI app generation, workflows and agents. Switch for a clear reason: price per user, self-hosting, or the skills on your team.

What Retool offers today

As of September 2026, Retool lets you build internal apps on top of your databases and APIs, with workflows and AI agents. Its AI can generate a working starting point from a description.

• Free: up to 5 users, 500 workflow runs a month, 250 AI credits a month.
• Team: $10 per builder and $5 per internal user a month billed annually ($12 and $7 month to month), 5,000 workflow runs a month.
• Business: $50 per builder and $15 per internal user a month billed annually ($65 and $18 month to month), with external user pricing available.
• Enterprise: custom, with unlimited end users.
• Self-hosting: available on all tiers; Enterprise is needed for unlimited users, SSO and advanced self-hosting features.

Why people look for Retool alternatives

1. Per-user costs. Paying for every builder and every internal user adds up as a tool spreads across a company.
2. Open source and self-hosting. Some teams want the source code and full control of where the tool runs.
3. Skills. Retool is built around connecting to databases and APIs, which suits teams with a developer. Non-technical teams may want something simpler.
4. No existing database. Retool shines on top of data you already have. If you're starting from a spreadsheet, you may want a tool that brings its own data store.

Retool alternatives at a glance

How we compared

We compared the publicly stated features, plans and prices on each vendor's own pricing page as of September 2026. We did not do hands-on testing, and we left out anything we couldn't confirm on the vendors' sites. Prices are in US dollars as shown on those pages. Each vendor counts users differently (builders, creators, end users, internal users), so work out your own team's numbers before comparing.

Appsmith: open source for developers

Appsmith is a low-code platform for building internal apps on top of databases and APIs, with a Community edition that is open source under the Apache 2.0 licence.

• Free: up to 5 users on cloud, 5 workspaces, 3 Git repositories, Google sign-in.
• Business: $15 per user/month, up to 99 users, adding workflows, custom roles, audit logs and premium integrations.
• Enterprise: from $2,500/month for 100 users, with SAML/OIDC SSO, SCIM and managed hosting.
• Self-hosting: available on all plans. New sign-ups get a 15-day trial of Business.
• Pick it if you have developers, want Git-based workflows and prefer an open-source core.

Budibase: self-hosted apps and automations

Budibase builds internal apps, forms, automations and AI agents, and puts a free self-hosted edition front and centre.

• Self-hosted open source: free, with unlimited actions, apps, automations, agents and users; community support only.
• Cloud Pro: from $19/month with 1 creator; end users are $5 per user/month.
• Cloud Premium: from $49/month, adding custom branding, SSO and backups; extra creators $50/month.
• Business and Enterprise: higher tiers for larger teams.
• Pick it if you want to self-host at no licence cost, or you have many end users and few builders.

ToolJet: low-code with AI app generation

ToolJet is a low-code platform with AI that can generate apps and queries.

• Free (cloud): 2 builders, 50 end users, 10 apps, 100 AI credits a month.
• Basic: from $23 per builder/month, with more AI credits.
• Pro: $79 per builder/month, unlimited builders, version control and custom styling.
• Team: $199 per builder/month, with SSO and white labelling.
• Self-hosted: a free Community edition, plus paid self-hosted Team and Enterprise plans.
• Pick it if you want AI help generating apps inside a traditional low-code builder, and a free self-hosted option.

Softr: for non-technical teams

Softr is a no-code builder for client portals and internal tools. It has its own Softr Databases and connects to sources such as Airtable, Google Sheets, HubSpot, Notion, Salesforce and SQL databases. Its AI co-builder builds apps from a description. It's a different kind of tool from Retool: less suited to complex developer logic, but much easier for a non-technical team to set up.

• Free: unlimited apps, databases and workflows, 5,000 database records, 500 workflow actions a month, 5 AI credits a month.
• Basic: from $19/month, adding a custom domain and automated database backups.
• Pro: from $99/month, adding granular permissions, Google sign-in for app users, custom code and API connectors.
• Business: from $329/month. Yearly billing gives two months off.

See Softr vs Glide for how it compares with a similar tool.

• Pick it if your data already lives in a spreadsheet-style tool and the people building the app aren't developers.

Mythex: describe the tool, get a custom app

Mythex is an AI app builder. Instead of dragging components onto a canvas and wiring queries, you describe the tool in chat, such as "an approvals app where staff submit expense requests, managers approve or reject them, and finance sees a monthly summary", and an AI agent writes the code and shows it running in a live preview.

• Its own data: Mythex can add a dedicated Postgres database to your project, so you don't need an existing database to start. It can also connect to your own APIs.
• No per-seat fees: unlimited collaborators on every plan. You pay in credits, which cover both building and hosting.
• Ownership: on Pro, full code editing, project export and GitHub sync.
• Pricing: Free is $0 with 5 credits a day (up to 30 a month). Pro is $25/month or $250/year with 100 credits a month plus 5 a day. See the plans page.

Where Retool is better than Mythex: Retool has a mature library of components, fine-grained permissions, SSO on higher plans, audit features and ready connectors to many databases, all built for company-wide internal tools. Mythex has no visual component editor, SSO isn't available yet, and end-user login isn't built in: the AI agent wires up an auth provider you choose. For a large organisation standardising on one internal tools platform, Retool or Appsmith is usually the safer choice. Mythex fits smaller teams who want one specific tool built quickly. See the internal tool use case and our guide on how to build an internal tool.

Who each suits

• Developer-led team with existing databases: Retool or Appsmith.
• Must self-host, tight budget: Budibase, Appsmith Community or ToolJet Community.
• Want AI generation inside a low-code builder: ToolJet or Retool.
• Non-technical team with data in Airtable or sheets: Softr.
• Small team, one custom tool, no database yet: an AI app builder like Mythex. If your data starts in a spreadsheet, see how to turn a spreadsheet into an app.

Verdict

Retool is still one of the strongest options for developer-led internal tools, and it now includes AI generation and agents. Appsmith is the natural open-source alternative for developers. Budibase is the best value if you want to self-host with many users. ToolJet is a solid middle ground with AI generation. Softr suits non-technical teams. And an AI app builder is worth trying when you'd rather describe a tool than assemble it. Count your builders and users, decide whether you need self-hosting, and price each option against that. For inspiration, see internal tool ideas for teams and how to build a dashboard.