AI App Builders Comparison

Bolt.new vs. Retool

At a glance

Bolt.new

Best for

Best for quickly validating an idea with a working full-stack prototype.

Freelancers
Small and mid-sized

Retool

Best for

Best for engineering and operations teams building internal tools on top of existing databases and APIs.

Small and mid-sized
Enterprise

Cataleo does not name a winner. Both statements come from the vendors themselves.

Full Comparison

Criterion	Bolt.new	Retool
Starting price	Free tier; paid credits above The free limits are reached quickly.	Free; paid plans from $10 / builder / month Annual billing: Team $10 per builder and $5 per internal user per month, Business $50 per builder and $15 per internal user. On monthly billing that becomes $12 / $7 and $65 / $18. Enterprise on request.
Free trial	Free tier	Free plan for up to 5 users
Commercial use	Yes	Not stated
Output	Full-stack app in the browser, with automatic hosting	Internal web and mobile apps, workflows and AI agents
API	Not stated	Yes, the Retool API manages the organisation, its users and Spaces
Hosting	Not stated	Retool cloud or self-hosted
What it generates	Full-stack app, built and run in the browser through StackBlitz WebContainers	Internal tools: web and mobile apps, scheduled and event-driven workflows, and AI agents; an AI app builder starts an app from a prompt next to the classic drag-and-drop editor
Stack and frameworks	Multi-framework	Drag-and-drop component library with JavaScript in queries, bindings and transformers; custom components are written in React and TypeScript and published to the organisation's component library
Auth and database	Not out of the box, needs external services	Connects to any database, API or LLM provider, with a hosted Retool Database included; permissions and audit logging from the Business tier, SSO and SCIM on Enterprise
Hosting and deploy	Yes, automatic hosting, prompt to deploy	Retool cloud or self-hosted; the free, Team and Business tiers can both be self-hosted, Enterprise adds unlimited end users and white-labelling
Payments	Yes, Stripe for one-time payments and subscriptions, via Supabase or Bolt Database	No built-in billing or checkout; a payment provider is connected as an API resource like any other
Access to the code	Yes, download the project as a zip or push it to GitHub	Apps live in Retool rather than as an exportable codebase; JavaScript and custom React components extend them, and Git-backed source control is an Enterprise feature
Deployment	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based	more entries Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise
Support	Not stated	Community forum
Onboarding	Not stated	Documentation and knowledge base
Company size	Freelancers, Small and mid-sized	Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Integrations	Not stated	OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, AWS Bedrock, Azure OpenAI

Compare more tools

Row where the values differ The small markers point at the lower number, the longer list or the stated feature. They describe the data, they are not a verdict.

The short version

Key Differences

Starting price Bolt.new Free tier; paid credits above Retool Free; paid plans from $10 / builder / month
Free trial Bolt.new Free tier Retool Free plan for up to 5 users
Deployment Bolt.new Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Retool Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise
Company size Bolt.new Freelancers, Small and mid-sized Retool Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Output Bolt.new Full-stack app in the browser, with automatic hosting Retool Internal web and mobile apps, workflows and AI agents

Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

Bolt.new

Strengths

No setup, seamless prompt to deploy
Multi-framework flexibility
Great for quick idea validation

Limitations

Database and auth are not out of the box, they need external services
Costs rise with larger codebases
Free limits are reached quickly

Retool

Strengths

Connects to any database, API or LLM provider instead of starting from its own data
Self-hosting is available on every tier, the free one included
Extensible with JavaScript everywhere and custom React and TypeScript components

Limitations

Priced per builder and per internal user, so cost tracks headcount rather than apps
Apps are not an exportable codebase, so leaving the platform means rebuilding
Git source control, SSO and SCIM are Enterprise-only

Plans

Pricing

Bolt.new

Free $0 Limits are reached quickly.
Credits Not stated

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Retool

Free $0 Up to 5 users, unlimited apps, 500 workflow runs a month, 5 GB database and 5 GB file storage, 250 AI credits a month.
Team $10 Per builder per month on annual billing ($12 monthly); internal users $5 ($7 monthly). 5,000 workflow runs a month, staging environment, release versions.
Business $50 Per builder per month on annual billing ($65 monthly); internal users $15 ($18 monthly). Adds audit logging, rich permissions, portals and external user access.
Enterprise Custom Quoted by the vendor. Adds SSO and SCIM, Git source control, unlimited end users and white-labelling.

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What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

Bolt.new

Ease of use: Not rated yet
User interface: Not rated yet
Onboarding: Not rated yet
Support and service: Not rated yet
Value for money: Not rated yet
Features: Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

Retool

Ease of use: Not rated yet
User interface: Not rated yet
Onboarding: Not rated yet
Support and service: Not rated yet
Value for money: Not rated yet
Features: Not rated yet

No reviews yet. Be the first to review this tool. Every review is checked for fairness before it appears, and the vendor cannot have one removed.

Where this comes from

Bolt.new https://bolt.new · no check date recorded yet

Retool https://retool.com · no check date recorded yet

This table lists factual criteria taken from information the vendors publish themselves. For how we put it together, see the methodology.