AI App Builders Comparison

Bubble vs. Retool

At a glance

Bubble

Best for

Best for founders and teams that want to build and launch a full web or mobile app without engineers.

Freelancers
Small and mid-sized
Enterprise

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	Bubble	Retool
Starting price	From $32 / month Starter, web only, billed monthly; $29 per month billed annually. Mobile only starts at $49 and web plus mobile at $69 monthly. A free plan covers building and testing.	lower value 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 plan	Free plan for up to 5 users
Commercial use	Yes	Not stated
Output	Web apps and native mobile apps built in one visual editor, with a managed database and user accounts	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	Web apps and native mobile apps built in one editor; the AI app builder can generate a complete app from a single prompt	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	No-code visual programming: you build by pointing and clicking instead of writing code	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	Managed database with separate development and live environments, plus built-in user management for signup and login	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	Apps run in the browser or install from the app stores as native apps, hosted on Bubble's infrastructure	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	Payments run through Bubble's official Stripe plugin: one-time charges and recurring subscriptions, with billing and plan management handled by Stripe	No built-in billing or checkout; a payment provider is connected as an API resource like any other
Access to the code	No-code visual editor, extended through community-made plugins	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	Community forum	Community forum
Onboarding	Documentation and knowledge base	Documentation and knowledge base
Company size	more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise	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 Bubble From $32 / month Retool Free; paid plans from $10 / builder / month
Free trial Bubble Free plan Retool Free plan for up to 5 users
Deployment Bubble Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Retool Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise
Company size Bubble Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Retool Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Output Bubble Web apps and native mobile apps built in one visual editor, with a managed database and user accounts 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

Bubble

Strengths

Builds web and native mobile apps in a single editor
Generates a complete app from one prompt with the AI app builder, then lets you refine it
Large ecosystem of community-made plugins and connectors

Limitations

Priced in monthly workload units, so a busy app's running cost rises with usage instead of staying fixed
The free plan cannot run a live app on a custom domain

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

Bubble

Free $0 Build and test for free; launching an app requires a paid plan.
Starter $32 Per month for web only ($29 billed annually). Mobile only $49, web plus mobile $69.
Growth $134 Per month for web only ($119 billed annually). Mobile only $199, web plus mobile $249.
Team $399 Per month for web only ($349 billed annually). Mobile only $529, web plus mobile $649.
Enterprise Not stated Quoted by Bubble; handled through an account manager.

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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

Bubble

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

Bubble https://bubble.io · 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.