AI App Builders Comparison

Budibase vs. Retool

At a glance

Budibase

Best for

Best for operations teams automating forms, approvals and internal requests, self-hosted or in the cloud.

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	Budibase	Retool
Starting price	Free self-hosted; cloud from $19 / month Cloud on annual billing: Pro $19, Premium $49 and Business $299 per month. On monthly billing that becomes $22.80, $58.80 and $358.80. Extra creators $50 and end users $5 per month. Enterprise on request.	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 self-hosted open-source edition	Free plan for up to 5 users
Output	Internal apps, forms, automations and AI agents	Internal web and mobile apps, workflows and AI agents
API	Not stated	Yes, the Retool API manages the organisation, its users and Spaces
Hosting	Budibase cloud or self-hosted (Docker, Kubernetes, DigitalOcean, Portainer)	Retool cloud or self-hosted
What it generates	Internal operations: forms, approvals, task routing and admin tools, plus automations and AI agents that act across connected systems	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	Visual builder with automations; AI generates JavaScript bindings, cron expressions and table schemas from a written description rather than building a whole app from a prompt	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	Internal BudibaseDB built on CouchDB, plus external SQL databases such as PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server, REST APIs and custom datasource plugins; app users sign in with OpenID Connect or Google	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	Budibase cloud, or self-hosted with Docker, Docker Compose, Kubernetes, DigitalOcean or Portainer	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	No built-in payments; a payment provider is reached through a REST datasource like any other API	No built-in billing or checkout; a payment provider is connected as an API resource like any other
Access to the code	Open source: GPL v3 core, MPL client and component libraries so apps built with it can carry their own licence, and a Business Source Licence on the paid features	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, On-premise	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise
Support	more entries Email helpdesk, Community forum	Community forum
Onboarding	Documentation and knowledge base	Documentation and knowledge base
Company size	Small and mid-sized, Enterprise	Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Integrations	more entries PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, REST API, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, OpenRouter, Groq	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 Budibase Free self-hosted; cloud from $19 / month Retool Free; paid plans from $10 / builder / month
Free trial Budibase Free self-hosted open-source edition Retool Free plan for up to 5 users
Hosting Budibase Budibase cloud or self-hosted (Docker, Kubernetes, DigitalOcean, Portainer) Retool Retool cloud or self-hosted
Support Budibase Email helpdesk, Community forum Retool Community forum
Output Budibase Internal apps, forms, automations and AI agents 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

Budibase

Strengths

Free self-hosted edition with unlimited actions, apps, agents and users, SSO included
AI agents deploy into Slack, Microsoft Teams and Discord
Choice of AI provider: Budibase AI, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Mistral, OpenRouter or Groq

Limitations

Cloud plans below Business include only one creator, with extra creators at $50 a month
Cloud usage is metered in actions and AI credits, so cost tracks volume
AI assists with parts of an app rather than generating one from a prompt

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

Budibase

Pro $19 Per month on annual billing ($22.80 monthly). 5,000 actions and 2,000 AI credits a month, 1 creator, 1 workspace.
Premium $49 Per month on annual billing ($58.80 monthly). 20,000 actions, 10,000 AI credits, 10 workspaces, custom branding, backups and SSO.
Business $299 Per month on annual billing ($358.80 monthly). 250,000 actions, 50,000 AI credits, 3 creators, unlimited workspaces, 30-day log retention, email support.
Enterprise Custom Quoted by the vendor. Unlimited actions, Active Directory and SCIM, audit logs, 365-day log retention and priority support with SLAs.
Open source (self-hosted) $0 Unlimited actions, apps, automations, agents and users on one workspace, SSO included, community support.

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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

Budibase

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

Budibase https://budibase.com · 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.