Best for
Best for organisations already inside a Microsoft 365 tenant that want governed business apps built on their existing data.
- Small and mid-sized
- Enterprise
AI App Builders Comparison
Microsoft Power Apps vs. Retool
At a glance
At a glance
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 | Microsoft Power Apps | Retool |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free Developer Plan; Power Apps Premium from $22 / user / month Annual billing. Premium falls to $14 per user per month with a 2,000 seat minimum. Extra Dataverse database capacity is $40 per GB per month, and Copilot Studio is bought separately as pre-purchased credit units. | 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 Power Apps Developer Plan for non-production use; separately a 30-day trial of the per-user plan, extendable twice to 90 days | Free plan for up to 5 users |
| Output | Canvas and model-driven business apps that run in a browser and in the Power Apps mobile app on phone and tablet | Internal web and mobile apps, workflows and AI agents |
| API | Yes, Dataverse and Power Platform developer APIs, plus prebuilt and custom connectors | Yes, the Retool API manages the organisation, its users and Spaces |
| Hosting | Microsoft cloud, managed per environment from the Power Platform admin center | Retool cloud or self-hosted |
| What it generates | Canvas and model-driven business apps plus Power Pages sites; Copilot generates the Dataverse tables and relationships from a description, and Plans turns a use case in natural language, with images such as process flows, into a solution blueprint | 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 hand-written framework code: canvas apps are laid out in Power Apps Studio, model-driven apps are generated from the data model. Developers extend them with JavaScript on the client, Azure functions and plug-ins on the server, custom connectors and virtual tables | 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 | Microsoft Dataverse as the built-in database, or connectors to SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, SQL Server and on-premises sources; identity, environments, data loss prevention policies and auditing are administered centrally in the Power Platform admin center | 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 | Runs on Microsoft's cloud only, organised into environments; a US Government cloud meets FedRAMP High and DoD DISA IL2, and there is no self-hosted option | 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 checkout of its own; a Stripe connector is available in the connector library to work with customers, orders and invoices, and Power Pages has a separate payments integration | No built-in billing or checkout; a payment provider is connected as an API resource like any other |
| Access to the code | Apps live in the platform rather than as an exportable codebase; they move between environments as solutions, and code enters through JavaScript, plug-ins and custom connectors rather than by exporting what was generated | 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 | more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials | Documentation and knowledge base |
| Company size | Small and mid-sized, Enterprise | Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | more entries Microsoft Dataverse, SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, SQL Server, Stripe, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Power Automate | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, AWS Bedrock, Azure OpenAI |
Add a tool
Adds a column to the table, from the tools in this category.
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 Microsoft Power Apps Free Developer Plan; Power Apps Premium from $22 / user / month Retool Free; paid plans from $10 / builder / month
- Free trial Microsoft Power Apps Free Power Apps Developer Plan for non-production use; separately a 30-day trial of the per-user plan, extendable twice to 90 days Retool Free plan for up to 5 users
- Deployment Microsoft Power Apps Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based Retool Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise
- Hosting Microsoft Power Apps Microsoft cloud, managed per environment from the Power Platform admin center Retool Retool cloud or self-hosted
- Output Microsoft Power Apps Canvas and model-driven business apps that run in a browser and in the Power Apps mobile app on phone and tablet 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
Microsoft Power Apps
Strengths
- Copilot builds the Dataverse data model, not just the screens, and keeps editing it conversationally
- Connects to SharePoint, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and SQL Server through prebuilt connectors, so existing data stays where it is
- Central governance for environments, data loss prevention, access and auditing across the whole tenant
- Free Developer Plan with Dataverse for learning and non-production work
Limitations
- Microsoft cloud only, with no self-hosted option
- What gets built is not an exportable codebase, so leaving the platform means rebuilding
- Copilot app generation depends on Dataverse access and is limited by region availability
- Priced per user per month, so cost tracks how many colleagues run the app rather than how many apps exist
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
Microsoft Power Apps
- Power Apps Developer Plan $0 Three developer environments, prebuilt and custom connectors, 2 GB Dataverse database and 750 flows a month. For building and testing, not for production.
- Power Apps Premium $22 Per user per month on annual billing. Unlimited Power Apps and Power Pages for the assigned user, prebuilt and custom connectors, 250 MB database and 2 GB file capacity, agentic features in model-driven apps and Microsoft 365 Copilot chat.
- Power Apps Premium, 2,000+ seats $14 Per user per month on annual billing at volume, with a 2,000 seat minimum. Same features as standard Premium.
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.
What users say
Review Scores · opens after launch
Microsoft Power Apps
- 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
Where this comes from
Microsoft Power Apps https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-apps · 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.