Best for
Best for enterprise IT teams that want AI-generated applications inside a governed low-code platform with its own architecture guard rails.
- Enterprise
AI App Builders Comparison
OutSystems 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 | OutSystems | Retool |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free Personal Edition; OutSystems Developer Cloud quoted by the vendor ODC is metered on three things: application complexity in Application Objects, which is the sum of screens, database tables and API methods, with a typical medium app around 150 AOs; the number of internal and external end users; and advanced add-ons. A base subscription starts with one medium production application and 100 internal users. | 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 Personal Edition, no credit card required, for up to 100 internal users | Free plan for up to 5 users |
| Output | Full-stack enterprise web and mobile applications with data model, server-side logic and UI screens | Internal web and mobile apps, workflows and AI agents |
| API | Yes, API-first with CI/CD APIs and APIs for uploading external libraries | Yes, the Retool API manages the organisation, its users and Spaces |
| Hosting | OutSystems Cloud on AWS; self-hosting is available as an advanced add-on | Retool cloud or self-hosted |
| What it generates | Full-stack enterprise applications: Mentor generates the data model, server-side logic and UI screens from a natural language prompt or an uploaded requirements document, shows a visual blueprint before building, and then evolves the app through conversation inside the IDE with human sign-off on each implementation plan | 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 | .NET Core on Linux containers, each application isolated in its own container, orchestrated with Kubernetes on AWS; developers extend apps with custom .NET code uploaded as high-code external libraries, whose methods are exposed to the visual editor as server actions | 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 | Amazon Aurora Serverless with PostgreSQL compatibility as the managed database; ISO 27001 compliance is included and SOC 2 Type II and PCI DSS are advanced add-ons | 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 | OutSystems Cloud with development, testing and production runtimes and a 99.5 percent uptime guarantee, upgradeable to 99.95 percent; extra runtimes and a self-hosted option are advanced add-ons. Built-in CI/CD pipelines with monitoring, tracing and logging | 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; payment providers are integrated through components from the OutSystems Forge, including Stripe connectors for both ODC and OutSystems 11 that handle charges, customers and refunds, and a payments plugin covering Apple Pay, Google Pay and Stripe | No built-in billing or checkout; a payment provider is connected as an API resource like any other |
| Access to the code | Applications are built visually rather than in a repository of hand-written source; custom C# and .NET logic enters as external libraries uploaded through the SDK and APIs, decorated so their methods surface as server actions | 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 | Enterprise | more entries Small and mid-sized, Enterprise |
| Integrations | Not stated | 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 OutSystems Free Personal Edition; OutSystems Developer Cloud quoted by the vendor Retool Free; paid plans from $10 / builder / month
- Free trial OutSystems Free Personal Edition, no credit card required, for up to 100 internal users Retool Free plan for up to 5 users
- Company size OutSystems Enterprise Retool Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
- Hosting OutSystems OutSystems Cloud on AWS; self-hosting is available as an advanced add-on Retool Retool cloud or self-hosted
- Support OutSystems Email helpdesk, Community forum Retool Community forum
Every line is one datapoint from the table above, picked automatically. Nothing here is written text.
The trade-offs
Strengths and Limitations
OutSystems
Strengths
- Mentor generates a complete application, data model and server logic included, from a requirements document rather than only from a chat prompt
- Shows a visual blueprint and asks for sign-off before applying changes, instead of building unseen
- Runs on containerised .NET Core with Kubernetes, managed Aurora PostgreSQL and built-in CI/CD, monitoring and tracing
- Free Personal Edition for up to 100 internal users needs no credit card
- Self-hosting is available, unlike most tools in this category
Limitations
- No published prices at all, so every evaluation starts with a sales conversation
- Pricing is metered on Application Objects and user counts, which makes cost hard to predict as an app grows
- The Personal Edition is a development runtime only and cannot run production apps
- Self-hosting, 24x7 support, higher uptime and SOC 2 or PCI DSS compliance are all paid add-ons rather than part of the base subscription
- Base support is 8x5 business hours
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
OutSystems
- OutSystems Personal Edition $0 Free, no credit card required. Development runtime only, up to 100 internal users, hosted on OutSystems Cloud. For test applications, not production, and with no uptime guarantee or compliance options.
- OutSystems Developer Cloud Custom Quoted by the vendor, priced on application complexity in Application Objects, end user counts and add-ons. Includes development, testing and production runtimes, professional support 8x5, OutSystems Cloud hosting, a 99.5 percent uptime guarantee and ISO 27001. Starts with 100 internal users and one medium-sized application.
- Advanced add-ons Custom 24x7 professional support, additional non-production and production runtimes, a self-hosted option, a 99.95 percent uptime upgrade, SOC 2 Type II and PCI DSS compliance, and additional users or larger applications.
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
OutSystems
- 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
OutSystems https://www.outsystems.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.