AI App Builders Comparison

Retool vs. Xano

At a glance

Retool

Best for

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

Small and mid-sized
Enterprise

Xano

Best for

Best for teams building a scalable backend and API without managing servers, with the frontend built elsewhere.

Freelancers
Small and mid-sized
Enterprise

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

Full Comparison

Criterion	Retool	Xano
Starting price	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 tier; paid from $85 / month Prices are billed annually: Essential $85 and Pro $224 per month. Custom plans are quoted by the vendor.
Free trial	Free plan for up to 5 users	Free tier with rate limits, up to 100K database records and 1 workspace
Output	Internal web and mobile apps, workflows and AI agents	Backends: PostgreSQL databases, REST APIs, background tasks and agent tooling
API	Yes, the Retool API manages the organisation, its users and Spaces	Yes, the platform's purpose is generating APIs, with autogenerated OpenAPI docs and an MCP server
Hosting	Retool cloud or self-hosted	Xano-managed regions or self-hosted on Azure, AWS, GCP or on-premise
What it generates	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	The backend rather than the whole app: database, REST APIs, custom functions, middleware, background tasks and triggers, with the frontend left to another tool
Stack and frameworks	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	PostgreSQL with Redis caching and Docker microservices; logic is built visually or written as XanoScript, which the CLI syncs to files on disk; works with React, Next.js, Flutter, Webflow, Framer and AI-generated frontends from Lovable and Bolt
Auth and database	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	PostgreSQL with unlimited records from the Essential tier; authentication endpoints (/signup, /login, /me) ship by default on JWE tokens, with role-based access control and enterprise SSO through GitHub, Google and Microsoft
Hosting and 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	Xano-managed hosting across multiple regions, or self-hosted on Azure, AWS, GCP or on-premise; releases are immutable versioned objects promoted through staging
Payments	No built-in billing or checkout; a payment provider is connected as an API resource like any other	Not stated
Access to the code	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	XanoScript is readable and editable, and the CLI syncs the workspace to files on disk; APIs carry autogenerated OpenAPI documentation
MCP-ready	No	stated Yes
Deployment	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise	Cloud (SaaS), Browser-based, On-premise
Support	Community forum	more entries Chat, Community forum
Onboarding	Documentation and knowledge base	more entries Documentation and knowledge base, Video tutorials
Company size	Small and mid-sized, Enterprise	more entries Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Integrations	OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, AWS Bedrock, Azure OpenAI	more entries Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Lovable, Bolt.new, Webflow, Framer, Flutter, Datadog

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 Retool Free; paid plans from $10 / builder / month Xano Free tier; paid from $85 / month
Free trial Retool Free plan for up to 5 users Xano Free tier with rate limits, up to 100K database records and 1 workspace
Company size Retool Small and mid-sized, Enterprise Xano Freelancers, Small and mid-sized, Enterprise
Hosting Retool Retool cloud or self-hosted Xano Xano-managed regions or self-hosted on Azure, AWS, GCP or on-premise
Support Retool Community forum Xano Chat, Community forum

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

The trade-offs

Strengths and Limitations

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

Xano

Strengths

Self-hosting on Azure, AWS, GCP or on-premise, not only the vendor's cloud
Frontend-agnostic: pairs with React, Flutter, Webflow, Framer, Lovable or Bolt rather than dictating one
An official MCP server, so external AI agents build against the same workspace rules

Limitations

The first paid tier is $85 a month, a steep step up from the free one
It builds only the backend, so a second tool is needed for the interface
The free tier is rate-limited to 10 requests per 20 seconds and watermarks stored images

Plans

Pricing

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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Xano

Free $0 Core building tools, rate-limited to 10 requests per 20 seconds. Up to 100K database records, 1GB watermarked image storage, 1 workspace.
Essential $85 Per month billed annually. Dedicated infrastructure without API rate limits, unlimited database records, 3 workspaces, 5 team seats, 100GB storage.
Pro $224 Per month billed annually. 5 workspaces, 10 team seats, 250GB storage, managed load balancer, role management, 99.99% SLA.
Custom Custom Quoted by the vendor. Self-hosting, advanced security, multiple tenant configurations and dedicated support.

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What users say

Review Scores · opens after launch

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.

Xano

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

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

Xano https://www.xano.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.