Retool Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Retool alternatives: Appsmith, Budibase, ToolJet, NocoDB and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 23, 2026.
•4 min read•Automation & No-Code
Verdict:Retool suits engineering teams that build internal dashboards and admin tools on top of their own databases and APIs. Leave it when the seat cost grows faster than the number of people using the tools, or when your team wants the builder itself to be open source. Retool's free plan covers up to 5 users, unlimited apps and 500 workflow runs a month, and its Builder seat is $10 a month on annual billing. Appsmith is the most direct open-source replacement, so most of the migration work is in rebuilding the screens rather than the logic. Budibase suits teams that want forms, approvals and automations and are happy to self-host everything for free. Tooljet is a similar move with a copyleft license and a smaller free builder allowance. NocoDB and Baserow are lighter: they remove the need for custom screens, so pick them only when your internal tool is really a spreadsheet with access rules. The trade-off is that the open-source builders save licence cost and give you the code, but you carry the hosting, upgrades and the search for components that Retool supplies out of the box. Count the builders and the users first, because that number decides which plan is cheapest.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appsmith | Free (Free plan: up to 5 users on cloud, 5 workspaces, 3 Git repos); paid from $15 per user/month (Business) | Web, Self-hosted | Open-source admin panels for small teams | Docs only |
| Budibase | Free (Open source plan is free and self-hosted with unlimited apps, automations and users; 1 workspace, 1-day automation log retention, community support); paid from $19 per month (Pro) | Web, Self-hosted | Self-hosted apps with automations | Docs only |
| ToolJet | Free (Cloud free plan: 2 builders, up to 50 end users, 10 apps, 500 ToolJet DB rows; self-hosted Community Edition is free); paid from $23 per builder/month (Basic) | Web, Self-hosted | Open-source internal tools with workflows | Docs only |
| NocoDB | Free (Cloud Free has 3 editor seats, 1,000 records and 1 GB; the self-hosted Community edition has unlimited records, storage and seats but only 2 workflows per base); paid from $12 per seat/month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly, Plus) | Web, Self-hosted | Simple data editing over a database | Docs only |
| Baserow | Free (Free plan: 3,000 rows and 2 GB of storage per workspace); paid from $10 per user/month, billed yearly ($12 billed monthly; Premium) | Web, Self-hosted | Shared tables without custom front ends | Docs only |
| Glide | Free (Free plan: limited credits (exact number not stated), 2 team members, 10 projects, 0 published apps); paid from $25 per per month (Basic) | Web | App builder | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
Good fit if
- You want an open-source admin panel builder you can self-host (Appsmith is the pick)
- You want a free self-hosted platform with forms and automations (Budibase is the pick)
- You want an internal tool with workflow logic under a copyleft license (ToolJet is the pick)
- You only need a shared spreadsheet view over a table (NocoDB is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Retool features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Retool today: Free (Free plan: up to 5 users, unlimited apps, 500 workflow runs per month; self-hosted free plan also capped at 5 users); paid from $10 per builder/month, billed annually ($12 billed monthly; internal users $5) (Retool pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Why people look for Retool alternatives
Retool charges by seat type. Team is $10 per builder per month on annual billing ($12 monthly) plus $5 per internal user; Business is $50 per builder and $15 per internal user. The Free plan stops at 5 users, 500 workflow runs and 250 AI credits a month, with no audit logs, external users or SSO. Audit logs need Business, while SSO/SCIM, Git source control, granular roles and self-hosting are Enterprise only. External users beyond 50 cost $8 each per month.
Appsmith
Compared with Retool: Apache-2.0 internal tool builder with a cloud free plan for up to 5 users. Against Retool it is open source and self-hostable, so you gain control of the code and lose Retool's larger component library and hosted support.
Price: Free (Free plan: up to 5 users on cloud, 5 workspaces, 3 Git repos); paid from $15 per user/month (Business) (Appsmith pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. Apache-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 41.1k GitHub stars · latest release v2.5.1 (Oct 21, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Open-source admin panels for small teams.
Worth knowing: Self-hosted accounts get a 15-day Business trial, then can continue on the Free tier.
Budibase
Compared with Retool: Open-source low-code platform; the open-source plan is free, self-hosted, with unlimited apps and users. Compared with Retool it leans toward forms and automations on your own server, so you trade Retool's polish for an entirely free core.
Price: Free (Open source plan is free and self-hosted with unlimited apps, automations and users; 1 workspace, 1-day automation log retention, community support); paid from $19 per month (Pro) (Budibase pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. GPL-3.0 (client and component libraries MPL-2.0; paid features under BSL) (open source).
Project activity: 28.4k GitHub stars · latest release v3.50.0 (Oct 19, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Self-hosted apps with automations.
ToolJet
Compared with Retool: AGPL-3.0 low-code builder with a cloud free plan of 2 builders and 50 end users. Against Retool it is open source and can be self-hosted, but its cloud free tier is tighter on builders than Retool's 5-user free plan.
Price: Free (Cloud free plan: 2 builders, up to 50 end users, 10 apps, 500 ToolJet DB rows; self-hosted Community Edition is free); paid from $23 per builder/month (Basic) (ToolJet pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. AGPL-3.0 (open source).
Project activity: 41.1k GitHub stars · latest release v3.20.251-lts (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Open-source internal tools with workflows.
Worth knowing: Fully offline operation needs a self-hosted Enterprise air-gapped add-on with no listed price.
NocoDB
Compared with Retool: Turns a database into a spreadsheet-style app with a self-hosted community edition. Against Retool it does not build custom interfaces, so you lose the screen design and gain a simpler data editor.
Price: Free (Cloud Free has 3 editor seats, 1,000 records and 1 GB; the self-hosted Community edition has unlimited records, storage and seats but only 2 workflows per base); paid from $12 per seat/month, billed annually ($15 billed monthly, Plus) (NocoDB pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. Sustainable Use License (source-available, not OSI open source).
Best for: Simple data editing over a database.
Worth knowing: Self-hosted use is under a source-available license, not an OSI-approved open-source one.
Baserow
Compared with Retool: Open-source core under MIT with a free plan of 3,000 rows per workspace. Compared with Retool it is a database first, so you gain an easy shared table and lose the custom app layer that Retool offers for internal dashboards.
Price: Free (Free plan: 3,000 rows and 2 GB of storage per workspace); paid from $10 per user/month, billed yearly ($12 billed monthly; Premium) (Baserow pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, Self-hosted. MIT (core) (open source).
Project activity: 6.2k GitHub stars · latest release 2.4.1 (Oct 13, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Shared tables without custom front ends.
Other popular options (paid)
Glide
Compared with Retool: Free plan with 2 team members and 10 projects but no published apps; Basic is $25 per month. Glide turns spreadsheets and databases into apps, with far less developer flexibility than Retool.
Price: Free (Free plan: limited credits (exact number not stated), 2 team members, 10 projects, 0 published apps); paid from $25 per per month (Basic) (Glide pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Which one to pick
- You want an open-source admin panel builder you can self-host: Appsmith
- You want a free self-hosted platform with forms and automations: Budibase
- You want an internal tool with workflow logic under a copyleft license: ToolJet
- You only need a shared spreadsheet view over a table: NocoDB
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Appsmith, Budibase, ToolJet, NocoDB, Baserow: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Retool. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
Related guides
Sources
Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-23: Retool, Appsmith, Budibase, ToolJet, NocoDB, Baserow, Glide. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.