Retool

Build internal tools, remarkably fast

4.8•34 reviews•

3.7K followers

Build internal tools, remarkably fast

4.8•34 reviews•

3.7K followers

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No-Code App Builder

The first enterprise AppGen platform that turns natural language into production-ready internal apps—built on your live data and deployed in your environment. Secure from day one.

Tines The single, secure environment for agents, apps, and automations.

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Runner Up • Developer Tools Product of the Year

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Retool Launches

RetoolBuild anywhere. Govern in Retool.

Launched on June 18th, 2026

AI AppGen in RetoolBuild editable secure schema-aware dashboards via plain text

Launched on October 8th, 2025

Retool AgentsTurn your APIs & data into tools AI workers can actually use

Launched on May 29th, 2025

Retool FormsBuild custom forms on top of a SQL database 10x faster

Launched on February 21st, 2024

Retool AIBuild AI apps and workflows 10x faster

Launched on September 7th, 2023

View all Retool launches

4.8

Based on 34 reviews

Review Retool?

Reviewers mostly see Retool as a strong time-saver for internal tools, dashboards, admin pages, and back-office apps. They repeatedly praise fast setup, drag-and-drop building, flexible customization, and easy connections to databases and APIs, with some saying it sharply reduces glue code and developer effort. The main caveat is usability at the edges: several users mention a learning curve, inconsistent UX, unclear or incomplete documentation, and occasional bugs or lag in larger apps. One founder from CentryAI says their team used it for an internal admin panel.

+31

Summarized with AI

Pros

internal tools development (18)

time saving (15)

flexibility (8)

low-code (8)

connect to any data source (5)

admin dashboards (4)

drag-and-drop UI (4)

fast deployment (4)

non-developer friendly (4)

custom code support (2)

Cons

complex setup (2)

undocumented bugs (2)

UX inconsistency (2)

Pros

Cons

Reviews

All Reviews

Most Informative

•26 reviews

A Game-Changer for Building Internal Tools Fast I’ve been using Retool for several months now, and it has genuinely transformed how our team builds internal dashboards and operations apps. What I love: The drag-and-drop UI + built-in data integrations let me prototype in minutes rather than days. You still have full access to code when needed, which means you never lose power or flexibility. It connects seamlessly to all our data sources (Postgres, APIs, etc.), so there’s minimal “glue code.” Security is baked in — SSO, permissions, audit logs — which makes it viable even for regulated environments. The team is responsive and continuously shipping improvements. Impact: We’ve cut our internal tooling time by more than half. Tasks that used to require backend developers and weeks of work can now be handled by a small team in a matter of hours. That agility has let us iterate faster and focus more on product features, not infrastructure. Room to improve: For complete non-technical users, there’s still a bit of a learning curve. On very large, complex apps, performance can occasionally lag. Documentation in some edge cases could be clearer. All that said, Retool strikes a rare balance: approachable yet powerful, fast yet secure. It’s become a cornerstone in our stack, and I highly recommend it to any team that needs internal tooling without reinventing everything from scratch.

What's great

flexibility (8)time saving (15)fast deployment (4)internal tools development (18)connect to any data source (5)drag-and-drop UI (4)custom code support (2)

What needs improvement

slow performance (1)learning curve (1)

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55 views10mo ago

•5 reviews

I will say that what I initially expected to be the biggest issue -- Connecting a database to Retool -- Turned out to be the easiest part of this entire experience. I even found and reported a little bug! One issue I ran into a lot was UX Inconsistency between documentation and the end-user experience. To a lesser extent, instructions were often only written for a certain flavor of SQL -- and it would be foolish to expect documentation based upon the myriad of ways we can connect our data -- but when it came to 1:1 following a guide, it wasn't unusual to run into slight difference in menus that made it frustrating. Customer Support is very busy but also very kind and willing to walk me through some changes; Changes we're still working on. Saving a DB change is turning out to be a herculean task; Unfortunately, not enough people use Retool to get help, (Although there is a community forum!), because we're all confused. Again, to its credit, I can add users through Retool very easily, and was delighted, hopeful that this would be a quick way to build an app. I wonder why it wasn't possible to make it a GUI option; a checkbox that says "Save changes to connected database?". There is both a SQL and a GUI Option, the latter of which is touted as the option that's less prone to error, but I ran into a handful of errors trying to do the option, so it's not simple at the end of the day. If you have more experience building front-facing tools, using APIs, you may find it easier than someone like me, who comes from using back-end cloud services, but still knows enough to teach themselves most things.

What's great

connect to any data source (5)

What needs improvement

complex setup (2)undocumented bugs (2)UX inconsistency (2)

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41 views3yr ago

used Retool to build daily.dev Squads

•9 reviews

At daily.dev, we use Retool to speed up our internal tooling and build admin dashboards with minimal effort. What’s great about Retool is that it gives us the flexibility to create complex, functional apps without having to reinvent the wheel every time. The drag-and-drop interface lets us quickly build UIs, but it’s still powerful enough to handle custom code when we need it.

What's great

flexibility (8)time saving (15)internal tools development (18)admin dashboards (4)drag-and-drop UI (4)custom code support (2)

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36 views2yr ago

•26 reviews

What's great

flexibility (8)time saving (15)fast deployment (4)internal tools development (18)connect to any data source (5)drag-and-drop UI (4)custom code support (2)

What needs improvement

slow performance (1)learning curve (1)

Report

55 views10mo ago

•5 reviews

What's great

connect to any data source (5)

What needs improvement

complex setup (2)undocumented bugs (2)UX inconsistency (2)

Report

41 views3yr ago

used Retool to build daily.dev Squads

•9 reviews

What's great

flexibility (8)time saving (15)internal tools development (18)admin dashboards (4)drag-and-drop UI (4)custom code support (2)

Report

36 views2yr ago