Retool vs Appsmith vs ToolJet

Three popular internal tool builders compared for speed, governance, and cost.

Quick Summary

• Retool: Most polished, deep RBAC, paid.
• Appsmith: Mature OSS, great community.
• ToolJet: OSS with visual workflows, fast-evolving.

Components & Integrations

• All support SQL/NoSQL + REST/GraphQL.
• Retool has the largest enterprise-grade component set out of the box.
• Appsmith/ToolJet catch up via plugins and community widgets.

Security, RBAC, Compliance

• Retool: SSO, granular RBAC, audit logs, SOC2 options.
• Appsmith/ToolJet: strong OSS self-host with role controls; enterprise adds SSO/RBAC depth.

Self-hosting & Dev Workflow

• All three support self-hosting; Retool and Appsmith have robust docs for on-prem.
• Git sync and environments available; implementation details vary.

Pricing

• Retool: paid-only with trials.
• Appsmith/ToolJet: free-plan OSS with commercial tiers.

Recommendation

• Enterprise/security-first: Retool.
• OSS/self-host with budget control: Appsmith or ToolJet.

FAQ

Which is fastest to MVP? Retool generally, but simple apps are quick on all three.

Vendor lock-in? Keep logic in SQL/JS and use standard APIs.