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Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Retool

Hi all, founder @ Retool here. We initially launched Retool on HN five years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14515494. The feedback was extraordinarily helpful then (e.g. we launched source control, on-prem, etc. based on HN comments), and we’re grateful for all of it. Today, we’re excited to get HN’s thoughts on one of our new products: Retool Mobile. It lets you build and deploy mobile apps in minutes, not days. The idea is there is a large class of line-of-business mobile apps, and the process of getting a simple form + button on a mobile device, in a native app,…

Retool is a platform for building custom internal tools quickly by providing pre-built components and blocks. It lets teams create applications for internal use without starting from scratch each time. The tool is… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Retool launched in 2018; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1

    Build, deploy, and manage internal tools with Retool's unified engine. Connect to any database, API, or LLM. Leverage AI throughout your business.

    2018 · tryretool.com · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    A low code platform to build internal tools

    2021 · retool.com · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    🔥 🔥 🔥 The Open Source Retool Alternative. Contribute to openblocks-dev/openblocks development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

  4. 4

    Hey HNs: This is Vincent from the ILLA team. I'm sure you guys see tons of "Open-source" and "Alternative to Retool" these days. I won't deny Retool is a great product, and so are many open-source competitors such as Appsmith, Budibase, Tooljet etc. However, what makes ILLA so special? What advantages does ILLA have that allow users to choose ILLA instead of others? Well, I would like to answer those questions to all folks at HN one by one. First, we are similar to Retool, or Appsmith but we have many different our own features. We are a true open-source project all the folks here can check…

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5

    Open-source foundation of ToolJet AI - the enterprise app generation platform for internal tools, dashboards, business applications, workflows and AI agents. Build visually, from a prompt, or from Claude Code, Codex and Cursor over MCP 🚀 - ToolJet/ToolJet

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

  6. 6RE
  7. 7OS

    Hey HN, This is Adrian and David, and we're excited (and nervous) to show you basetool (https://basetool.io). Basetool helps companies view and manage all their data in one place. Companies have data in tons of places like BI tools, data warehouses, 3rd party services, and their databases. However, because the tools are not connected, it's a hassle to have visibility across the whole organization and even more difficult to safely share that data with the team or external collaborators. The vision is to give basetool access to your data source and get a tool that way above a…

    2021 · its alternatives →

  8. 8
    onetool▲309

    The App Store for SaaS

    2020 · onetool.co · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    Every software you'll ever need in one subscription.

    2020 · onetool.co · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    Build custom forms on top of a SQL database 10x faster

    2024 · formtodb.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11
    Build0▲349

    Build custom internal apps in minutes, no coding required

    Nov 2025 · build0.ai · its alternatives →

  12. 12

    Import CSV to PostgreSQL, generate a mock API, and 20+ more

    2021 · retool.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13
    TopTool▲275

    Explore the best tools

    2024 · toptool.app · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    Hi HN, I'm Daniel Nguyen. In June, I quit my job to start indie hacking full-time. The idea of KTool first came to my mind when I was reading "Ask HN: I'm a software engineer going blind, how should I prepare?"[0] I've been wearing glasses since I was 5. My right eye is basically blind. Doctors said there is no chance to cure it. I was genuinely scared. Like holy shit, if my left eye stops working, my life is done. Since then I've been very conscious about time spent on computer screens. That's when I started using Kindle-related products: to offload as many reading materials as possible to…

    2022 · ktool.io · its alternatives →

  15. 15

    I’m excited to share ToolJet 3.0, a major update to our open-core low-code platform for building internal tools. This release is all about speed, scalability, and better support for complex use cases. Backstory When I first launched ToolJet (https://github.com/ToolJet/ToolJet) here on HN (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27421408](https://news.... 2021, it started as a tool for building frontends connected to data sources via a secure backend proxy, with integrations like Google Sheets. The initial post hit #1 on HN, bringing in a wave of…

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    Remote retrospectives made easy, simple, fun and effective.

    2020 · retrotool.io · its alternatives →

  17. 17

    Discover the best AI tools, all in one spot

    2023 · therundown.ai · its alternatives →

  18. 18

    Hey HN! We just launched open sign up on Buildstash. It's a platform for managing and sharing software binaries. I'd worked across game dev, mobile apps, and agencies - and found every team had no real system for managing their built binaries. Often just dumped in a shared folder (if someone remembered!). No system for versioning, keeping track of who'd signed off what when, or what exact build had gone to a client, etc. Existing tools out there for managing build artifacts are really focused on package repository management. But miss all the other types of software not being deployed that…

    2025 · buildstash.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19
    MERN 2.0▲143

    Easily build production-ready universal apps

    2016 · mern.io · its alternatives →

  20. 20

    Open-source foundation of ToolJet AI - the enterprise app generation platform for internal tools, dashboards, business applications, workflows and AI agents. Build visually, from a prompt, or from Claude Code, Codex and Cursor over MCP 🚀 - Release v1.21.0 · ToolJet/ToolJet

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

  21. 21
    MyClone▲149

    Hi HN — I’m Viggy, founder of MyClone. We originally built a marketplace connecting startup advisors with founders. After ~6 months, we had hundreds of recorded discovery calls and transcripts. We noticed something interesting: The first 10 minutes of most advisory calls were almost identical. • What do you do? • Who is this for? • Pricing? • What information do you need from me? • Am I a good fit? So we pivoted. Today, MyClone lets service professionals (consultants, CPAs, etc.) deploy an AI voice agent that: • Answers FAQs in their voice • Runs structured intake conversations • Qualifies…

    Nov 2025 · myclone.is · its alternatives →

  22. 22

    Making your everyday tasks a breeze

    2023 · ray.run · its alternatives →

  23. 23SA

    https://semgrep.dev/products/semgrep-app Hi! I work on Semgrep, an open-source project (discussed on HN previously [0][1)]. We’re one of those companies that maintain an OSS tool and a web app, and then monetize by selling enterprise features on said web app. Our free web app just went through a major revamp (sort of like a v1.0 release) so this feels like the perfect time to share and hear what the HN crowd thinks! Let me start with some backstory on Semgrep. Our team, r2c, has been experimenting with various ways to help organizations step up their application security…

    2021 · its alternatives →

  24. 24

    We believe the best software is built when devs seriously use the thing they're building. We're a mobile dev tools company (emergetools.com), but we don't actually build & ship "apps"... until now. Excited to share our first open-source app: Hacker News for Android Any feedback/PRs very welcome on the repo. We also wrote about why we built and open-sourced this HN app here: https://www.emergetools.com/blog/posts/open-sourcing-emerge-...

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →