Open-source alternative to Retool

In plain words

This is an open-source development tool designed as an alternative to Retool, launched in November 2022. It enables developers to build internal applications and dashboards without extensive custom coding. The tool is available on GitHub for developers who want a self-hosted, customizable option for rapid application development. It targets teams seeking to reduce development time for internal tools while maintaining control over their infrastructure and data.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

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  Retool, Self-Hosted2021 · retool.com · ▲562

  A low code platform to build internal tools

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  Retool – build internal tools faster2018 · tryretool.com · ▲592

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

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  Retool2018 · retool.com · ▲640

  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,…

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  Open-source alternative to Retool, Internal.io, etc.2021 · github.com · ▲429

  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

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  Illa – An open-source alternative to Retool2022 · github.com · ▲151

  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…

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  Budibase – open-source Retool alternative – launch their Public API2022 · github.com · ▲30

  AI agents, automations and apps that run your operations. Model agnostic. - Budibase/budibase

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  /dev/null▲468

  a social network for devs

  Dev tools · 2d ago · dev-null.sh

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  Whiteboard (YC W26) – an open-source IDE for thoughtful software design▲423

  open-source IDE for thoughtful software design. Contribute to devdotfast/whiteboard development by creating an account on GitHub.

  Dev tools · 27d ago · github.com

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  Reladraw – A diagram language where you decide where to place things▲411

  Contribute to reladraw/reladraw development by creating an account on GitHub.

  Dev tools · 25d ago · github.com

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  OpenBot▲362

  Grok Bot alternative: free, local, open-source, multiplayer

  Dev tools · 22d ago · openbot.run

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  Talanoa▲340

  Hi HN, I’m a fullstack developer, and honestly, I’ve lost count of how many side projects I’ve worked on over the years. But one idea kept coming back to me: a different kind of email client. It first came to me in 2014: “What if we could handle emails more like conversations?” Every year, I’d revisit this concept in my “Build Notes.” Ten years later, no one had built exactly what I had in mind — so I finally decided to do it myself. That’s how Talanoa was born. I wanted something focused on people, not timelines. I was tired of marking messages as unread just to remember to reply later, or…

  Dev tools · 20d ago · talanoa.email

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  CoreSpeed▲332

  One MCP for everything your agents need: apps, memory, tools

  Dev tools · 27d ago · corespeed.io

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  VEED.IO▲1,623

  Simple online video editing

  Growth · 2022 · veed.io

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  Notion AI (Alpha)▲1,483

  Meet your new partner in thought

  AI · 2022 · app.notion.com

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  Rewind▲1,420

  The search engine for your life

  AI · 2022 · rewind.ai

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  Trading cards made with e-ink displays▲1,149

  I made a thing! In 2014, I was holding a stack of iPhones and thought to myself: "Hey, if I had each phone display a playing card, I could click a button and they'd shuffle themselves" I pared that idea all the way down to this: trading cards made of e-ink displays. Right now, each card costs me about $20 each, but with only a bit more scale, I think I can get that down to $10. In doing this project, I learned how to design electronics and circuit boards. I learned Rust and wrote my first driver, I upped my CAD skills, 3D printed, and did my first resin casting. I generated the images on the…

  Dev tools · 2022 · wyldcard.io

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  Taplio▲1,004

  The all-in-one tool to grow your personal brand on LinkedIn

  Growth · 2022 · taplio.com

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  BeforeSunset▲915

  Catch beautiful sights, finish your work before sunset

  Work · 2022