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 launched on August 10, 2018 with 640 votes, #4 of 2,619 launches that month and more than 99% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 8 years on.
In plain words
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 designed for organizations that need to develop business applications rapidly, serving both technical and non-technical users who want to streamline internal workflows and data management tasks.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
Custom internal tools have the same building blocks. Retool gives you those building blocks, so you can build them much faster.
Build, deploy, and manage internal tools with Retool's unified engine. Connect to any database, API, or LLM. Leverage AI throughout your business.
Describe what you want and get a full, production-ready app with enterprise security and governance built in. Build an app from your favorite AI coding agent and deploy it here within your governed Retool environment. Deploy apps built in Lovable, Replit, and other platforms. Upload a ZIP file or sync with GitHub. Every app you build connects directly to your production data sources. Access is governed by your existing permissions—no extra configuration required. Deploy with auth, access controls, and audit logging already in place. Fast to production, without sacrificing security. Don’t choose between moving fast or shipping something that'll actually pass a security review. What you build…from retool.com
In the maker’s words, at launch
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…
Does a similar job
all alternatives →
Retool – build internal tools faster2018 · tryretool.com · ▲592Build, deploy, and manage internal tools with Retool's unified engine. Connect to any database, API, or LLM. Leverage AI throughout your business.
Open-source alternative to Retool2022 · github.com · ▲420🔥 🔥 🔥 The Open Source Retool Alternative. Contribute to openblocks-dev/openblocks development by creating an account on GitHub.
Illa – An open-source alternative to Retool2022 · github.com · ▲151Hey 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…
Open-source alternative to Retool, Internal.io, etc.2021 · github.com · ▲429Open-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
- RERetool: Excel-like, with higher order primitives2017 · retool.in · ▲190
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