Retool vs. Appsmith vs. Adalo: Choosing the Best Platform

Retool excels at building complex internal tools, while Appsmith offers customizable low-code solutions for enterprises. Adalo stands out as an AI-powered app builder that creates true native iOS and Android apps from a single codebase—perfect for freelancers and small businesses creating client-facing apps without writing code.

This guide covers:

• Each platform's compatibility with programming languages
• Use cases and ideal applications
• Pricing and intended audience

Before diving in, here's a quick comparison of what Retool, Appsmith, and Adalo offer.

Retool vs. Appsmith vs. Adalo: A Table of Differences

	Retool	Appsmith	Adalo
Monthly Pricing	Starts at $10/month per standard user	Contact Appsmith for pricing info	Starts at $36/month
Main Features	• Low-code platform with extensive library of premade tools and components • Provides its own database builder, Retool Database • Lock-down security measures including administrator controls and SSO integrations	• Offers self-hosting on your private cloud or server • Low-code platform allows custom-made unique features • Open source, allowing you to share code publicly for further development	• AI-powered builder creates web apps and native iOS/Android apps from a single codebase • 100% no-code with AI-assisted building via Magic Start and Magic Add • Unlimited database records on paid plans with no usage-based charges
Who It's Good For	Companies and organizations building internal-facing tools	Medium to large organizations, enterprises, and Fortune 500s	Anyone who wants an external client-facing app or a business app published to app stores

Similarities

Despite their differences, Retool, Appsmith, and Adalo share several important features:

• A free version: When comparing Appsmith vs. Retool vs. Adalo, you won't need to commit money to a platform you know nothing about. Each app builder offers a free version that lets you experience how it works before committing to a monthly fee.
• Drag-and-drop interface: Whether you're using Adalo, Retool, or Appsmith to build your frontend, you'll leverage a drag-and-drop interface similar to creating a PowerPoint. This saves time and doesn't require entering dozens of lines of code for frontend creation.
• Web app publishing: Each platform lets you publish your app to the web, which users can access through their browsers. This makes it easy for them to find and log into your app.
• Ecosystems: Need help building a particular feature, integrating a database, or mastering the platform? Adalo, Retool, and Appsmith each have robust ecosystems featuring forums for live help, tutorials for learning the platform properly, and documentation providing detailed technical walkthroughs of each functionality.

Adalo

Who It's Good For

Adalo is an AI-powered app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms. AI-assisted building and streamlined publishing enable launch to the Apple App Store and Google Play in days rather than months.

This makes Adalo a platform that perfectly balances ease, power, and flexibility, allowing you to bring any app idea to life. Adalo is ideal for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and small to medium businesses. The platform's agnostic builder lets you publish the same app to the web, native iOS, and native Android, all without writing a line of code or rebuilding. If your plan is mass distribution through the app stores' vast marketplaces, this is a compelling option versus many of the vibe-coding builders available today.

With over 3 million apps created on the platform, Adalo's visual builder has been described as "easy as PowerPoint" while delivering professional-grade applications.

Features

• True no-code with AI assistance: As the only true no-code app-building platform on this list, you won't need any technical concepts like coding logic or API knowledge to build an app with Adalo. Magic Start generates complete app foundations from simple descriptions—tell it you need a booking app for a dog grooming business, and it creates your database structure, screens, and user flows automatically. Magic Add lets you add features by describing what you want in natural language.
• Unlimited database records: Paid plans include no data caps, removing the storage constraints that limit other platforms. With proper data relationship setups, Adalo apps can scale beyond 1 million monthly active users. X-Ray identifies performance issues before they affect users, ensuring your app maintains speed at scale.
• Cross-platform publishing: Once you finish creating your app, you can publish it on the web, in the Apple App Store, and the Google Play Store. Adalo is a responsive app builder, meaning you can use the same app version for all three platforms without making significant changes—and updates to your app automatically deploy across all platforms.

Use Cases

Adalo's variety of templates allows for a wide range of applications. You can create an admin dashboard to showcase business metrics, a client portal for CRM, and project management tools such as a field report app.

However, Adalo's flexibility goes beyond building internal business tools. You can create a delivery app for your pizza restaurant, a reservation app for your cafe, a taxi app for your designated driver service, and many other client-facing external apps. The platform comes packed with almost 40 templates preloaded with features like a database, backend logic, Stripe payment integration, and more. These templates are flexible and customizable enough to create a unique app that can perform virtually any function.

Pricing

Start using Adalo for $36/month (billed monthly). This includes unlimited usage with no usage-based charges—meaning no bill shock as your app grows. The $65/month tier allows up to 5 app editors and lets you publish two different apps, making it cost-effective for small teams.

Key Takeaways:

• AI-powered building with Magic Start and Magic Add for rapid development
• No record limits on paid plans—scales to 1M+ MAU
• Single codebase publishes to web, iOS App Store, and Google Play Store

Retool

Who It's Good For

Retool is a low-code app builder excellent for businesses of any size, from a small team of a dozen to enormous firms listed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It provides a robust platform for creating internal business tools and widgets.

Features

• Native mobile app capability: Even though many folks associate internal business tools with web apps, Retool gives you the option to create native mobile apps that you can publish to the app stores. This means you can infuse the power of a device's drivers and hardware into your app, allowing for tools like notifications, barcode scanners, and more, potentially making it more powerful than a web app.
• JavaScript customization: Folks on your tech team will love that they can patch in JavaScript code almost anywhere on Retool to create custom-made logic, creating an app that executes processes in a one-of-a-kind way.
• Built-in database: While Retool integrates with loads of database providers like PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Airtable, and Google Sheets, it comes with its very own database builder tool, so you don't need to worry about having a premade database before you start with Retool.

Use Cases

Retool is primarily used to create internal business applications and tools—it's not really designed for making external client-facing applications like restaurant ordering or booking apps.

Most Retool users create admin dashboards to gather metrics and KPIs (key performance indicators), customer support tools, general workflows, inventory management systems, and much more. If your primary need is customer-facing apps for the app stores, Adalo's AI-assisted building and native app compilation would be a better fit.

Pricing

All of Retool's tiers are based on the number of user types your app has:

1. Standard users, or people who build, edit, and use your app
2. End users, or those within your organization who use your app
3. External users, folks outside your organization using your app

Retool's free version allows up to 5 free standard users, 5GB of space, and the ability to run up to 500 monthly workflows. The Team Version charges a monthly fee of $10 per standard user (billed monthly) and another $5 per end user (billed monthly) and gives you up to 5,000 workflows per month.

If you need to include external users, check out the Business Version, which costs $50/month per standard user and $15/month per end user. External users start at $8/month per user (all billed monthly). You'll also get advanced security controls like audit logs and the ability to grant permissions.

Appsmith

Who It's Good For

Appsmith is a low-code app builder for medium to large organizations, helping them create specialized internal business tools for executing unique tasks. It's particularly suited for enterprises with dedicated development teams who need maximum customization control.

Features

• AI-powered development tools: You'll find cutting-edge AI tools in the space. For app building, use it to generate your code or create new features. You can also use it as a functionality on a finished app, such as a text analyzer, picture classifier, and more.
• Self-hosting flexibility: Are you looking to deploy your app on a private cloud or your server? Look no further than Appsmith. It allows for flexible self-hosting, providing lock-down security and granular control over your data and infrastructure. Your tech team will appreciate this level of control.
• Open source: Appsmith is an open-source app builder that allows you to contribute to the platform by adding new features, fixing bugs, or perfecting existing functionalities. You can also keep your source code and share it on GitHub to encourage contributions from developers worldwide.

Use Cases

Much like Retool, Appsmith is best suited for tech-savvy teams that need to develop customized internal business applications, such as project management tools, CRM boards, accounting apps, and more.

It's important to note that you'll need to bring a database to build an app on Appsmith, but luckily, Appsmith integrates with all the major database builders, such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, and quite a few more. This database requirement adds complexity compared to Adalo, which includes a built-in database with unrestricted storage on paid plans.

Pricing

Appsmith doesn't provide public pricing for its tiers. However, you can request a free trial for the Business Version or schedule a demo for the Enterprise Version.

Based on enterprise pricing patterns, expect the lowest-tier plans to start in the $100s/month, with Enterprise Plans potentially exceeding $10,000/month depending on the use case. This pricing may be out of reach for smaller businesses, making Adalo's transparent $36/month starting price more accessible.

How Adalo Compares to Other App Builders

When evaluating app builders, it's worth understanding how Adalo stacks up against other popular options beyond Retool and Appsmith:

Bubble offers more customization options, but this often results in slower applications that suffer under increased load. Bubble's mobile app solution is a wrapper for the web app, introducing potential challenges at scale—and one app version doesn't automatically update web, Android, and iOS apps deployed to their respective app stores. Bubble's pricing starts at $59/month with usage-based charges and limits on records due to Workload Units. Adalo's $36/month plan includes unlimited usage and native app store publishing with unlimited updates.

FlutterFlow is a low-code platform designed for technical users. FlutterFlow users need to manage and set up their own unrelated database, which requires significant learning complexity—especially when looking for scale, as anything less than optimal setup can create problems. Their builder is limited in view (slow speed to see more than 2 screens at once), whereas Adalo can display up to 400 screens at a time on one canvas. FlutterFlow pricing starts at $70/month per user for easy app store publishing, but still doesn't include a database.

Glide is heavily format-focused and restricted to set templates. This makes it fast to build and publish with, but creates generic, simplistic apps with limited creative freedom. Glide is a go-to for spreadsheet-based apps, but that doesn't compare to the convenience of Adalo's Sheetbridge, which enables users to turn a Google Sheet into an actual database for easy control without database-related learning. Glide pricing starts at $60/month for custom domain capability, but is still limited by app updates and data record rows. Glide does not support Apple App Store or Google Play Store publishing.

Which Platform Should You Choose?

Now that you've seen what each platform offers, let's talk about the factors you should consider when selecting Adalo, Appsmith, or Retool:

Your Technical Knowledge

Retool and Appsmith differ from Adalo in one significant way—they're both low-code platforms, meaning you'll need some tech experience to use them.

If you want to patch in lines of code to create unique features, customize your database schema, and leverage other technical mechanisms, you might want to check out the two low-code platforms, Retool and Appsmith.

However, if you're a total tech novice, Retool and Appsmith will most likely frustrate you, slowing your app-building down to a snail's pace. People without tech skills should choose Adalo. You'll be able to create a unique, functional, and professional-looking app without knowing how to code. Magic Start and Magic Add let you describe what you want in plain English, and the AI handles the technical implementation.

App Store Publishing

While all three platforms allow web app publishing, only Retool and Adalo can make native mobile apps that can go into the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Sometimes, you might need to create internal business software for the app stores, especially if you plan to sell it to the masses.

Adalo's advantage here is significant: one codebase publishes to web, iOS, and Android simultaneously, and updates deploy across all platforms automatically. This eliminates the need to maintain separate codebases or manually sync changes.

External Client-Facing Apps

Both Retool and Appsmith are designed explicitly for creating internal business apps, tools, and software. Although Retool allows external users, these are meant to be long-term clients with complex work orders, vendors, or partners.

Retool and Appsmith aren't designed to create external client-facing apps like those for booking tables, appointments, or a niche social media app. If you need an app where clients place orders or share information, Adalo is the clear choice.

Cost Considerations

Cost is among the most critical factors many prioritize when choosing an app builder.

Although Appsmith doesn't publicize its pricing, enterprise-tier plans likely exceed $10,000/month depending on the use case. This pricing might be out of reach for many smaller businesses.

Retool's "pricing per user" model may be highly cost-effective for small teams. However, if your business grows and you add several users, Retool could quickly become very expensive.

Adalo has the most straightforward pricing—you won't need to contact sales, and you'll get 1 app editor and 1 published app for $36/month (billed monthly) with unlimited usage and no record limits. The $65/month tier allows up to 5 app editors and lets you publish two different apps, which is cost-effective for small businesses. Unlike platforms with usage-based charges, Adalo's pricing is predictable with no bill shock as your app scales.

Organization Size

If you're a small or medium business, Adalo is probably your best bet because the platform specifically caters to this slice of the economy. However, larger organizations with dedicated development teams might consider Retool or Appsmith, as these platforms are designed with enterprise needs in mind.

For anyone who wants to self-host on their private cloud network or server, Appsmith is the best bet. While you'll most likely be paying a premium for these services, you'll have bolstered security coupled with complete infrastructure and data control.

Scalability Requirements

Adalo's modular infrastructure scales to serve apps with millions of MAU, with no upper ceiling. The Adalo 3.0 infrastructure overhaul (launched late 2025) made apps 3-4x faster with infrastructure that scales automatically with app needs. Note that most third-party platform ratings and comparisons predate this major update, so external reviews may not reflect current performance capabilities.

Ultimately, we can't emphasize the importance of trying each platform's free version. Doing this will give you an idea of how building an app will feel and, in the case of Retool and Appsmith, whether you have the tech skills to work with the platforms.

Next Steps: Create Your App with Adalo

Have you never written a line of code and have no clue how it's structured, but you still want to build an app for your business? Adalo is your best choice.

Adalo is a true no-code app-building platform: To use it, you won't need any previous technical or coding knowledge—if you can create an online account, you have the skills to use Adalo. Magic Start generates complete app foundations from descriptions, and Magic Add lets you add features by simply describing what you want.

But don't think that Adalo sacrifices power for ease of use. Adalo's flexible enough to build almost any app you can imagine. It comes packed with plugins, add-ons, and thousands of third-party integrations, which let you transfer data from other accounts to your Adalo-made app.

Compared to Retool and Appsmith, Adalo has a very generous free version that lets you publish your app on the web and take payments with Stripe, all for free. Wait no longer—sign up for Adalo today.

[INTERNAL LINK: How to build a booking app without code] [INTERNAL LINK: Adalo vs Bubble comparison guide] [INTERNAL LINK: Getting started with Adalo templates]

FAQ

Question	Answer
Why choose Adalo over other app building solutions?	Adalo is an AI-powered app builder that creates true native iOS and Android apps. Unlike web wrappers, it compiles to native code and publishes directly to both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store from a single codebase—the hardest part of launching an app handled automatically.
What's the fastest way to build and publish an app to the App Store?	Adalo's drag-and-drop interface combined with AI-assisted building through Magic Start and Magic Add lets you create apps in days rather than months. The platform handles the entire App Store submission process, removing the technical barriers that typically slow down app launches.
Which is more affordable, Adalo or Retool?	Adalo starts at $36/month with unlimited usage and no per-user charges. Retool's per-user pricing model ($10/month per standard user plus $5/month per end user) can become expensive as your team grows. For small teams building client-facing apps, Adalo typically offers better value.
Which is easier for beginners, Adalo or Appsmith?	Adalo is significantly easier for beginners. As a true no-code platform with AI assistance, Adalo requires zero technical knowledge. Appsmith is a low-code platform that requires understanding of coding concepts, database management, and API integrations.
Is Adalo better than Retool for mobile apps?	For client-facing mobile apps, yes. Adalo creates true native iOS and Android apps from a single codebase with automatic updates across all platforms. Retool focuses on internal business tools and isn't designed for external customer-facing applications.
What is the difference between low-code and no-code platforms?	Low-code platforms like Retool and Appsmith require some technical knowledge and coding skills to use effectively, while no-code platforms like Adalo require zero coding experience. If you're a tech novice, low-code platforms may frustrate you and slow down your app-building process significantly.
Can Adalo apps scale to handle millions of users?	Yes. Adalo's modular infrastructure scales to serve apps with 1 million+ monthly active users with no upper ceiling. The Adalo 3.0 infrastructure overhaul made apps 3-4x faster, and paid plans include unlimited database records with no usage-based charges.
Do I need to bring my own database to use Adalo?	No. Adalo includes a built-in database with unlimited records on paid plans. You can also use Sheetbridge to turn a Google Sheet into an actual database for easy control. Unlike FlutterFlow or Appsmith, you don't need to source, set up, and pay for a separate database.
Can I migrate from Retool or Appsmith to Adalo?	While there's no direct migration tool, Adalo's AI-assisted building makes recreating apps fast. Magic Start can generate app foundations from descriptions, and the drag-and-drop interface lets you rebuild screens quickly. For client-facing apps, Adalo's native mobile publishing offers capabilities neither Retool nor Appsmith provide.
Which platform is best for publishing to the Apple App Store?	Adalo is the best choice for App Store publishing among these three options. It creates true native iOS apps (not web wrappers) and handles the entire submission process. Appsmith doesn't support App Store publishing at all, and Retool's mobile capabilities are focused on internal tools rather than consumer apps.