Useful for Internal Tools
What do you like best about the product?
Easy to access Rest APIs and BigQuery quickly.
What do you dislike about the product?
The UI is a bit bland compared to some competitors.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I needed to connect data from BigQuery to Postgres data sources. The tool is helpful for this.
Built-in features streamline data processing and integration
What is our primary use case?
In Retool, I have designed graphs and data tools to implement rules-based functionality. Instead of implementing these features in our platform, we created them through Retool because we only provide access to statistics for the sales team. We don't give access to the whole system.
I have worked with Retool for three months based on requirements from other team members. We're using it within our internal system, but we want to restrict access to the main system. That's why we're conducting data analysis through Retool.
This implementation was a requirement from the client, and I worked on providing solutions accordingly.
What is most valuable?
Retool provides built-in features with all processing happening within the platform, which is a significant advantage.
The platform is easy to use without requiring the installation of different libraries. Various features are available through drag and drop and UI-based interactions.
The tool allows data retrieval through queries and displays information directly. It offers data tools that grab information based on specified queries and draws everything on screen. If a table is needed, it efficiently lists down the table data.
Data manipulation happens through queries. We simply specify the table and required query, and the results are displayed immediately.
Permissions are required for access. When we grant access from AWS, Retool can access the data. Without proper permissions, access is restricted.
We can provide view-only access in Retool while maintaining view, edit, and delete capabilities in the main system. This allows us to control access for sales personnel and external data viewing.
The platform provides an extensive range of graphs and visualization options.
What needs improvement?
The platform already provides many features, and additional features aren't necessary for medium-level usage. Only very high-level requirements might necessitate more features.
AI tools, features, and machine learning capabilities should be added as they would be helpful in the future.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have worked with Retool for three months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I have never faced any downtime or maintenance issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have implemented very large datasets, and the system works very fast. It's scalable and doesn't experience any slowdown when handling increasing data volumes.
How are customer service and support?
Technical support team is available, but I haven't needed to contact them. I found sufficient help through YouTube and articles.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I did not evaluate other options.
How was the initial setup?
New users or beginners require video tutorials for guidance. Once familiar with the platform, everyone can use it very easily.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Retool can be used with many applications as it is language independent. Anyone can use it easily and create various visualizations regardless of their programming knowledge. This is the main reason I recommend it.
What other advice do I have?
In application development, we typically need to handle security and related aspects. With Retool, these features are built-in, eliminating the need for manual implementation.
The review rating for Retool is 9 out of 10.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
A Game-Changer for Building Internal Tools at Lightning Speed
What do you like best about the product?
Honestly, what blew me away was the speed. I'm using it for the first time and I managed to build a functional tool in just one afternoon, something I thought would take me at least a few days. Connecting it to my database was surprisingly easy, it just worked. I love that even though it's so simple to start, I can still write my own code if I ever need to do something more specific. I can already see how much time this is going to save me.
What do you dislike about the product?
It can get a bit complex when you want to build something really custom. The basics are simple, but it can sometimes be difficult to find and connect more complicated actions, like making one button trigger several different steps.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
The biggest problem Retool solves for us is the slow, manual process of interacting with our database. Previously, if I needed to view customer data, I have to run a manual query.
Retool gives us a way to get quick access to our databases and present that data in a really clear way, like in a table or a list. The main benefit is that we can now manage all that information in a surprisingly simple way. We can build tools with forms and buttons that let our team safely create, update, or delete records without needing any technical help. It has saved us a huge amount of development time.
It's been good, it works for the work I'm doing.
What do you like best about the product?
For creating mvp visualizations it is very good. It works great with integrations to different applications.
What do you dislike about the product?
If you could have a guide for documentation for new users or maybe have a wizard to guide, for that you can contact Atom ;) .
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Create mvps for AI work. It communicates well with different environments and works well for me for that.
It is quite quick and easy solution to create applications
What do you like best about the product?
The easy database integration and the quick and easy way to create forms and store data. Ease of implenetation as well.
What do you dislike about the product?
I wish it was more form oriented then component creation so that I can build a workflow and add pages and databases to it.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I am trying to build applications for both internal or external purposes and take them to production faster in this fast-paced world we live in,
Great tool to build internal tools UI
What do you like best about the product?
I like that Retool strikes a great balance between low-code simplicity and flexibility — it lets you build quickly without code when needed, but still gives you the control to create better UIs when it matters.
What do you dislike about the product?
The pricing model is hard to make it work when your user base is big.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Our backend developers used to face a barrier when it came to contributing to our internal tools — they lacked the frontend expertise. With Retool, that’s no longer a limitation. They can now build and contribute to the tools they’ve always wanted, without needing to become frontend specialists. On top of that, we no longer need a dedicated team managing patching and frontend dependencies.
Retool is a great tool to write your low-code/no-code app.
What do you like best about the product?
Retool has a lot of handy features that you can use instead of writing them from scratch. Saving us hours of work in a few drag-and-drop and low-code adjustments.
We use it every day, and it's super easy to use and implement compared to alternatives like Tableau. The integration was super fast, and we stopped paying for other third-party tools for our platform.
What do you dislike about the product?
I think their backlog has a lot of feature requests and they are slow on deploying them.
Their AI coder could be better.
Customer support could be more handy and fast.
Their built-in features could be much more customizable, it makes us use a lot of custom nodes, which are fine but very hard to handle.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Delivering easy to use platform to our customers
I've used Retool to build internal tools, and I appreciate its flexibility and integration.
What do you like best about the product?
The ability to quickly connect to multiple data sources and build functional UIs without spending time on boilerplate code.
What do you dislike about the product?
One limitation is the absence of a backend data abstraction layer — managing record-level permissions, complex filters, and efficient paging requires more manual work than platforms with a true application server
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Thanks to Retool, I can develop internal applications in hours instead of days, reducing time-to-delivery and improving responsiveness to internal requests
A great tool for developers who want to leverage abstraction and built-in front-end components
What do you like best about the product?
I really enjoy the variety of components that come inside the app editor. I like the fact that they focus on technical people (i.e. developers) who speak the same language, yet they empower them with the right features they need to build internal tools faster and seamlessly. Most things are customizable and easily managed with coding! Although I like to use niche tools each focused on solving a specific problem, I have been enjoying how Retool combines various elements of a platform development process (e.g. built-in dashboard, file storage, automation workflows and email).
Their community forum and support are great, as a result of both contributing members and Retool experts! Moreover, their pricing plans are generous.
What do you dislike about the product?
It can get quite pricey if you want to deploy an app to the public that is focused on external users. It is best for building internal tools. Even if I built an internal app, I would have liked to have the ability to share a public URL instead of inviting my colleagues to sign up and join. At the same time, I find that sometimes the app editor is lagging and could respond faster. Last but not least, I tried adding their Mapbox component, but I didn't have the option to customize it fully. I will need to develop one myself in React and then add it to my Retool app.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It targets developers who want to build internal tools, dashboards and admin panels inside low-code platforms. The develop enjoys having the drag-and-drop feature. Otherwise as a developer I would have to either custom code it myself from scratch or use npm packages trying to architect various components together myself.
The ultimate versatile platform for in-house data based apps
What do you like best about the product?
As a software developer, I really like the immediate availability of all the building blocks of a full fledged app - database, file storage, interfaces, etc. Also the ease with which the interface components connect to the backend resources is such a breeze! Most or maybe even all the standard use cases for displaying data can be implemented in just a few minutes. I was able to set up all the data infrastructure and UI for a bike business, including tracking repairs, rentals, bike tours, and inventory in just a couple of days.
What do you dislike about the product?
The highly opinionated nature of the platform can be a limitation at times, but there is always a workaround.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I was looking for a solution for a small business (bike shop) that included a number of interrelated and complex areas of activity - rentals, repairs, purchases, sales, and inventory. The only kind of existing software that could satisfactorily solve all those things would be enterprise packages that are very expensive and unwieldy for a small business.
