head to head
Retool vs Budibase
Budibase is the open source alternative to Retool — low-code internal tool builder. Here is the honest comparison.
Yes — Budibase is a viable free replacement for Retool. Budibase is open source under its own open-source terms, written in TypeScript, with 28,376 GitHub stars, 2,236 forks and 276 open issues; it was last pushed 11 hours ago. Retool costs from $10, while self-hosting Budibase carries no licence fee — the trade is your operational time instead of a subscription. 4 other open source Retool alternatives are tracked here, led by ToolJet at 41,179 stars. Budibase ranks #4 of 5 tracked open source Retool alternatives by stars. The tracked set, by adoption: ToolJet (41,179 stars), AppSmith (41,153 stars), Refine (35,981 stars), Teable (21,950 stars). Replacement criteria on this page: 4 reasons to move to Budibase and 3 reasons to stay on Retool.
choose Budibase if
- Your Retool bill is growing with seats or usage
- You need your data in a format and server you control
- Your compliance posture requires auditing the code that touches sensitive data
- You have (or can rent) a server and basic Docker comfort
stick with Retool if
- You need the polished onboarding and support SLAs of a commercial vendor
- Your team has zero capacity to operate software, even self-hosted-simple
- You depend on a Retool integration ecosystem that the OSS alternatives have not replicated
Side by side
| Budibase (open source) | Retool | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (self-hosted) | $10-$50/user/month |
| License | Custom / other | Proprietary |
| Source code | Public, auditable | Closed |
| Self-hosting | Yes — budibase/budibase | Cloud only |
| Data ownership | Your server, your format | Vendor's cloud |
| Community | ★ 28K · ⑂ 2.2K | — |
| Built with | TypeScript | — |
Why people look for a Retool alternative
About Budibase
Budibase is an open source low code platform for building internal tools, data apps, and AI powered agents that automate operational workflows. It lives in the low code/no code ecosystem and serves as a self hostable alternative to proprietary platforms like Retool.
read the full Budibase overview →
Other open source alternatives to Retool
last updated nightly · ranking method: github stars, live-tracked
Frequently asked questions
Is Budibase a good replacement for Retool?
Budibase is an open source alternative to Retool (Low-code internal tool builder). It is written in TypeScript and licensed under its own terms, with 28,376 GitHub stars.
Is Budibase free compared to Retool?
Yes. Budibase is open source — there is no licence fee, and you can self-host it. Retool is typically a paid subscription, so the trade-off is licence cost against the operational work of running it yourself.
How do I migrate from Retool to Budibase?
Migration effort depends on the data formats involved. Check Budibase's documentation for import options, and compare the feature table above to confirm the capabilities you depend on are covered before switching.