head to head
Retool vs ToolJet
ToolJet is the open source alternative to Retool — low-code internal tool builder. Here is the honest comparison.
Yes — ToolJet is a viable free replacement for Retool. ToolJet is open source under AGPL-3.0, written in JavaScript, with 40,936 GitHub stars, 5,448 forks and 1,204 open issues; it was last pushed 7 hours ago. Retool costs from $10, while self-hosting ToolJet 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 AppSmith at 40,894 stars. ToolJet ranks #1 of 5 tracked open source Retool alternatives by stars. The tracked set, by adoption: AppSmith (40,894 stars), Refine (35,688 stars), Budibase (28,289 stars), Teable (21,800 stars). Replacement criteria on this page: 4 reasons to move to ToolJet and 3 reasons to stay on Retool.
choose ToolJet 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
| ToolJet (open source) | Retool | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (self-hosted) | $10-$50/user/month |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Proprietary |
| Source code | Public, auditable | Closed |
| Self-hosting | Yes — tooljet/tooljet | Cloud only |
| Data ownership | Your server, your format | Vendor's cloud |
| Community | ★ 41K · ⑂ 5.4K | — |
| Built with | JavaScript | — |
Why people look for a Retool alternative
About ToolJet
ToolJet is an open source low code platform for building internal tools—admin panels, dashboards, and operational applications—by connecting to existing databases, APIs, and SaaS systems. It lives in the JavaScript ecosystem and is licensed under AGPL 3.0.
read the full ToolJet overview →
Other open source alternatives to Retool
last updated nightly · ranking method: github stars, live-tracked
Frequently asked questions
Is ToolJet a good replacement for Retool?
ToolJet is an open source alternative to Retool (Low-code internal tool builder). It is written in JavaScript and licensed under AGPL-3.0, with 40,936 GitHub stars.
Is ToolJet free compared to Retool?
Yes. ToolJet 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 ToolJet?
Migration effort depends on the data formats involved. Check ToolJet's documentation for import options, and compare the feature table above to confirm the capabilities you depend on are covered before switching.