What Retool does

Retool is a San Francisco-based software development company founded in 2017 that operates a unified enterprise platform for building, launching, governing, and scaling internal applications. Its product surface is organized around four stages — Build, Launch, Scale, and Govern — anchored by an AI-native App Builder (AppGen) that generates full-stack React/TypeScript production-ready applications from natural-language prompts and accepts multimodal inputs (screenshots, PDFs, design files, spreadsheets). Adjacent capabilities include Retool Agents (autonomous LLM-driven workers billed hourly), Retool Workflows (event/schedule-triggered automations), Retool Database (PostgreSQL-compatible), Retool Mobile, Retool External Apps, an MCP server for AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, ChatGPT, Kiro), and an app import pipeline that brings React apps built in Lovable, Replit, or v0 into Retool's governed runtime.

The platform's core technology includes a centralized governance runtime that enforces SSO, RBAC, audit logging, versioning, and environment promotion across all apps regardless of build source, plus native integrations to 100+ data sources (PostgreSQL, MongoDB, BigQuery, Snowflake, Databricks, Salesforce, Stripe, REST/GraphQL APIs). The platform runs as Retool Cloud (SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 certified) or self-hosted via Docker in customer VPCs. Customer-facing brands include sub-brand AppGen and a network of 13+ certified service partners (Artefact, BitHippie, Lingaro, GxP, etc.).

Retool monetizes through a hybrid model: a freemium tier (up to 5 users, 500 workflow runs, 250 AI credits/month), per-seat subscriptions on Team ($10/builder, $5/internal user) and Business ($50/builder, $15/internal user) plans, usage-based external-user pricing, AI credit consumption, hourly Agents billing, workflow run overages ($75 per 5,000 runs), and custom-priced Enterprise contracts with multi-year terms. The go-to-market combines product-led growth via self-serve signup, enterprise field sales targeting Fortune 500 accounts (Amazon, Boeing, Pfizer, Nvidia, Stripe, OpenAI, Disney, Airbnb, Mercedes-Benz), channel partnerships with consultancies, and distribution through AWS Marketplace via a December 2025 Strategic Collaboration Agreement. Retool serves 10,000+ teams and 28 institutional and angel investors (led by Sequoia Capital) have committed approximately $165M across six funding rounds, most recently a $45M Series C2 in July 2022 at a $3.2B valuation.

Name

Retool

Legal name

Retool

Website

https://retool.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Retool is a San Francisco-based enterprise platform that enables companies to build, launch, and govern AI-generated internal applications with integrated security, data connectivity, and workflow automation. It serves 10,000+ teams from startups to Fortune 500 customers including Amazon, Boeing, Pfizer, and Nvidia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Application Development Platform

NAICS

Custom Computer Programming Services (541511)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

Legacy Application Modernization (Re-platform/Re-host/Re-factor) (BPAEAFAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

UI/UX Engineering & Front-End Modernization (BPAEAFAH)

Keywords

• Low-code platform
• Internal tools development
• AI app builder
• Enterprise workflow automation
• Application development platform

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Operations

Revenue model

1. Builder Seat Subscription: Per-builder recurring seat pricing: $10/month on Team, $50/month on Business, and custom pricing on Enterprise tiers; annual billing offers 20% savings. Builders are enabled users who built or edited an app or workflow during the billing cycle.
2. Internal User Seat Subscription: Per-internal-user recurring seat pricing: $5/month on Team, $15/month on Business, custom on Enterprise; differentiated lower pricing for non-builder employees who consume apps.
3. External User Usage-Based Pricing: Tiered external user pricing for partner/client/vendor access to Retool-built apps: 0-50 free, 51-250 at $8/month, 251-500 at $6/month, over 500 at $4/month; bulk discounts available. Available on Business and Enterprise plans.
4. Freemium Tier: Free plan includes unlimited web/mobile apps, 500 workflow runs/month, 5GB database, 5GB file storage, up to 5 users, 20 hours/month of Agents, and 250 AI credits/month; serves as the top-of-funnel for paid conversion.
5. AI Credits Consumption: Monthly pooled AI credits at the account level covering all app building and AI Actions; each AI prompt uses ~12 credits; additional credit packs available for purchase; Enterprise customers may use their own API key.
6. Agents Hourly Pricing: Retool Agents billed hourly by model capability rather than tokens; first 20 hours/month free across all plans, with additional capacity scaling based on model chosen; Enterprise can use own model provider keys.
7. Workflow Run Overage Fees: Additional workflow runs above 5,000/month on Team and Business tiers billed at $75 per 5,000 runs per month.
8. Professional Services: Access to professional services included with Team, Business, and Enterprise plans to hire Retool experts for app building, integrations, and development work; Enterprise includes access to a technical advisor for onboarding and training.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion6 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Retool is a software development platform that enables businesses to build, launch, and govern internal tools, dashboards, and AI-powered applications through a combination of a drag-and-drop app builder, AI-driven app generation (AppGen), workflows, integrations to databases and APIs, and a centralized enterprise governance runtime. It is sold as a subscription-based SaaS product with self-hosted deployment options, serving engineering, data, and operations teams at companies ranging from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises.

Product overview

Retool is a unified enterprise platform (not a single product) for building, launching, governing, and scaling internal software — built around four stages (Build, Launch, Scale, Govern) and a modular set of capabilities. The Build stage is anchored by the new AI-native App Builder (with AppGen as Retool's branded AI app-generation approach) and AI Primitives; the Launch stage includes Retool Mobile and Retool External Apps for deploying apps beyond the internal team; the Scale stage uses Retool Workflows, Retool Database, and reusable modules to manage hundreds of apps; and the Govern stage is delivered via Retool's self-hosting option, RBAC, audit logging, and SAML/SSO. Two cross-cutting capabilities — Retool Agents (autonomous AI workers) and the Retool MCP server (which lets external AI coding agents like Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, ChatGPT, and Kiro build and manage Retool apps) — extend the platform with AI-driven automation and a developer-friendly surface area, while App Import supports importing React apps from Lovable, Replit, and v0 into a Retool-governed runtime.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• AppGen: Retool's AI app generation platform that pairs prompt-based app generation with the data connectivity, security, deployment, and ongoing maintenance infrastructure needed to ship production-ready apps.

Products and services

• Retool App Builder An AI-native drag-and-drop app builder that generates production-ready full-stack React apps (frontend) and TypeScript (backend) from natural-language prompts, with a Code tab for direct editing and a Data tab with a visual data graph. Designed for engineering, data, and operations teams to build internal tools, admin panels, dashboards, and AI-powered business applications.
• Retool Agents AI-powered autonomous workers that use LLMs to complete tasks, make decisions, and automate business workflows with role-based access controls, observability, evaluations, and tuning controls. Billed hourly on top of plan pricing and targeted at use cases such as support ticket triage, data analysis and reporting, sales follow-up, security alert handling, research, and workflow orchestration.
• Retool External Apps Capability to build customer-facing branded portals and external applications with built-in user management, permissions, and external-user tiered pricing (0-50 free; 51-250 at $8/month; 251-500 at $6/month; over 500 at $4/month). Available on Business and Enterprise plans.
• Retool Mobile Build native mobile apps and deploy them on iOS, Android, or as a Progressive Web App, with support for offline mode, push notifications, biometric authentication (Enterprise), white-label app store launches (Enterprise), and Zebra device integrations.
• Retool Database Built-in PostgreSQL-compatible database with up to 5GB of storage, a database editor UI, connection strings for external access, and per-environment schema migrations, included with the Retool platform.
• Retool Self-Hosting Self-hosted deployment option for Retool that runs in the customer's own VPC or fully on-premises via Docker in approximately 15 minutes, with the same governance, security, and feature parity as Retool Cloud.
• Retool MCP Server Model Context Protocol server that lets AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, ChatGPT, Kiro) build and edit Retool apps and manage Retool environments programmatically, including querying resources, inviting users, and auditing access.
• AppGen (Retool AI-Powered App Builder) Retool's branded AI app generation approach that pairs prompt-based generation with the data connectivity, security, deployment, and ongoing maintenance infrastructure required to ship production-ready apps on the customer's data, in the customer's cloud, with enterprise governance by default.
• Retool for Startups (Free Plan) Free plan tier for startups and small teams that includes up to 5 users, 500 workflow runs per month, 5GB database capacity, 5GB file storage, unlimited web and mobile apps, 20 hours per month of Agents, and 250 AI credits per month.

Quantifiable outcome

• Ramp saved $8M and 20,000+ engineering hours
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers33 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration44 records

AI capability10 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and moderate.

• SnowflakeflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2026Retool disclosed a partnership with Snowflake (alongside the AWS SCA) to accelerate enterprise app generation at scale. Snowflake is also a notable Retool customer, and native Snowflake integration is highlighted as a connector within Retool's integration ecosystem.
• Nokod SecuritymoderateTechnology or Integration · 1 March 2026Nokod Security announced an integration with Retool to provide security teams with automated inventory, risk prioritization, data flow visibility, and plain-language remediation guidance for Retool environments where internal applications connect directly to databases, SaaS systems, and APIs. The integration addresses unmanaged security risks in citizen-developed applications.
• Kanopy SecuritymoderateTechnology or Integration · 1 February 2026Retool announced a February 2026 integration with Kanopy Security to extend detection rules and remediation across Retool workspaces, enhancing AI App Governance capabilities for enterprise customers using the AppGen platform.
• Databricks Lakebase Launch Partners (ecosystem)moderateChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 February 2026Retool was named among dozens of launch partners who validated Databricks Lakebase during development — a production-ready operational database that unifies transactional, analytical, and AI workloads on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform. Launch partners include global consulting firms, SIs, and specialist data/AI companies.
• AWS (Amazon Web Services)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 December 2025Retool signed a multi-year Strategic Collaboration Agreement (SCA) with AWS to drive enterprise AppGen innovation at scale. As part of the partnership, Retool achieved the AWS Consumer Goods Competency, and is leveraging AWS infrastructure to accelerate enterprise app generation at scale. The collaboration is referenced alongside a Snowflake partnership for enterprise data connectivity.
• DatabricksflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2025Retool was awarded the 2025 Databricks Emerging Partner of the Year, and Databricks also named Retool as a launch partner for Databricks Lakebase GA. The partnership supports customers building real-time applications and deploying agentic AI workflows using Lakebase.
• Retool-Enabled Service Partners (Artefact, BitHippie, BoldTech, GxP, Lingaro, Nymbl, Sabai System, SingleWave, Sixth Generation, StackDrop, Stradia Partners, TechRebels, Paramint)moderateImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerRetool partnered with leading consultancies, system integrators, and agencies (Artefact, BitHippie, BoldTech, GxP, Lingaro, Nymbl, Sabai System, SingleWave, Sixth Generation, StackDrop, Stradia Partners, TechRebels, Paramint) who had early access to the new app builder and completed hands-on enablement to help customers ship with confidence.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights8 records

Broad incumbents

• Appian: Appian is a public low-code platform focused on process automation, case management, and workflow applications for large enterprises. It serves overlapping enterprise buyers building internal applications but is positioned as a broader process automation suite rather than a developer-led internal-tools platform.
• Microsoft Power Apps: Microsoft Power Apps is the low-code app-building capability within the Microsoft Power Platform, bundled with many Microsoft 365 enterprise agreements. It competes with Retool in enterprise internal-tools deals by leveraging bundled pricing and Microsoft Entra/Azure AD SSO.
• ServiceNow App Engine: ServiceNow App Engine is a low-code platform for building custom workflow and internal applications on the Now Platform. It competes with Retool's enterprise internal-tools deals, especially in IT, HR, and operations workflows, and is bundled into ServiceNow enterprise agreements.
• Salesforce Platform (Lightning / App Cloud): Salesforce's low-code platform (Lightning Platform, App Cloud, Flow) enables building custom internal and customer-facing apps on top of Salesforce CRM data. It overlaps with Retool's Salesforce-connected CRM use cases but is sold primarily as part of broader Salesforce enterprise suites.

Direct peers

• Mendix: Mendix (Siemens) is an enterprise low-code application platform with visual development, AI-assisted app building, and governance for regulated industries. It overlaps Retool's enterprise internal-tools positioning with comparable multi-experience deployment and integration breadth.
• Bubble: Bubble is a no-code visual application builder that lets non-developers build web applications. It competes most directly with Retool's External Apps and AppGen products for users building customer-facing apps and internal tools without traditional engineering support.
• OutSystems: OutSystems is an enterprise low-code platform for building mission-critical applications with AI-assisted development. It targets the same Fortune 500 internal-tools buyer as Retool, with comparable governance, integrations, and security positioning, but at a larger enterprise scale and price point.

Emerging players

• Lovable: Lovable is an AI app builder that generates production-ready React apps from natural-language prompts. It is an emerging competitor to Retool's AppGen for prototype-to-production use cases, but lacks enterprise governance; Retool explicitly supports importing Lovable apps into its governed runtime.
• Cursor: Cursor is an AI-native IDE for software developers. It is a partial competitor to Retool's AppGen in that it generates React/TypeScript application code, but it does not offer a production runtime, governance layer, or external user pricing — which is why Retool's MCP server integrates with it rather than competing head-on.
• Replit: Replit is a cloud-based development environment with AI app generation capabilities. It is an emerging competitor for builder-side workflows and is also an integration partner for Retool's app-import flow, allowing Replit-built apps to inherit Retool's governance and data connections.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/retool

Compliance7 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors11 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Retool