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Dify vs Retool comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Dify
Ranking in AI Software Development
199th
Average Rating
7.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.0
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Low-Code Development Platforms (29th)
Retool
Ranking in AI Software Development
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
Rapid Application Development Software (15th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the AI Software Development category, the mindshare of Dify is 0.3%. The mindshare of Retool is 0.6%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
AI Software Development Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Retool0.6%
Dify0.3%
Other99.1%
AI Software Development
 

Featured Reviews

Rusira Sathnindu - PeerSpot reviewer
Automation Engineer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Visual workflows have accelerated our agent POC while better UI and observability still need work
My personal experience with Dify's UI is that it is not my favorite, as it can be improved a little bit, and sometimes the UI feels a little bit buggy. I am not sure if that is because it was a self-hosted version. The documentation can also be improved a little bit more. I think not a lot of people are using Dify currently, so that is why the documentation is not very great. If the documentation was improved, that would also be a really good thing. Currently, Dify could improve by offering better observability like other platforms. We currently use OpenAI Agents SDK, which requires you to build everything by code, but the observability is really good. It has OpenAI Traces, and you can basically trace everything for a conversation. If Dify had that kind of tracing functionality, that would be great.
YL
IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer
Has provided a quick way to build mobile apps and could improve usability for non-technical users
The best features Retool offers include the ability to quickly create a mobile app and use this mobile app in a native mobile app for Android. I found the process of creating and deploying those mobile apps for Android with Retool to be smooth as the documentation is very good, and I found answers and examples to create a mobile app. I can access a debug mode in the mobile app which was really convenient to make tests and find what can be improved, where I have a problem, and how to correct it. Retool positively impacted my organization as the proof of concept we built gave us a way to convince power users and key users before developing the real software. It was a way to maintain the launch date of the project, which helped speed up the project timeline and save resources.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"Using Dify has positively impacted our organization because we were able to cut down on some development time and do a lot of testing in a very small time period."
"Dify has positively impacted the organization because accuracy has been improved, and the time and complexity in flows that were manual are now automated, from HR automation to ERP level transactions, including subscription management in the SaaS application, monitoring, and analytics."
"Using Dify has positively impacted our organization because we were able to cut down on some development time and do a lot of testing in a very small time period."
"Retool positively impacts our organization by saving costs compared to using other data repositories, and teams prefer Retool for daily tasks that perform customizations to showcase web pages or link their data backend, making it more efficient and cost-effective than other software available in the market."
"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."
"Retool positively impacted my organization as the proof of concept we built gave us a way to convince power users and key users before developing the real software."
"We can create the dashboards quickly."
"Retool provides built-in features with all processing happening within the platform, which is a significant advantage."
"Retool's most valuable features are its drag-and-drop components and the ability to customize them extensively."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is connectivity with APIs and other databases."
"The most valuable feature of Retool is the workflow because I can integrate multiple features, such as RESTful API, JavaScript API, or different databases on the same dashboard."
 

Cons

"One of the main concerns that we had is that it might not be very scalable because we are hosting it in a self-hosted environment, and we have to configure the architecture and everything."
"One of the main concerns that we had is that it might not be very scalable because we are hosting it in a self-hosted environment, and we have to configure the architecture and everything."
"The only improvement would be if Dify provided an SMTP server that could be connected to automate Dify workflow management, as that would be a great option."
"AI tools, features, and machine learning capabilities should be added as they would be helpful in the future."
"In the mobile app development, you have to use JavaScript to interact with components, and for non-technical users, it's already too technical, so Retool has to add some integrated solutions."
"In the mobile app development, you have to use JavaScript to interact with components, and for non-technical users, it's already too technical, so Retool has to add some integrated solutions."
"The UI of Retool could be improved, as I am not fond of the current design, and there should be a platform for learning how to use Retool efficiently, especially since our software team customizes it for their needs, leaving the operational team with limited knowledge on how to customize it."
"One area for improvement in Retool is expanding its library support to include a broader range of third-party JavaScript libraries."
"Retool is more suited for startups, but it can get messy at scale."
"Retool should add more resource integration."
"There are restrictions on the front-end side."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The pricing is very expensive. It costs for each user, for automated users, open-end users, et cetera."
"The tool is a little bit expensive."
"I don't know Retool's current pricing, but it cost around $12 per month earlier."
"For me, I'm in India right now, and we have Retool's subscription for one team member for $10 per month."
"For new users, evaluate the scale of their administrative needs as Retool provides excellent free services for smaller setups, but larger deployments might require transitioning to a paid plan."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
23%
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Financial Services Firm
6%
Construction Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

Ask a question
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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Retool?
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing experience were good as the free plan was enough for us.
What needs improvement with Retool?
Retool, being a low-code/no-code platform, could improve by allowing users, particularly non-technical users, to use it more easily. In the mobile app development, you have to use JavaScript to int...
What is your primary use case for Retool?
My main use case for Retool involves an inventory app project. I built a mobile app to make an inventory of chemistry products. Retool helped me with that project as it was a good way to show a qui...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Camunda, Pega, Docker and others in AI Software Development. Updated: February 2026.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.