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GitLab vs Retool comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.3
GitLab boosts ROI by enhancing DevOps performance, reducing deployment time, and facilitating frequent, efficient, and agile releases.
Sentiment score
6.0
Reducing developer needs and using affordable tools led to significant cost savings and justified user fees.
Migrating to GitLab is bringing time-saving benefits, and everything is easier to automate.
IT Manager at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
We have saved time significantly, reducing deployment time from four hours to five minutes per deployment.
IT Software Architect at ANAC - Autorità Nazionale Anticorruzione
In terms of operational efficiency, a ten to twenty percent increase in speed could quite easily be seen from using the Issues and Epics tracking feature.
Cloud Ops Lead at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
We had fewer front-end resources, and while developing with Retool, we did not need many front-end team members, which saved on salaries.
software engineer at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I think we can see time saved to start the proof of concept and maybe money saved because I was able to develop the mobile app alone without needing additional resources.
IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.6
GitLab support is praised for responsiveness, with community forums aiding open-source users; license impacts direct support access.
Sentiment score
5.0
Retool's support is responsive and helpful, with users suggesting chat for improvement amid varied experiences with assistance resources.
We have rarely needed to escalate issues to technical support since GitLab usually runs seamlessly.
AWS DevOps/ Site Reliability Engineer at Tata Consultancy
I have interacted with architects for some advice during the implementation, and they were prompt in their response.
Platform Engineer & Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
I have had meetings where they taught me, explained things, and provided guidance for starting from scratch.
IT Manager at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The customer support is amazing; overall, AWS customer support is very professional and fast.
software engineer at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Technical support team is available, but I haven't needed to contact them.
Full Stack PHP/Python AWS Developer at Binary Port
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.3
GitLab is praised for scalability and flexibility in deployment, with some challenges in on-premises setups, requiring specific skills.
Sentiment score
6.6
Retool is scalable and efficient, supporting large user bases and datasets with customizable security and effective performance management.
It has all the features required for our coding and deployment needs, which makes it scalable to our changing requirements.
Senior Application Developer at IBM
We're transitioning to OpenShift for future scalability with increased user numbers.
Platform Engineer & Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
For scaling, other deployment options from GitLab's side need to be adopted.
Manager, Engineering at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
It's scalable and doesn't experience any slowdown when handling increasing data volumes.
Full Stack PHP/Python AWS Developer at Binary Port
Retool is more suited for startups, but it can get messy at scale.
software engineer at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.2
GitLab is praised for high stability, minimal issues, and effective support, maintaining reliability across diverse setups.
Sentiment score
8.3
Retool is generally stable and reliable, with occasional issues, garnering mostly positive ratings from users.
I have not encountered any performance or stability issues with GitLab so far.
AWS DevOps/ Site Reliability Engineer at Tata Consultancy
The updates are frequent and demanding, happening at least once a week due to security reasons.
Chief Technology Officer at Acclym
We raised a request with GitLab support, but they were unable to help because they could not find the root cause of what went wrong.
Assistant Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Retool is stable in my experience.
IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer
 

Room For Improvement

GitLab should enhance cloud integration, UI, documentation, and tool integration while improving performance, simplicity, pricing, and security options.
Retool struggles with customization, integration, support, and documentation, requiring better tools, language support, and user resources.
It would be beneficial to have a user-friendly interface for setting up these configurations, instead of just writing YAML files.
IT Manager at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
It is essential to conduct proper testing, such as unit tests and code coverage, within the SDLC pipelines.
Manager, Engineering at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
GitLab can improve its user interface to make conflict resolution more user-friendly.
Senior Application Developer at IBM
Retool needs more customization options, as it should not be limited to a few customization features; it should be broader, with more features available for users to utilize.
software engineer at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
AI tools, features, and machine learning capabilities should be added as they would be helpful in the future.
Full Stack PHP/Python AWS Developer at Binary Port
There should be better documentation or support for non-technical users, providing a platform to learn and implement Retool effectively.
Construction Data Analyst at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
 

Setup Cost

GitLab provides flexible pricing with valued features but may seem costly for larger teams, offering free and premium options.
Retool offers competitive pricing, appealing to small teams with free plans and larger deployments facing affordable user costs.
Even when working in other small organizations, we opted for GitLab as it was cost-efficient.
Senior Application Developer at IBM
The pricing of GitLab is reasonable, aligning with what I consider to be average compared to competitors.
IT Manager at a tech company with 5,001-10,000 employees
The price is high, and it limits user accessibility.
IT Software Architect at ANAC - Autorità Nazionale Anticorruzione
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing experience were good as the free plan was enough for us.
IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer
 

Valuable Features

GitLab excels in CI/CD, integration, security, and collaboration with features like unique merge requests and role-based access control.
Retool simplifies UI dashboard creation with easy API integration, supports complex logic, and enhances efficiency for teams and startups.
As we implement automated testing and DevSecOps, it speeds up the process by forty to sixty percent.
Platform Engineer & Manager at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
The Ultimate version offers enhanced features for security scanning through DAST and SAST analysis, which have greatly benefitted our project workflow.
IT Software Architect at ANAC - Autorità Nazionale Anticorruzione
By integrating GitLab as a DevOps platform, we have enhanced agility, improved our time to market, and different teams can work collaboratively on various projects.
Manager, Engineering at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
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.
Construction Data Analyst at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Retool provides built-in features with all processing happening within the platform, which is a significant advantage.
Full Stack PHP/Python AWS Developer at Binary Port
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.
IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer
 

Categories and Ranking

GitLab
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
91
Ranking in other categories
Application Security Tools (9th), Build Automation (1st), Release Automation (2nd), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (7th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (4th), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (2nd), Fuzz Testing Tools (2nd), DevSecOps (1st)
Retool
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
AI Software Development (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of GitLab is 2.1%, down from 2.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Retool is 1.3%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
GitLab2.1%
Retool1.3%
Other96.6%
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Featured Reviews

BasilJiji - PeerSpot reviewer
System Engineer at a retailer with 10,001+ employees
Role-based workflows have transformed daily deployments and improve team collaboration
GitLab has role-based access control, so when a team member needs to make a code change, they cannot directly apply it to the environment but must put in a merge request. Once a senior reviews the code and approves it, then it is implemented across the environment, making it safer and allowing everyone to experience the process. The best features GitLab offers are version control and automation, which are the major things that stand out to me. When it comes to access, the login is very smooth, with just one login integrated with our Okta, allowing everyone to log in easily. Deployments become much easier, and that is how GitLab helps. The automation features make my work easier because we use a tool called AWX, which is connected to GitLab. Whenever we run a job on AWX, it directly checks the code and uses it. Since the code is not preserved locally but kept in the cloud, it is safe and nobody can tamper with it. When it comes to safety, that is a major thing. Automation features allow the code to be accessed from any tools we use, so the jobs we run are helping tremendously and doing their work perfectly. For pipeline tasks, we have created a significant amount of pipelines, which are all hosted in GitLab. Running the pipelines has become much easier, and they are doing a perfect job, helping tremendously in our day-to-day activities. GitLab has positively impacted my organization because previously we stored code locally on servers, leading to many risks. Since GitLab came into our environment, our integration and deployments became much easier, helping our work become much smoother. Improvements from GitLab have led to better team collaboration because when several people are working, they can all edit the code and submit it as a merge request, and once approved, it reflects directly to the main branch. Many can work at the same time. When it comes to deployments, deploying has become much faster since we started using GitLab, and even if errors occur, we can spot them easily and troubleshoot, which has helped tremendously.
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
Government
10%
Construction Company
19%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Outsourcing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business37
Midsize Enterprise11
Large Enterprise46
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about GitLab?
I find the features and version control history to be most valuable for our development workflow. These aspects provide us with a clear view of changes and help us manage requests efficiently.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitLab?
The setup cost was moderate and not very high. For GitLab SaaS, the initial setup cost was minimal, while self-managed GitLab involved infrastructure, VM storage backups, runner configuration, and ...
What needs improvement with GitLab?
A pain point I have encountered with GitLab is that large GitLab-ci.yml files become hard to read and maintain. YAML syntax is strict, and errors are easy to make, while debugging pipeline logic ca...
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

 

Also Known As

Fuzzit
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

1. NASA  2. IBM  3. Sony  4. Alibaba  5. CERN  6. Siemens  7. Volkswagen  8. ING  9. Ticketmaster  10. SpaceX  11. Adobe  12. Intuit  13. Autodesk  14. Rakuten  15. Unity Technologies  16. Pandora  17. Electronic Arts  18. Nordstrom  19. Verizon  20. Comcast  21. Philips  22. Deutsche Telekom  23. Orange  24. Fujitsu  25. Ericsson  26. Nokia  27. General Electric  28. Cisco  29. Accenture  30. Deloitte  31. PwC  32. KPMG
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Find out what your peers are saying about GitLab vs. Retool and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
885,311 professionals have used our research since 2012.