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Make vs Retool comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 15, 2026

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
6.0
Automation enhances efficiency, cuts labor costs by 50%, boosts ROI, and saves time on reporting, content, and CRM tasks.
Sentiment score
6.5
Retool saves time and money, reducing developer dependency, while offering efficient, cost-effective solutions with a minimal monthly expense.
I have indeed seen a return on investment as it has saved us hundreds of hours in repetitive tasks, streamlining our follow-up to the leads that we are generating.
Network Engineer at AT&T
I implemented a booking system for my client that previously required data to be entered directly into Google Sheets and reminders to be sent manually; using Make, they have saved about 50% of their time, which equals one labor resource, translating to a significant amount of money saved.
Founder at WebEase
With that extra time each month, I could focus more on sales and upscaling my business, so it is really worth it.
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
We have seen a return on investment because we are building these internal dashboards 30 to 50% faster, so we are saving approximately 30 to 50% of an employee's time.
Product Manager at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.5
Make's responsive customer support and abundant self-help resources efficiently resolve user issues, fostering an active, supportive community.
Sentiment score
5.5
Retool's customer service is mixed, with varying satisfaction levels, reliance on external resources, and praise for prompt assistance.
We have escalated a few issues that we faced during some integrations, and we received reasonable responses from Make support.
Chief Executive Officer at Ashtex Solutions
They were doing the best job for my use cases and my problems.
Bubble.Io | Xano | No Code | Mba | Make | Zapier | Full Stack at Indian Railways
When I had a problem during the pricing payment, the customer support handled it very well.
Freelancer at a consultancy with 11-50 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
It is very easy to learn and integrate within our database and infrastructure because we are already on Amazon Web Services, and our entire tech stack is on Amazon Web Services.
Product Manager at a tech vendor with 11-50 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
5.5
Make is scalable and effective for complex workflows, but pricing and workflow setup can challenge some users.
Sentiment score
6.7
Retool efficiently scales, supporting many users with large datasets, offering customization and security, although complexity may rise with features.
When you have an error, it is very hard to do error handling and debugging.
Automation Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
It can handle increasing workloads or more complex automations easily, but I need to set up each and every component carefully.
Student at Raisoni Group
Make's scalability is very good, and if the pricing were lower, I could scale a lot more.
Founder at WebEase
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
7.3
Make is mostly stable and reliable for users, with occasional minor bugs and issues that don't hinder overall performance.
Sentiment score
8.4
Retool is highly rated for dependability, with users experiencing minimal issues, praising its stability and reliable performance.
Retool is stable in my experience.
IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer
 

Room For Improvement

Users seek enhanced developer-friendliness, integrations, documentation, pricing, ease of use, security, stability, support tools, and customization.
Retool's front-end and usability limitations frustrate users, highlighting needs for enhanced customization, integration, and non-technical user support.
There should be clarity about whether the data is secure while passing through these automations or integrations created within Make.
Chief Executive Officer at Ashtex Solutions
I would love to have more detailed logs, step-by-step error tracing, and better visualization of failed executions, as I think it would improve the user experience significantly.
software engineer at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The lagging problem needs to be solved.
Gtm Operator, Lead Generator at 404Minds Technologies
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

Make's pricing is affordable and flexible, with options like Docker solutions, making it cost-effective compared to competitors.
Retool's pricing is affordable for small setups but can be expensive for larger deployments compared to industry leaders.
Licensing was affordable.
Network Engineer at AT&T
I found a solution that allows me to use Make almost for free, just using the Docker on-premises.
Automation Engineer at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
It's cost-effective and it's pocket-friendly.
Bubble.Io | Xano | No Code | Mba | Make | Zapier | Full Stack at Indian Railways
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing experience were good as the free plan was enough for us.
IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Retool is that it is straightforward but somewhat pricey compared to other industry leaders such as Sentry and others.
Product Manager at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
 

Valuable Features

Make's intuitive interface and integrations boost efficiency and productivity, saving time and reducing manual tasks with seamless automation.
Retool streamlines development with a user-friendly interface, enabling rapid MVP creation and enhancing productivity with extensive customization features.
Make has positively impacted my organization by enabling us to solve use cases for hundreds of clients across hundreds of different platforms, providing the customization capabilities to automate accounting and invoicing processes that save dozens of man-hours a month, and allowing us to build custom churn, retention, and engagement costs that have driven a 30% reduction in churn.
Network Engineer at AT&T
Instead of spending several days implementing and testing API integrations inside our FastAPI back end, I was able to build the workflows in a few hours using Make.
software engineer at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
The task that I would complete in a span of one day is completed in a matter of minutes by using Make.
Executive at Core Jobs
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
Compared to other solutions, the time is 30 to 50% shorter when we are building an internal tool using Retool.
Product Manager at a tech vendor with 11-50 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
 

Categories and Ranking

Make
Ranking in AI Software Development
4th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
5.5
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Process Automation (6th)
Retool
Ranking in AI Software Development
21st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
Rapid Application Development Software (19th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2026, in the AI Software Development category, the mindshare of Make is 0.5%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Retool is 0.5%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
AI Software Development Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Make0.5%
Retool0.5%
Other99.0%
AI Software Development
 

Featured Reviews

Dinesh Lavu - PeerSpot reviewer
Bubble.Io | Xano | No Code | Mba | Make | Zapier | Full Stack at Indian Railways
Automation workflows have saved time and have reduced manual work for my client projects
Most of what I learned about Make is mainly from the templates only. Anything that I tried to do, I try to see who has done it already and try to understand and rebuild it. When I'm trying to build some workflows, there's a chatbot component. When I ask for something, it helps me in that. Or if I get a bug that I'm finding difficult to debug or understand the use case or the log, it clearly explains it to me and sometimes it advises me to do certain things, so that it's easy for me to fix it. One area for improvement is an auto-building feature. Another is how n8n has a chatbot completion where you can bring some LLMs into the workflow and integrating Ollama and all of that is something I felt is really needed for Make also.
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
Outsourcing Company
15%
Educational Organization
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Construction Company
9%
Construction Company
21%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
11%
Comms Service Provider
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business14
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Make?
Regarding my experience with pricing, setup costs, and licensing for Make, I would add that they need to provide a dark mode because the UI is in light mode. I remember that when I was working late...
What needs improvement with Make?
I think there are improvements needed for Make. They could add a guide roadmap for beginners to make it more accessible. While Make is easy to use, there is always room for improvement. There are m...
What is your primary use case for Make?
My main use case for Make involves automating social media content creation and personalized content creation for my social profile like Instagram.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Retool?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Retool is that it is straightforward but somewhat pricey compared to other industry leaders such as Sentry and others. I feel it is an eigh...
What needs improvement with Retool?
I do not have specifics on how Retool can be improved because we are using it for internal tool building only. Regarding needed improvements, perhaps Retool can focus on not building customer-facin...
What is your primary use case for Retool?
We started using Retool last September, so it has been more than nine months now. Our main use case for Retool is an internal operations dashboard built in Retool for our AI agents. Whenever we shi...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Integromat
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Buan Consulting, Armadia
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Make vs. Retool and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,894 professionals have used our research since 2012.