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Mendix 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Mendix
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
8th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
53
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Development Platforms (2nd), Low-Code Development Platforms (6th)
Retool
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
18th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of Mendix is 6.4%, down from 9.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Retool is 0.5%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Featured Reviews

Sameer Verma - PeerSpot reviewer
Low-code, helpful support, and great native mobile capability
There is always a layer of custom code required. There is a misconception of low-code, or Mendix, or the industry in general. They are perceived as more of a dashboarding tool, and as a visualization platform only, rather than building a complete enterprise solution. That's more of an awareness marketing challenge they have, or the industry has. In general, AI needs to be better. The team and the company is running ahead with this a bit more. AI area is something which companies have started to pick up on, low-code wise, and they should invest in it more. I would like to see their data hub module become a little bit more mature. They need to expand their base as the concept is amazing. We just need to see more use cases and learn more capabilities there, and then definitely they need to fill in the AI piece of it.
Saurabh Tiwari - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to use, I don't need to write extensive code and built-in components helps to develop tools
Retool provides multiple tools and functionalities that we can use. However, there are restrictions on the front-end side. From the back-end side, we can use anything, but on the front-end, we have limited tools. This limits our ability to enhance functionality. For example, if I'm creating a tool for you to collect feedback from your clients or users, we have limited resources on the front-end. For the back-end, we have unlimited resources, but for the front-end, we are restricted to creating dashboards and similar tools. If you want to enable other functionalities, we can add them, but this is a limitation on the front-end side.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Mendix code and coding logic are very visual. It looks like a flow chart rather than lines of code. Rapid development is what drew us to Mendix."
"It is a development platform which assists in accelerating your developmental lifecycle. This is one of its most valuable features. This solution also offers a good set of components that are readily available."
"What I like best about Mendix is that it's leading the way for low-code, no-code platforms compared to other solutions in the market."
"You can scale the solution."
"The solution is stable."
"It's amazing that you can build web apps and mobile (hybrid) apps with one code base in a few clicks. It's a full continuous integration environment."
"The integrated security saves a lot of time, especially when it comes to setting up user-roles and security. Also, database updates work automatically. There is no need to write queries to update the database, once you make an update."
"You can scale the solution."
"Retool provides us with the opportunity to save time and be more efficient."
"There are several key aspects to Retool that make it stand out. Firstly, its extensive range of components makes integration straightforward. Secondly, its support for SQL and JavaScript allows for the implementation of complex logic, which is particularly beneficial for developers like yourself with experience in .NET development."
"Retool's most valuable features are its drag-and-drop components and the ability to customize them extensively."
"We can create the dashboards quickly."
"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."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is connectivity with APIs and other databases."
"The stability is okay."
 

Cons

"We'd like to be able to write in C Sharp to develop code for Mendix."
"All software applications have their hiccups, including the Mendix Studio Pro developers program."
"Mendix needs to think about itself offering machine learning and artificial intelligence."
"While the community is great, they need to work on making their direct technical support services better."
"We are all moving away from a monolithic product model to microservices. We are building an F2DUI application to decouple the front and back end. Mendix provides an integrated approach for both."
"You need experienced programmers and developers to understand this solution."
"What is lacking is the support of higher level modeling features, like the modeling you do is relatively low level, yet it is still close to programming. We would like to see a more business-oriented modeling environment, like BPMN."
"The platform still has many areas for improvement. If I compare apples to apples, the PWA features of Mendix could be improved, for example, I wouldn't recommend creating a B2C or B2B marketplace or web portals on Mendix, but there's a tendency for people to still do it through the systems provided by my company, particularly implement B2B or B2C marketplace, versus using eBay or Shopify. On the web portal front, Mendix still needs to improve."
"Retool could enhance support, including efforts to establish support centers in Europe, which was lacking previously. However, the community is still in the growth phase, leading to potential delays in receiving responses to queries."
"There are restrictions on the front-end side."
"The part where we can add some custom logic or custom plugins could be better."
"The solution lacks inbuilt customization to customize bar charts."
"Retool should add more resource integration."
"One area for improvement in Retool is expanding its library support to include a broader range of third-party JavaScript libraries."
"The components are changed frequently, which is very irritating."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Mendix seems a bit expensive. But in terms of wanting to have less developers and higher velocity, the total cost of ownership is fine. It's not cheap, though."
"Mendix licensing cost is based on the number of apps you have on the server. At the basic level, it is free of charge, so that seems reasonable, but once you go beyond that, and when it comes to the number of users on the app, that basic structure doesn't work, and the pricing tends to get a little bit steep."
"The solution is a bit expensive compared to others"
"Mendix is not open source, but its license cost is cheap, particularly when compared to the Appian license. The license model would depend on how many users you have and how many applications you are creating. If you are creating a single app, you just need to have a single app license, so it's free. If you want a multiple app license to cover two thousand or three thousand users, for example, internal users or external users, then you need to pay for the license. There's also a license model for above three thousand or four thousand, or five thousand internal and external users."
"Pricing used to be complex, but Mendix has improved that quite a bit."
"From a commercial point of view, we would like them to change that they currently sell it as a platform, but as a customer you have to decide upfront the usage of the platform. We would like to have Mendix sell it as a pay as you go model: You pay for what you use, and you don't pay for what you don't use."
"Its cost is higher than competitors. The cost mostly includes licensing. It is charged per user. The cost model could be better. When you have a big company, what does per user mean? If I have a company where I have 40,000 people who will go to access it but only 200 do, how do you license it and who do you pay for? If they hit it once, do you pay for it? The licensing is complex for a big company. It is easy for us to buy all we can eat, get an enterprise license agreement, and call it good."
"Licensing costs are similar to those for all other IT technology, but they vary by region."
"I don't know Retool's current pricing, but it cost around $12 per month earlier."
"The pricing is very expensive. It costs for each user, for automated users, open-end users, et cetera."
"For me, I'm in India right now, and we have Retool's subscription for one team member for $10 per month."
"The tool is a little bit expensive."
"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
Computer Software Company
16%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Financial Services Firm
9%
University
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Mendix?
We also use Mendix Enterprise Integration for complex business logic. It's a low-code platform, so we run Mendix in the Mendix Cloud.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Mendix?
I have some idea about the licensing part, and it depends on the person and the number of applications.
What needs improvement with Mendix?
Currently, I do not see any improvements needed in Mendix. However, I have not used Mendix for the last few months, so I lack insight into any new features that might have been added.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Retool?
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.
What needs improvement with Retool?
One area for improvement in Retool is expanding its library support to include a broader range of third-party JavaScript libraries. This would enhance the tool's versatility and allow more complex ...
What is your primary use case for Retool?
I employ Retool primarily to build admin panels that effectively manage office and backend project staff. These panels facilitate the management of various organizational functions and streamline u...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Genzyme, TNT, Yahoo, Capgemini, Roche, D&B, Aegon, kpn, AZL, Sky, Arch, Penn State Univeristy, BancABC
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Find out what your peers are saying about Mendix vs. Retool and other solutions. Updated: April 2025.
850,043 professionals have used our research since 2012.