Microsoft Power Apps vs Retool comparison

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Microsoft Power Apps

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Apr 6, 2025

Microsoft Power Apps and Retool are application development tools, with Microsoft Power Apps providing better value due to competitive pricing and support, while Retool offers advanced features valued by professionals.

Features: Microsoft Power Apps offers seamless integration with Microsoft 365, excellent customization options, and a wide range of template galleries. It provides robust automation capabilities and a user-friendly interface. Retool stands out with its flexible integration options, ease of use due to drag-and-drop components, and strong API connectivity. It also supports integration with databases like SQL, making it highly adaptable.

Room for Improvement: Microsoft Power Apps could benefit from expanding its integration capabilities beyond the Microsoft ecosystem and improving performance when handling complex workflows. Its no-code features could be enhanced for more advanced customization. Retool could improve its user interface design and offer better offline capabilities. Its pricing model can be more transparent, and it could enhance the documentation for complex integrations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Microsoft Power Apps allows easy deployment within the Microsoft environment, supported by robust customer service channels. Its integration into existing IT infrastructure is seamless. Retool offers flexible deployment options, including on-premise and cloud, with a support team known for technical expertise, ensuring smooth integration into diverse infrastructures.

Pricing and ROI: Microsoft Power Apps offers competitive pricing, especially for those utilizing Microsoft 365, providing significant ROI due to low initial costs and included features in subscriptions. Retool may have a higher upfront cost but justifies this with its powerful customizable tools, resulting in enduring value for organizations needing sophisticated applications.

To learn more, read our detailed Microsoft Power Apps vs. Retool Report (Updated: June 2025).

Microsoft Power Apps vs. Retool

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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

Microsoft Power Apps

Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software

1st

Average Rating

7.8

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Low-Code Development Platforms (1st)

Retool

Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software

18th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of Microsoft Power Apps is 12.6%, down from 21.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Retool is 0.7%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Rapid Application Development Software

Featured Reviews

Guhan Eshwar

Solutions Architect at a outsourcing company with 10,001+ employees

Building tools with user-friendly interfaces abut needs integration improvements

An integration of Copilot options within Microsoft Power Apps would be useful. In UiPath apps, there is an autopilot function that uses a generative AI model, which creates layouts and connects data services automatically with a prompt. Such integration would be beneficial to build basic frameworks that can be enhanced. This would assist business process users who lack coding knowledge.

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Tabraiz Ahmed

Technical Lead at a manufacturing company with 10,001+ employees

Its focus lies in building dashboards for cloud operations and data management, as well as generating analytical reports

In some of my past projects, I collaborated with others, and we used GitHub for version control. It served as a repository where we pushed our code updates, facilitating seamless collaboration and version tracking among team members. One limitation of Retool currently is the lack of support for parallel editing, meaning that multiple users cannot collaborate on the same application simultaneously. This restriction aligns with the application's context, as it's typically more practical for only one person to edit an application at a time. They recently integrated AI models, such as Ahmed AI, and consistently incorporate new OpenAPI module releases into the cloud environment. This integration allows users to leverage the latest advancements, including AI assistance for error detection and resolution within queries, particularly in JavaScript and SQL, enhancing the development experience in Retool. If you are going to invest in Retool and you have a clear vision. Definitely, it is worth it. Some users say it is a bit pricey. There are a couple of other software like Ubiquiti, but even Microsoft also providing a low code platform, but it's more enterprise-level based applications, not for everyone. Retool is still leading and have a good price plan, which users are comfortable with. It will not be too difficult if you have some technical background. If you know how to write JavaScript queries, how SQL queries work, and understand how front-end development operates in real-time, then maybe one or two years of development experience will be sufficient for a user to develop a basic application in Retool. However, it does require some level of development experience. For example, a project manager without any development experience would not be able to work within Retool and develop a dashboard or define a workflow unless they first educate themselves and gain some proficiency with the tool. A normal business user cannot use it; you must have some development experience. When you mention a low-code platform, it implies that a user with a certain level of development knowledge can develop applications. That's where we may fall short. However, looking at the advantages, you can customize and control your application at a very detailed level within Retool. So, it excels in both positive and negative aspects. Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

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Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Time to market is most valuable because you can make apps pretty fast. It also has pretty good integration."

"It is easy to use."

"The solution is very good. It's very full. You can do almost anything."

"It uses a lot of AI, which is helpful, especially during the setup process."

"The scalability is good."

"It’s a stable product."

"The cloud aspect has been great. We don't have to do a lot of research in order to begin integrations. It's so easy to integrate with other solutions."

"The initial setup is not complicated."

More Microsoft Power Apps pros

"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."

"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 stability is okay."

"The most valuable feature of the solution is connectivity with APIs and other databases."

"We can create the dashboards quickly."

"Retool's most valuable features are its drag-and-drop components and the ability to customize them extensively."

Cons

"It has to improve the threshold limit where it can handle data beyond 5000 items."

"You need to be familiar with Microsoft Power Apps' infrastructure. If you understand Power Apps, it becomes easy to use; otherwise, it may seem challenging."

"It would be beneficial to have a feature that allows users to split the opportunity into separate logs for each product."

"Customization is somewhat complicated."

"We're not in production yet, so we're still working through some issues."

"It's easy to use."

"We're running a campaign to encourage users to utilize the Power Apps."

"Microsoft should combine both the web and the mobile environment with all of the layers of development into one package."

More Microsoft Power Apps cons

"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."

"The part where we can add some custom logic or custom plugins could be better."

"The solution lacks inbuilt customization to customize bar charts."

"The components are changed frequently, which is very irritating."

"There are restrictions on the front-end side."

"One area for improvement in Retool is expanding its library support to include a broader range of third-party JavaScript libraries."

"Retool should add more resource integration."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Whatever the cost of licensing is, it is in the millions."

"Usually, the free licenses of Power Apps come to normal corporate users for free...For normal users within a corporate firm with licenses, it's totally favorable."

"The tool is neither cheap nor expensive. The tool's cost is manageable."

"One of the main things about this solution is the price. The cost for Salesforce is $35, $25, or $10 per user per month. PowerApps costs much less than that. It is at a good price point. It may change in the future, but at this point, its price is pretty fine."

"It might be too complicated to continuously monitor the business consumption and what to pay."

"There are two licensing costs, one is pay-as-you-go, or you can develop it for one year."

"Our enterprise contract with Microsoft Power Apps includes the application feature platform in our subscription package, so we are not incurring any extra expenses. All of our other subscriptions are also part of our license agreement."

"The pricing is complicated to understand."

More Microsoft Power Apps pricing and cost advice

"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."

"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."

"The tool is a little bit expensive."

"The pricing is very expensive. It costs for each user, for automated users, open-end users, et cetera."

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Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Rapid Application Development Software solutions are best for your needs.

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859,579 professionals have used our research since 2012.

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

11%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Manufacturing Company

20%

Comms Service Provider

14%

University

Outsourcing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

How would you choose between Microsoft PowerApps and Salesforce Platform?

I think it depends on your use case. If your organization uses Microsoft Enterprise products, PowerApps will work better in your environment. Similarly, if you have a Salesforce integration in pla...

Would you choose ServiceNow over Microsoft PowerApps?

Hi Netanya, I will choose ServiceNow because ServiceNow is a very good tool compared to Microsoft PowerApp. Because ServiceNow has a very strong module (Performance Analysis) reporting which will ...

Would you choose Microsoft Azure App Service or PowerApps?

Microsoft Azure App Service is helpful if you need to set up temporary servers for customers to run their programs in locations that other cloud providers do not cater to. When servers are closer t...

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...

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Product Reports

Microsoft Power Apps

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Also Known As

PowerApps, MS PowerApps

No data available

Overview

Microsoft Power Apps is a rapid application development software and low-code development platform. The solution consists of a suite of apps, services, connectors, and a data platform. It provides an environment for building custom apps which is suitable for different businesses.

Microsoft Power Apps allows users to not only build applications, but also connect them to Microsoft's other sources, including the underlying data platform Microsoft Dataverse, as well as online and on-premise sources such as SharePoint, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365. The applications built using Microsoft Power Apps have a responsive design that makes them suitable for work in browsers and on mobile applications on different devices.

The no-code side of the product makes it suitable for complete beginners to app building, allowing them to easily create fully functional applications with many features. The solution also has a specialized platform for developers where specialists can access data and metadata, create custom connectors, integrate with external data, and apply business logic. The solution allows users to create three types of apps: canvas, model-driven, and portal. They are made using:

Power Apps Studio: Canvas apps are designed through Power Apps Studio. This app designer is suitable for complete beginners, as the app creation process resembles the building of presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint.
App Designer: Model-driven apps are created through App Designer. The creation process allows users to define the sitemap and add components to build the application.
Power Apps Portals Studio: This is a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) design tool. It is suitable for portal applications, as it allows users to add and configure web pages, forms, components, and lists.

Microsoft Power Apps Features

The three different design tools of the solution, Power Apps Studio, App Designer, and Power Apps Portals Studio, come with various features which allow users to utilize the tools. Some of these features include:

Common Data Service (CDS): The data storage feature of the solution allows users to store and manage the data used for business applications securely. The data within the feature is stored among a set of entities, including a base set of standard entities as well as user-made custom ones, using Power Query. The data within CDS can be used to build apps.
Cloud connectivity: Microsoft Power Apps has the ability to connect with various types of cloud services. It can connect with MS CDS, as well as SQL, DropBox, and Google Drive.
Sharing feature: The tool has a feature for sharing built applications. Users can share the app they have created with users within the same organization as them.
Role-based feature: The product allows organizations to assign their employees roles within the platform. This is done to create customization based on the assigned roles, potentially eliminating issues that a completely free access can create.
AI automation: The tool has a feature that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI). It provides users with an AI builder and pre-built AI components to facilitate the application building process.
APIs feature: Microsoft Power Apps facilitates the app-building process through application program interfaces (APIs).
Collaboration support: The tool supports collaboration within the organization in the application building process. Through this feature, multiple employees can contribute to the creation of an app.

Microsoft Power Apps Benefits

The product brings various benefits to organizations and individuals who utilize it. Some of the biggest advantages of Microsoft Power Apps include:

The solution saves time for organizations by eliminating manual coding and providing ready-to-use solutions.
Applications built on the product can be made compatible with various platforms, including the web, Windows, Android, and iOS.
The premium connectors and wide integration of the platform allow developers to use data from Microsoft and from third-party services to build their applications.
The no-code capability enhances mobility and innovations within companies.
The AI feature of the product allows companies to increase their productivity through prebuilt AI scenarios.
The tool offers various ways to follow the data from the created applications, allowing companies to benefit from the reports of the performance of their apps.
Professional developers receive a platform to follow crucial metrics and access the application development in detail.
Power Apps can be connected across the entire Microsoft Power Platform, allowing organizations to utilize all features that the provider offers.

Reviews from Real Users

An IT Specialist (INFOSEC) at a government appreciates this tool because it is low-code, low learning curve, and reduces manpower.

Rafael T., a data engineer at NTT Security, likes Microsoft Power Apps, because it is great for making apps quickly, has helpful support, and integrates with Power BI.

Microsoft

Retool enables rapid construction of internal tools with minimal coding, streamlining workflows across HR, customer support, and compliance. Praised for its drag-and-drop interface, extensive component library, and SQL support, it boosts organizational efficiency by automating tasks and enhancing data management.

Sample Customers

TransAlta, Rackspace, Telstra

Information Not Available

Microsoft Power Apps vs. Retool