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Oracle Application Express (APEX) 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

Oracle Application Express ...
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
3rd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
60
Ranking in other categories
Development Platforms (2nd), Low-Code Development Platforms (2nd)
Retool
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
16th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
8
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of Oracle Application Express (APEX) is 7.5%, down from 8.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Retool is 0.9%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Oracle Application Express (APEX)7.5%
Retool0.9%
Other91.6%
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Featured Reviews

Rodrigo-Mesquita - PeerSpot reviewer
Rapid application development empowers big projects in months
The ability to quickly develop applications without needing to code a lot is very valuable. It is very quick to create a page, and one can use AI to speed up software development. It is easy to learn. In my company, we could develop a very big application in a couple of months.
Anees Shoukat - PeerSpot reviewer
Built-in features streamline data processing and integration
Retool provides built-in features with all processing happening within the platform, which is a significant advantage. The platform is easy to use without requiring the installation of different libraries. Various features are available through drag and drop and UI-based interactions. The tool allows data retrieval through queries and displays information directly. It offers data tools that grab information based on specified queries and draws everything on screen. If a table is needed, it efficiently lists down the table data. Data manipulation happens through queries. We simply specify the table and required query, and the results are displayed immediately. Permissions are required for access. When we grant access from AWS, Retool can access the data. Without proper permissions, access is restricted. We can provide view-only access in Retool while maintaining view, edit, and delete capabilities in the main system. This allows us to control access for sales personnel and external data viewing. The platform provides an extensive range of graphs and visualization options.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It has a well-designed architecture and is a simple 3rd party application."
"The virtual patching feature is valuable."
"The solution is easy to handle. The tool has helped us develop many applications since it supports SQL and NoSQL languages. We are familiar with this language. Also, the solution’s interface design and database design are very easy. It is not so much complex. I have no experience working with other solutions."
"Oracle is always adding very important updates"
"The most valuable applications within the organization are primarily data forms and extended reports."
"It has many ready modules that can be used and developed."
"It helps us create web pages quickly."
"The ability to quickly develop applications without needing to code a lot is very valuable."
"Retool provides built-in features with all processing happening within the platform, which is a significant advantage."
"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."
"We can create the dashboards quickly."
"Retool provides us with the opportunity to save time and be more efficient."
"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."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is connectivity with APIs and other databases."
"The stability is okay."
"Retool's most valuable features are its drag-and-drop components and the ability to customize them extensively."
 

Cons

"The solution’s pricing is high if you use it on the OCA platform. It’s also a little bit costly. However, if we use it on an on-premises Oracle database, the pricing is cheaper."
"Another issue I used to encounter was with the debugging functions. I believe this is an area where Oracle APEX could improve significantly in terms of displaying error messages or error pages. It is very difficult to detect bugs or which bugs you are having when it comes to errors or which errors you have."
"The solution has some stability problems that need to be resolved."
"You also need an APEX specialist for deployment because not many people use it."
"It would be beneficial to include WebSockets so that you can see real-time updates."
"Visual Builder and APEX should meld in one product."
"There is not a lot of Wiki help or in Google, but there is some."
"The solution does not include a default or custom template like other products."
"AI tools, features, and machine learning capabilities should be added as they would be helpful in the future."
"The part where we can add some custom logic or custom plugins could be better."
"The components are changed frequently, which is very irritating."
"AI tools, features, and machine learning capabilities should be added as they would be helpful in the future."
"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."
"The solution lacks inbuilt customization to customize bar charts."
"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."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"When buying the data license, APEX is included."
"The solution is cheap. It's a free solution. I rate the solution's pricing a six or seven out of ten."
"If you have a license to Oracle database, you can access APEX."
"The solution is free."
"The product is completely free of cost."
"We have an Oracle basic product license, and then we can use Oracle APEX for free. We have many licenses for Oracle for approximately 20 processors."
"Oracle Application Express (APEX) comes with Oracle. The Oracle price itself. I do not know the exact cost. Oracle is flexible on its price. If you overspend on your hardware, then I don't think you will overpay. I heard that Oracle is more expensive than other databases, but when you consider Oracle is the best traditional relational database out there. You get what you pay for."
"The solution is free if you are using on Oracle database."
"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."
"The pricing is very expensive. It costs for each user, for automated users, open-end users, et cetera."
"I don't know Retool's current pricing, but it cost around $12 per month earlier."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Government
12%
Financial Services Firm
9%
Computer Software Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Manufacturing Company
16%
Comms Service Provider
14%
Outsourcing Company
10%
University
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business28
Midsize Enterprise10
Large Enterprise28
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise2
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Oracle Application Express (APEX)?
I consider Oracle Application Express (APEX) to be good value for the money because it has infinite quality for money since it's included in any Oracle database license. It's free once you have the...
What needs improvement with Oracle Application Express (APEX)?
One of the things that could be done to improve Oracle Application Express (APEX) is if Oracle decided to open it up to other databases. It needs to be an enterprise database; therefore, it needs 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?
The platform already provides many features, and additional features aren't necessary for medium-level usage. Only very high-level requirements might necessitate more features. AI tools, features, ...
What is your primary use case for Retool?
In Retool, I have designed graphs and data tools to implement rules-based functionality. Instead of implementing these features in our platform, we created them through Retool because we only provi...
 

Also Known As

Oracle APEX
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Hepart AG, pharmasol, SATLOG, Collège Bois-de-Boulogne
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Oracle Application Express (APEX) vs. Retool and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,566 professionals have used our research since 2012.