QuickBase vs Retool comparison

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QuickBase

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

QuickBase and Retool are products competing in the workflow and application development category. QuickBase excels in customer satisfaction due to robust support and flexible pricing, while Retool's comprehensive features justify its higher price point.

Features: QuickBase provides advanced automation capabilities, seamless integration with various systems, and a highly customizable platform. Retool features an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, rapid prototyping, and extensive API integration. Its ease of integration and versatility are significant assets.

Room for Improvement: QuickBase could enhance its mapping capabilities, offer more default report customization, and improve on record limitations. Retool might benefit from expanding its customer support, optimizing deployment processes for less tech-savvy users, and refining its pricing model for broader accessibility.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: QuickBase offers a straightforward deployment process and strong customer support, facilitating easy transitions and effective issue resolution. Retool provides a flexible deployment model that suits tech-savvy teams, despite customer service being less prominent than QuickBase's offerings.

Pricing and ROI: QuickBase presents a moderate initial setup cost with flexible pricing, appealing to cost-sensitive companies seeking predictable expenses. Retool's higher upfront costs can hinder adoption but promise higher productivity and substantial ROI through advanced feature utilization in dynamic environments.

To learn more, read our detailed QuickBase vs. Retool Report (Updated: April 2025).

QuickBase 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

QuickBase

Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software

16th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Low-Code Development Platforms (12th), Employee Time Tracking Software (2nd)

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 May 2025, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of QuickBase is 1.3%, down from 1.3% 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

Daniel Ream

Director of Estimating at a manufacturing company with 51-200 employees

Reliable, user-driven platform, that is scalable

I would highly recommend working closely with QuickBase and taking advantage of their subcontractors who specialize in building QuickBase apps. QuickBase does a great job of connecting potential users with these subcontractors. However, I would also advise tempering expectations and being aware that building and customizing applications in QuickBase takes time. It is a user-driven platform, so it requires investment and effort to create meaningful solutions. I would rate QuickBase a ten out of ten. I believe that if implemented properly, QuickBase can provide immense value to any organization. It can be used for various purposes such as managing purchase orders, tracking change orders, and monitoring project metrics. By using QuickBase as a central hub, it becomes a reliable and trustworthy source for project-related information. This ability to consolidate and organize data makes it an invaluable tool. Moreover, any solution that helps transform information from individual knowledge into a structured database is undoubtedly a worthwhile investment.

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Saurabh Tiwari

Back End Developer at Medha

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.

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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

"It provides a well-organized method for overseeing everything, especially considering the remote work aspect."

"It is low-code. We are able to go in and create apps quickly. It is very helpful for the size of our company. We're a mid-size company, and at this moment, we don't need anything externally. We don't have to go out and consult a consulting firm to build something from the ground up. So, the ease of that and being able to get development quickly up and running has been good for us."

"QuickBase is an excellent product and it is very easy to get support."

"The usability of QuickBase largely depends on how you design your workflows within the platform. If you keep them simple and straightforward, it can be a highly usable product."

"The reporting tool: It helps in data analytics to provide the solution more efficiency."

"Allows users have anytime/anywhere access."

"It has superb ease of use and no code needed to create and build apps and databases."

"Creating applications in Quickbase will take, literally, a fraction of the time it would take to create them in other database applications (which shall remain unnamed)."

More QuickBase pros

"Retool provides us with the opportunity to save time and be more efficient."

"The stability is okay."

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

"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."

"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."

Cons

"It would be beneficial for the QuickBase team to focus on improving the integration of cloud-based storage platforms within their product. In use cases like ours, where QuickBase serves as a centralized source of truth for construction projects, having seamless integration with platforms like Dropbox or OneDrive would greatly enhance the product's capabilities."

"The dashboard is not organized."

"Unfortunately, there is still no new report formatting available natively, and would still require 3rd party developers to help with that. ."

". For example, we need a third-party to create and save a document in PDF, MS Word, or MS Excel format. The document saving capability is probably the feature that we most often have to procure from an outside provider."

"I would like to see better options for producing paper reports from Quick Base, rather than viewing things exclusively on screen."

"The user interface of Quick Base is complex."

"Whenever we do onboarding, or we get new employees, there tends to be a delay of not just a week but a couple of weeks, and sometimes even a few weeks of being able to see certain new employees in the system."

"The product works constantly to modernize the platform and they have made quite a lot of strides in that. I would like them to add additional features that would help us make API calls."

More QuickBase cons

"Retool should add more resource integration."

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

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

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

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

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

"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

"You have to negotiate the price because it varies based on the number of users you have, as well as how much cloud storage space you need."

"The pricing for the tier my company used included ten seats and the subcontractor, amounting to approximately $18,000 USD per year."

"Quickbase is probably not the cheapest app out there. That said, it is worth its weight in gold. There is no other app that I know of in the market today that can do what Quickbase does."

"The product is cheap when compared to other products."

"The pricing for QuickBase is pretty straightforward, It is based on a per user/per month licensing fee."

"The solution is expensive and geared toward enterprise-level clients."

"It is probably about 300 per license per person. There is just the licensing cost. There are no additional costs."

"We felt the pricing and licensing for QuickBase were easy enough to understand, fair and competitive."

"I don't know Retool's current pricing, but it cost around $12 per month earlier."

"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."

"The tool is a little bit expensive."

"For me, I'm in India right now, and we have Retool's subscription for one team member for $10 per month."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Educational Organization

76%

Computer Software Company

Financial Services Firm

Healthcare Company

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about QuickBase?

The most valuable feature of QuickBase is its dynamic form capabilities. These forms allow backend automation, making tasks like updating data based on specific conditions much easier.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for QuickBase?

Pricing could be cheaper. I rate it around a seven out of ten. Mainly larger companies use it, which influences the pricing structure.

What needs improvement with QuickBase?

The user interface of Quick Base is complex. It can be difficult to navigate, and ideally, it should be simplified to facilitate use by anyone, not just certified individuals. There is room for imp...

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

QuickBase

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Also Known As

Quick Base, TSheets

No data available

Overview

Trusted by more than half of the Fortune 100, QuickBase is a low-code platform for building, customizing, and integrating custom business applications. With more than 6,000 customers and 500,000 active users, QuickBase is the technology of choice for organizations that want to empower business users to solve their own challenges while maintaining the governance and security of an enterprise-quality app development system.

Quickbase

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

Procter & Gamble, Tesla, Norwegian Cruise Line, Google, Metso, Agero, Kayak, PTC, Patra Corp, TomTom, Southwest Airlines, FedEx Office

Information Not Available

QuickBase vs. Retool