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QuickBase 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

QuickBase
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
18th
Average Rating
9.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
75
Ranking in other categories
Low-Code Development Platforms (13th), Employee Time Tracking Software (2nd)
Retool
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
15th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
10
Ranking in other categories
AI Software Development (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of QuickBase is 1.9%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Retool is 1.2%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Retool1.2%
QuickBase1.9%
Other96.9%
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Featured Reviews

RS
Associate principal engineer at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
Empowers content management and application creation without SQL
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 improvement in front-end functionalities. I cannot deploy and use front-end features anywhere; they must be deployed inside Quick Base. The introduction of hooks would allow for easier deployment elsewhere, such as GitHub. Additionally, their APIs have limitations, such as reliance on XML for backend APIs, which restricts their utility.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"I am impressed with the product's automation which makes everything easy."
"Allows users have anytime/anywhere access."
"QuickBase is an excellent product and it is very easy to get support."
"It provides a well-organized method for overseeing everything, especially considering the remote work aspect."
"It has superb ease of use and no code needed to create and build apps and databases."
"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."
"Considering factors like functionality and price, the product proves to be worth the investment."
"One of the valuable features of Quick Base is its ability to function as a content management system without the need for SQL."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is connectivity with APIs and other databases."
"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."
"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."
"Retool provides us with the opportunity to save time and be more efficient."
"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."
"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."
"The stability is okay."
 

Cons

"When learning QuickBase, I noticed a shift in its cost structure. It operated on a cost-efficient model tied to the number of users, with invoicing based on applicants."
"Third-party integration -- they are working on it and I find their brand-new still-in-beta Webhooks very promising."
"The user interface of Quick Base is complex."
"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."
"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."
"The mobile app has improved, but it still needs work."
"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."
"I would like to see the reporting enhanced because some of them are not easy to generate."
"Retool, being a low-code/no-code platform, could improve by allowing users, particularly non-technical users, to use it more easily."
"There are restrictions on the front-end side."
"The UI of Retool could be improved, as I am not fond of the current design, and there should be a platform for learning how to use Retool efficiently, especially since our software team customizes it for their needs, leaving the operational team with limited knowledge on how to customize it."
"In the mobile app development, you have to use JavaScript to interact with components, and for non-technical users, it's already too technical, so Retool has to add some integrated solutions."
"In the mobile app development, you have to use JavaScript to interact with components, and for non-technical users, it's already too technical, so Retool has to add some integrated solutions."
"In the mobile app development, you have to use JavaScript to interact with components, and for non-technical users, it's already too technical, so Retool has to add some integrated solutions."
"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."
"Retool should add more resource integration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is expensive and geared toward enterprise-level clients."
"We felt the pricing and licensing for QuickBase were easy enough to understand, fair and competitive."
"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."
"It is probably about 300 per license per person. There is just the licensing cost. There are no additional costs."
"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 the tier my company used included ten seats and the subcontractor, amounting to approximately $18,000 USD per year."
"The pricing for QuickBase is pretty straightforward, It is based on a per user/per month licensing fee."
"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."
"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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
13%
University
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Transportation Company
6%
Manufacturing Company
14%
Comms Service Provider
14%
University
10%
Outsourcing Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business38
Midsize Enterprise14
Large Enterprise23
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise3
 

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?
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing experience were good as the free plan was enough for us.
What needs improvement with Retool?
Retool, being a low-code/no-code platform, could improve by allowing users, particularly non-technical users, to use it more easily. In the mobile app development, you have to use JavaScript to int...
What is your primary use case for Retool?
My main use case for Retool involves an inventory app project. I built a mobile app to make an inventory of chemistry products. Retool helped me with that project as it was a good way to show a qui...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Quick Base, TSheets
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Procter & Gamble, Tesla, Norwegian Cruise Line, Google, Metso, Agero, Kayak, PTC, Patra Corp, TomTom, Southwest Airlines, FedEx Office
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about QuickBase vs. Retool and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,114 professionals have used our research since 2012.