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Retool vs Salesforce Platform 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.5
Retool saves time and money, reducing developer dependency, while offering efficient, cost-effective solutions with a minimal monthly expense.
Sentiment score
7.0
Salesforce Platform improves efficiency and revenue, reduces silos, and boosts productivity, with ROI evident through increased revenue and time savings.
We had fewer front-end resources, and while developing with Retool, we did not need many front-end team members, which saved on salaries.
software engineer at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I think we can see time saved to start the proof of concept and maybe money saved because I was able to develop the mobile app alone without needing additional resources.
IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer
We have seen a return on investment because we are building these internal dashboards 30 to 50% faster, so we are saving approximately 30 to 50% of an employee's time.
Product Manager at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Salesforce saved about 40% to 50% of my time by allowing me to manage and maintain client data and account progress.
Independent Business Consultant at Freelance
In terms of productivity, my ROI is definitely at an eight or nine out of a scale of one to ten.
Solution Architect And Senior Consultant at Keysight Technologies
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.5
Retool's customer service is mixed, with varying satisfaction levels, reliance on external resources, and praise for prompt assistance.
Sentiment score
6.8
Salesforce support is praised for responsiveness and collaboration but mixed ratings exist due to some preferring internal resources.
The customer support is amazing; overall, AWS customer support is very professional and fast.
software engineer at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
It is very easy to learn and integrate within our database and infrastructure because we are already on Amazon Web Services, and our entire tech stack is on Amazon Web Services.
Product Manager at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Technical support team is available, but I haven't needed to contact them.
Full Stack PHP/Python AWS Developer at Binary Port
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.7
Retool efficiently scales, supporting many users with large datasets, offering customization and security, although complexity may rise with features.
Sentiment score
7.7
Salesforce Platform offers scalable solutions for all company sizes, although customization is key to managing its feature-rich environment.
It's scalable and doesn't experience any slowdown when handling increasing data volumes.
Full Stack PHP/Python AWS Developer at Binary Port
Retool is more suited for startups, but it can get messy at scale.
software engineer at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Salesforce's scalability was not a problem.
Independent Business Consultant at Freelance
Salesforce Platform is absolutely scalable for us.
Director at GenRocket
We are using it globally in thirty countries.
Sr. Vice President and Business Head at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.4
Retool is highly rated for dependability, with users experiencing minimal issues, praising its stability and reliable performance.
Sentiment score
8.1
Salesforce Platform is stable and reliable, with minimal issues, maintaining high performance and receiving strong user ratings for stability.
Retool is stable in my experience.
IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer
On occasion, we had to log in and out frequently, open tickets with our IT team for account reconfiguration, or request permissions to access the system.
Independent Business Consultant at Freelance
We have never had any problems with it.
Sr. Vice President and Business Head at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
It is definitely very stable.
Solution Architect And Senior Consultant at Keysight Technologies
 

Room For Improvement

Retool's front-end and usability limitations frustrate users, highlighting needs for enhanced customization, integration, and non-technical user support.
Salesforce faces integration, cost, and customization challenges with inadequate reporting, UI issues, costly storage, and limited search functionality.
Retool needs more customization options, as it should not be limited to a few customization features; it should be broader, with more features available for users to utilize.
software engineer at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
AI tools, features, and machine learning capabilities should be added as they would be helpful in the future.
Full Stack PHP/Python AWS Developer at Binary Port
There should be better documentation or support for non-technical users, providing a platform to learn and implement Retool effectively.
Construction Data Analyst at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Salesforce could improve by adding more capabilities to the dashboard, such as additional fields for more filters and more control over what I would like to see.
Account Manager at Red Hat
Salesforce could improve by offering AI features or functionalities to help business decision-makers analyze business history, suggest forward strategies, and participate in events.
Independent Business Consultant at Freelance
Using AI extensively to make the platform easier to use would also be beneficial.
Director at GenRocket
 

Setup Cost

Retool's pricing is affordable for small setups but can be expensive for larger deployments compared to industry leaders.
Salesforce Platform is costly but valued for features; pricing varies, necessitating careful evaluation to manage expenses effectively.
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing experience were good as the free plan was enough for us.
IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Retool is that it is straightforward but somewhat pricey compared to other industry leaders such as Sentry and others.
Product Manager at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Salesforce Platform may be on the expensive side.
Director at GenRocket
It is on the expensive side, unfortunately.
Solution Architect And Senior Consultant at Keysight Technologies
 

Valuable Features

Retool streamlines development with a user-friendly interface, enabling rapid MVP creation and enhancing productivity with extensive customization features.
Salesforce Platform excels in scalability, customization, integration, analytics, and low-code development, enhancing productivity with automation and real-time insights.
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.
Construction Data Analyst at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Compared to other solutions, the time is 30 to 50% shorter when we are building an internal tool using Retool.
Product Manager at a tech vendor with 11-50 employees
Retool provides built-in features with all processing happening within the platform, which is a significant advantage.
Full Stack PHP/Python AWS Developer at Binary Port
This integration allows us to manage customers from all aspects in one place, providing a clear view.
Senior Acount Executive for Financial Services at a tech vendor with 5,001-10,000 employees
The biggest benefit is seamless usage in terms of an easy-to-use interface and GUI that makes it easy to interact with the entire platform and generate reports effortlessly.
Solution Architect And Senior Consultant at Keysight Technologies
Salesforce offers control over the opportunities to see where we are and gives me high-level dashboards on each opportunity stage.
Account Manager at Red Hat
 

Categories and Ranking

Retool
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
20th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
AI Software Development (22nd)
Salesforce Platform
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
5th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
97
Ranking in other categories
PaaS Clouds (8th), Mobile Development Platforms (3rd), Low-Code Development Platforms (5th), No-Code Development Platforms (2nd), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2026, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of Retool is 1.3%, up from 0.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Platform is 3.7%, down from 6.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Salesforce Platform3.7%
Retool1.3%
Other95.0%
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Featured Reviews

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.
Sharmila-K - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Transformations and Infrastructure Delivery Manager at a university with 10,001+ employees
Integration processes improve but scripting requires effort
The updates, pricing part, and upgrades to the products are some of the most valuable features with the Salesforce Platform.With the Salesforce Platform, I have minimal experience of approximately one and a half years. I get minimal exposure, once every three or two months, especially during holidays. The Salesforce Platform is connected to the cloud, which is beneficial. When it is integrated with different tools such as Microsoft BI Analytics, it helps us analyze much better. Currently, the integration itself is tricky as we have to use extensive scripting. It should be more of a plug-in and use solution. That is the only issue I see, but otherwise, I appreciate it.
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909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
21%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Construction Company
7%
Outsourcing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business7
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business40
Midsize Enterprise25
Large Enterprise44
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Retool?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing for Retool is that it is straightforward but somewhat pricey compared to other industry leaders such as Sentry and others. I feel it is an eigh...
What needs improvement with Retool?
I do not have specifics on how Retool can be improved because we are using it for internal tool building only. Regarding needed improvements, perhaps Retool can focus on not building customer-facin...
What is your primary use case for Retool?
We started using Retool last September, so it has been more than nine months now. Our main use case for Retool is an internal operations dashboard built in Retool for our AI agents. Whenever we shi...
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...
How does Salesforce Platform compare with Azure?
Microsoft’s Windows Azure platform is not easy or intuitive to deploy. The difficulty will be impacted by the type of application that you are trying to use the platform to build. Organizations tha...
Do you build applications using low-code or pro-code builders on Salesforce Platform?
At my organization, we have only used Salesforce Platform's low-code builder. The reason for this is not because we do not like the pro-code option, but because we do not see the need of using it, ...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Salesforce1, Force.com, Salesforce App Cloud
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
ADP
Find out what your peers are saying about Retool vs. Salesforce Platform and other solutions. Updated: August 2026.
909,725 professionals have used our research since 2012.