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OutSystems 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.3
OutSystems' ROI varies, with rapid development and reduced costs leading to high returns and improved customer experiences.
Sentiment score
6.0
Reducing developer needs and using affordable tools led to significant cost savings and justified user fees.
Developing that same project in OutSystems can be completed in around 40 to 50% less time, requiring only six resources.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
Time efficiency. Your team can be deployed to work on different modules parallelly and you can really save time up to an enormous level.
Senior Technical Lead at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
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
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
OutSystems' support is responsive and valued, but specialized assistance and faster issue resolution are needed for some users.
Sentiment score
5.0
Retool's support is responsive and helpful, with users suggesting chat for improvement amid varied experiences with assistance resources.
Many helpful videos and documentation are available on the OutSystems site, making it relatively easy to learn the platform.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
They do have the customer support ticketing system where you can raise the ticket, decide the priority, and depending upon your priority and urgency, they are going to resolve your problem.
Senior Technical Lead at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
There have been no issues with support,
Project Manager at Centre for Content Creation
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
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
7.3
OutSystems offers scalable, cloud-based architecture, supporting diverse environments for efficient enterprise growth, despite some cost concerns.
Sentiment score
6.6
Retool is scalable and efficient, supporting large user bases and datasets with customizable security and effective performance management.
They can be deployed vertically and horizontally, supporting as many deployments as needed.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
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
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
OutSystems is highly stable and reliable, handling heavy operations well, despite minor issues under massive user bases.
Sentiment score
8.3
Retool is generally stable and reliable, with occasional issues, garnering mostly positive ratings from users.
Retool is stable in my experience.
IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer
 

Room For Improvement

OutSystems needs to enhance performance, reduce costs, improve support, and refine integration, UI, documentation, and AI capabilities.
Retool struggles with customization, integration, support, and documentation, requiring better tools, language support, and user resources.
It is crucial to be aware of which module corresponds to which application in real-time projects, as there are multiple applications.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
You have to design your architecture in a very magnificent and decent way so that how you process your data so that load can be easily balanced.
Senior Technical Lead at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
I would like to see more integration between the use of artificial intelligence to speed up the process delivery time.
RPA Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
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
 

Setup Cost

OutSystems is costly for small businesses, but valued for its robust enterprise features compared to competitors.
Retool offers competitive pricing, appealing to small teams with free plans and larger deployments facing affordable user costs.
Subsequent users can be added at an additional cost per user; exact pricing details can be found on the OutSystems site.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
The pricing, setup cost, and licensing experience were good as the free plan was enough for us.
IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer
 

Valuable Features

OutSystems enhances productivity with one-click publishing, visual modeling, seamless integration, and flexible cross-platform support for rapid development.
Retool simplifies UI dashboard creation with easy API integration, supports complex logic, and enhances efficiency for teams and startups.
OutSystems offers a lot of reusable components and solutions that I can simply drag and drop and use, which has a significant impact on project delivery time.
RPA Engineer at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
We use integration extensively in OutSystems, which allows us to connect our own internal systems to our newly created system applications.
Project Manager at Centre for Content Creation
OutSystems has a very good learning curve for developers.
Software Developer Advisor at NTT DATA Services
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
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
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.
IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer
 

Categories and Ranking

OutSystems
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
55
Ranking in other categories
Mobile Development Platforms (1st), Low-Code Development Platforms (2nd), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (6th)
Retool
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
15th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.7
Number of Reviews
11
Ranking in other categories
AI Software Development (13th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of OutSystems is 5.0%, down from 7.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Retool is 1.3%, up from 0.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
OutSystems5.0%
Retool1.3%
Other93.7%
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Featured Reviews

Aditya Bhatt - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Technical Lead at a pharma/biotech company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Rapid delivery has transformed complex enterprise apps and supports faster cross-domain projects
Every platform or low-code platform tool is quite good in its own area, but there is always space to groom or enhance or improve. The same is with OutSystems as well. A couple of things from the integration point of view can be enhanced. If your application or the enterprise organization is tackling a huge data application where you have bulk amounts of data, it becomes a challenge for all the technologies and the same with OutSystems. You have to design your architecture in a very magnificent and decent way so that how you process your data so that load can be easily balanced. Data handling and huge data handling is a kind of challenge you may need to face. Then we have some vendor lock-in. If you are trying to migrate your application from OutSystems, then you probably get into this vendor lock-in system. Some organization may face challenges if some organization is on a small scale size. The small scale businesses may find OutSystems costly because of its high cost and pricing due to the licensing cost. Apart from that, OutSystems really plays well, and it needs a learning curve. If a traditional application or programming is there which your developers are skilled into and they are directly deployed into OutSystems, it may take some significant amount of time for them to get comfortable with OutSystems. There is a learning curve. OutSystems community is already in place, but it can more be enhanced regarding some aspects. They did organize lots of bootcamps and other user groups as well, but those can also be improved from the documentation point of view and having some integration guidebook as well. A couple of things which can be improved into OutSystems include the licensing cost, the vendor lock-in side, the learning curve, couple of integration aspects and customizations.
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.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
7%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Comms Service Provider
12%
University
9%
Financial Services Firm
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business19
Midsize Enterprise7
Large Enterprise31
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise4
 

Questions from the Community

Which solution is better for developing non-ITSM applications: OutSystems or Service Now?
The short answer is that OutSystems is far better for 2 main reasons. Firstly, with Service Now you are locked into that platform for good. The business model is to lock in and then keep pumping th...
What industries do you think OutSystems is most useful for?
I cannot really name an industry in which OutSystems cannot be beneficial. Who does not want to make top-notch applications that work in no time? And OutsyStems does exactly that. The low-code plat...
How did you decide which OutSystems edition was the best one for you?
We started using OutSystems fairly recently, so we are still on the free version of it. My company is still testing how we like the platform, but so far, we have been satisfied with it and will li...
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

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Randstad, Warner Brothers, HP, Intel, ING, Banco Popular, Thrivent Financial, Bacardi, Kent State University, Bacardi, FICO, ING, Vodafone, AbbVie, Estafeta, Siemens, Vopak
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Find out what your peers are saying about OutSystems vs. Retool and other solutions. Updated: March 2026.
884,797 professionals have used our research since 2012.