Retool vs Zoho Creator comparison

Retool and Zoho are both solutions in the Rapid Application Development Software category. Retool is ranked #15 with an average rating of 8.1, while Zoho is ranked #10 with an average rating of 8.6. Retool holds a 1.4% mindshare in RADS, compared to Zoho’s 1.9% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of Retool users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 97% of Zoho users who would recommend it.

Retool

Read 11 Retool reviews

1,742 Views
1,167 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

Zoho Creator

Read 35 Zoho Creator reviews

2,499 Views
1,949 Comparison Views

97% willing to recommend

Retool

Zoho Creator

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

Zoho Creator and Retool compete in the low-code application development category. Retool's advanced customization and integration capabilities give it the upper hand over Zoho Creator's competitive pricing and support.

Features: Zoho Creator facilitates app creation with pre-built templates, a drag-and-drop interface, and third-party integrations. Retool offers advanced customization, seamless database integration, and control through its feature-rich platform.

Room for Improvement: Zoho Creator could enhance its feature set for complex applications, improve workflow customization options, and expand its API integration capabilities. Retool may benefit from simplifying its deployment process, offering more beginner-friendly guidance, and reducing the complexity of its setup for less technically-inclined users.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Zoho Creator provides an intuitive deployment model with smooth onboarding and extensive support. Retool, while more complex, offers flexible deployment and robust technical support.

Pricing and ROI: Zoho Creator is cost-effective, appealing to budget-conscious small and medium enterprises with its attractive pricing and rapid ROI. Retool requires a higher initial investment but offers substantial long-term value through its extensive customization capabilities, appealing to those focusing on scalability.

To learn more, read our detailed Retool vs. Zoho Creator Report (Updated: April 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Retool vs. Zoho Creator

April 2026

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Helped 893,221 peers since 2012

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

6.0

Reducing developer needs and using affordable tools led to significant cost savings and justified user fees.

Sentiment score

3.6

Zoho Creator offers cost-effective solutions, replacing pricier competitors, enhancing efficiency, and providing customizable options for increased business value.

We had fewer front-end resources, and while developing with Retool, we did not need many front-end team members, which saved on salaries.

Kozykorpesh Tolep

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.

Yannick LE GAL

IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer

For more quotes and insights, download the Retool report

For instance, a company I worked with compared spending on Salesforce, which was 15 crore, to our expenses with Zoho Creator, which was only 2 crore annually.

Sagar Gaikwad

Sr Business Application Developer on Zoho Platform. at Tech Worriors

I have seen a return on investment with Zoho Creator because we eliminated a point of sale software that was charging us 5 lakhs per year across all 26 malls.

AniketPatil

IT Projects and Strategy Manager at RoboTouch

Using Zoho Creator is affordable for my business as it helps save time.

NaveenKumar S

Software Engineer at Maximus

For more quotes and insights, download the Zoho Creator report

Customer Service

Sentiment score

5.0

Retool's support is responsive and helpful, with users suggesting chat for improvement amid varied experiences with assistance resources.

Sentiment score

4.9

Zoho Creator support is appreciated for minor issues but criticized for delays and unresolved complex problems, needing improvement.

The customer support is amazing; overall, AWS customer support is very professional and fast.

Kozykorpesh Tolep

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.

Anees Shoukat

Full Stack PHP/Python AWS Developer at Binary Port

For more quotes and insights, download the Retool report

I would rate the technical support 10 out of 10 because they provide excellent assistance.

NaveenKumar S

Software Engineer at Maximus

Delays arise once the support team must refer to backend processes or developers, highlighting the need for enhancement in their overall support system.

Jatin Rao

Zoho Developer at Tarini Consulting

All documentation exists, detailing even the smallest elements; by reading through it properly, one can manage without additional support.

Sagar Gaikwad

Sr Business Application Developer on Zoho Platform. at Tech Worriors

For more quotes and insights, download the Zoho Creator report

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score

6.6

Retool is scalable and efficient, supporting large user bases and datasets with customizable security and effective performance management.

Sentiment score

5.8

Zoho Creator is scalable, customizable, handles growth well but can be costly with high data volumes.

It's scalable and doesn't experience any slowdown when handling increasing data volumes.

Anees Shoukat

Full Stack PHP/Python AWS Developer at Binary Port

Retool is more suited for startups, but it can get messy at scale.

Kozykorpesh Tolep

software engineer at a non-tech company with 1,001-5,000 employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Retool report

Being browser-based allows me to drag and drop components immediately, deploying in seconds on a live application.

Sagar Gaikwad

Sr Business Application Developer on Zoho Platform. at Tech Worriors

We are continuing to build on top of what was initially created for them, ensuring that scalability is never an issue as long as you understand how to utilize Zoho properly.

Jatin Rao

Zoho Developer at Tarini Consulting

When my customers' needs are growing, Zoho Creator is able to adapt to these growing needs because it's a build-it-yourself application.

Jake Harris

Founder, Consultant, and Developer at Limitless IT Consultancy

For more quotes and insights, download the Zoho Creator report

Stability Issues

Sentiment score

8.3

Retool is generally stable and reliable, with occasional issues, garnering mostly positive ratings from users.

Sentiment score

6.3

Zoho Creator is stable and reliable, praised for improvements in functionality, with smooth performance and minimal downtime.

Retool is stable in my experience.

Yannick LE GAL

IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer

For more quotes and insights, download the Retool report

The core elements of coding and daily scripting remain unchanged despite interface updates, assuring continuity in my work.

Sagar Gaikwad

Sr Business Application Developer on Zoho Platform. at Tech Worriors

You can't rely on any software in business if it's not going to be stable and reliable.

Jake Harris

Founder, Consultant, and Developer at Limitless IT Consultancy

Offering versatile flexibility for various integrations, such as WhatsApp and email API integration.

NaveenKumar S

Software Engineer at Maximus

For more quotes and insights, download the Zoho Creator report

Room For Improvement

Retool struggles with customization, integration, support, and documentation, requiring better tools, language support, and user resources.

Zoho Creator faces user concerns over UI/UX customization, integrations, data management, widget functionality, and support service enhancements.

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.

Kozykorpesh Tolep

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.

Anees Shoukat

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.

reviewer2775993

Construction Data Analyst at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

For more quotes and insights, download the Retool report

I am concerned that Zoho Creator does not have good integration capabilities, as it has a lot of API limits.

Hunbel CH

Lead Software Engineer at Nexo Solutions Ltd

In terms of scalability, there are certain limitations if the data volume is large due to execution limits.

Gokulakrishnan G

Founder at GGSH&CO LLP

Enhancing the user interface could also be beneficial, as the company's focus seems more on functionality.

Sagar Gaikwad

Sr Business Application Developer on Zoho Platform. at Tech Worriors

For more quotes and insights, download the Zoho Creator report

Setup Cost

Retool offers competitive pricing, appealing to small teams with free plans and larger deployments facing affordable user costs.

Zoho Creator provides flexible enterprise pricing with significant value, while Zoho One offers comprehensive app access at $35 monthly.

The pricing, setup cost, and licensing experience were good as the free plan was enough for us.

Yannick LE GAL

IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer

For more quotes and insights, download the Retool report

Zoho offers customizable pricing options, such as Zoho One, which provides access to all 40 applications for 1250.

BOTU AKHIL SAI

Zoho developer at Lighthouse Learning Group

For INR, the standard cost is 480 per month, the professional tier is around 1,200, and the enterprise level is 1,500, based on the subscription level per user for Zoho Creator.

NaveenKumar S

Software Engineer at Maximus

Pricing is a little on the higher side for the Indian market, especially for mid-sized and small-sized companies with 30 to 40 users.

Gokulakrishnan G

Founder at GGSH&CO LLP

For more quotes and insights, download the Zoho Creator report

Valuable Features

Retool simplifies UI dashboard creation with easy API integration, supports complex logic, and enhances efficiency for teams and startups.

Zoho Creator offers customization, integration, and automation with a low-code platform, enhancing business functionality with flexible tools and security.

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.

reviewer2775993

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.

Anees Shoukat

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.

Yannick LE GAL

IT consultant for healthcare sector at Freelancer

For more quotes and insights, download the Retool report

The seamless integration with third-party applications and services in Zoho Creator greatly enhances its utility in my business environment, as the ease of integration is impressive.

Sagar Gaikwad

Sr Business Application Developer on Zoho Platform. at Tech Worriors

For analytics, we employ two tools: Zoho Creator itself and Zoho Analytics, where we can use SQL queries to fetch data from multiple platforms.

AliHaider1

Freelancer at Upwork

We can generate QR codes for free, whereas in CRM, QR generation requires external purchases.

BOTU AKHIL SAI

Zoho developer at Lighthouse Learning Group

For more quotes and insights, download the Zoho Creator report

Categories and Ranking

Retool

Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software

15th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

AI Software Development (14th)

Zoho Creator

Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software

10th

Average Rating

8.6

Reviews Sentiment

6.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Low-Code Development Platforms (8th), Business Orchestration and Automation Technologies (9th)

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of Retool is 1.4%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Zoho Creator is 1.9%, up from 0.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Rapid Application Development Software Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Zoho Creator	1.9%
Retool	1.4%
Other	96.7%

Rapid Application Development Software

Featured Reviews

Yannick LE GAL

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.

Read full review

VishalKumar7

Zoho Developer at Evoluz Global Solutions

User experience metadata and workflow customization have been streamlined

The creator needs improvement; for instance, if I create a widget that has dynamic data, it cannot get published. When we publish a page that contains a widget, dynamic data does not appear. That is the problem with Zoho Creator, so it needs improvement. The portal user aspect is also costly; for example, purchasing 250 portal users can be expensive for clients who require them monthly. It creates a financial burden similar to how customer logins on e-commerce websites such as Flipkart or Amazon are generally free. Thus, Zoho Creator needs to offer free access for all portal users as they are essential for the application's usage. In Zoho Creator, we cannot work on UI customization as expected; if I want an application resembling a Figma design, there are limitations on UI changes.

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Construction Company

20%

Financial Services Firm

12%

Manufacturing Company

Comms Service Provider

Financial Services Firm

12%

Computer Software Company

12%

Comms Service Provider

10%

Construction Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	6
Midsize Enterprise	3
Large Enterprise	4

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	23
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	7

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Retool?

I found it affordable regarding pricing, setup costs, and licensing.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Retool?

Retool has some drawbacks, including limited customization; of course, it has limitations compared to React, where you can customize it as you want, but with Retool, there is limited customization....

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Retool?

I used Retool in one of my projects a few months ago. The project involved making a monitoring real-time IoT system for IoT devices, and we used Retool as an internal dashboard. We had a stack of a...

See all answers

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Zoho Creator?

I find the pricing of Zoho Creator to be very cheap. When compared to other low-code platforms, Zoho Creator consistently ranks at the top regarding functionality. Their native Android and iOS appl...

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What needs improvement with Zoho Creator?

I think there are a lot of areas in Zoho Creator that could be improved or enhanced. When writing HTML and CSS inside the pages, I have to use HTML for adding data and CSS for designing, but we hav...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Zoho Creator?

I have created multiple custom applications in Zoho Creator, with a standout being an inventory management system, and recently, I was working on a company internal ERP that was created inside Zoho...

See all answers

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Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Retool

April 2026

Download Retool product report

Buyer's Guide

Zoho Creator

April 2026

Download Zoho Creator product report

Overview

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.

Retool

Zoho Creator is a dynamic platform offering a powerful low-code development environment with strong integration capabilities and intuitive drag-and-drop functionality. It simplifies application development, making it a favored choice for businesses seeking rapid deployment and robust data management.

Zoho Creator provides a flexible low-code environment for enterprises needing customizable app development. Its dynamic form builder and Deluge scripting automate processes while supporting seamless third-party integration including APIs. Users benefit from its extensive analytics tools, enhancing data management in sectors like healthcare, logistics, manufacturing, and education. Although some seek better customization and advanced API capabilities, Zoho Creator continues to be valuable for developing ERPs, CRMs, and diverse business applications.

What are Zoho Creator's most valuable features?

Low-code Platform: Enables rapid app development with a flexible environment.
API Support: Facilitates robust integrations with external apps and services.
Dynamic Form Builder: Customizes forms with ease using drag-and-drop.
Deluge Scripting: Automates workflows with a powerful scripting language.
Security Features: Offers role-based access control for data protection.

What benefits should one expect?

Cost Efficiency: Reduces development time and expenses with low-code solutions.
Rapid Deployment: Quick application development and deployment across industries.
Enhanced Data Management: Analytics tools provide deep insights and better data handling.
Customization and Flexibility: Easily customizable to meet diverse business needs.

Zoho Creator's implementation spans industries including healthcare, where it's used for patient data management and logistics for inventory tracking. In manufacturing, it's leveraged for ERP solutions, while in education it supports student records management. Common applications include payroll systems, employee records, and integration with platforms like Shopify and Oracle. This low-code platform allows rapid development tailored to specific industry requirements.

Zoho

Sample Customers

Information Not Available

Estate Crush Winery, Integra Services, Avidpays, Napa Valley Film Festival, Marionnaud, The Institute of Hormonal Health, Stone Tapert

Buyer's Guide

Retool vs. Zoho Creator

April 2026

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