Mendix
Retool
| Feature | Mendix | Retool |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $60/mo | Free / from $10/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.2 / 5 | 4.5 / 5 |
| Best For | enterprises, manufacturing, financial-services, government | engineering-teams, operations, data-teams, startups, enterprise |
| Founded | 2005 | 2017 |
| Visual Modeling | ✓ | ✗ |
| Collaboration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Cloud Deployment | ✓ | ✗ |
| Ai Assisted Development | ✓ | ✗ |
| Marketplace | ✓ | ✗ |
| Version Control | ✓ | ✗ |
| Multi Cloud | ✓ | ✗ |
| Drag Drop Ui | ✗ | ✓ |
| Database Connectors | ✗ | ✓ |
| Api Integration | ✗ | ✓ |
| Workflows | ✗ | ✓ |
| Self Hosting | ✗ | ✓ |
| Rbac | ✗ | ✓ |
| Ai | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ Mendix Pros
- Strong collaboration between business and IT
- Visual modeling with extensible platform
- Backed by Siemens for enterprise trust
- Excellent for complex business applications
✗ Mendix Cons
- Standard plan pricing is very high
- Vendor lock-in with proprietary framework
- Performance overhead compared to custom code
✓ Retool Pros
- Fastest way to build internal tools
- Connects to any database or API
- Self-hostable for security
- Pre-built components save hours
✗ Retool Cons
- Only for internal tools — not customer-facing
- Can get expensive for large teams
- Learning curve for complex queries
The Verdict
Mendix is built for enterprises and manufacturing, with a focus on visual-modeling and collaboration. Retool targets engineering teams and operations and leads with drag-drop-ui and database-connectors.
On pricing, Retool is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $10/mo compared to $60/mo for Mendix. That $50/mo difference adds up quickly for growing teams.
Both offer free plans, so you can test each with your real workflow before committing to a subscription.
Bottom line: Retool has a slight overall edge — but if strong collaboration between business and it matters most to you, Mendix may still be the right call.