Retool
Supabase
| Feature | Retool | Supabase |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free / from $10/mo | Free / from $25/mo |
| Free Plan | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Rating | 4.5 / 5 | 4.7 / 5 |
| Best For | engineering-teams, operations, data-teams, startups, enterprise | developers, startups, indie-hackers, full-stack-teams |
| Founded | 2017 | 2020 |
| Drag Drop Ui | ✓ | ✗ |
| Database Connectors | ✓ | ✗ |
| Api Integration | ✓ | ✗ |
| Workflows | ✓ | ✗ |
| Self Hosting | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rbac | ✓ | ✗ |
| Ai | ✓ | ✗ |
| Postgres Database | ✗ | ✓ |
| Authentication | ✗ | ✓ |
| Edge Functions | ✗ | ✓ |
| Real Time | ✗ | ✓ |
| Storage | ✗ | ✓ |
| Vector Embeddings | ✗ | ✓ |
✓ 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
✓ Supabase Pros
- Full Postgres with SQL access
- Generous free tier (500MB, 50K monthly active users)
- Auth, storage, and edge functions included
- Open-source and self-hostable
✗ Supabase Cons
- Can be complex for non-developers
- Pauses inactive free projects after 7 days
- Real-time can be expensive at scale
The Verdict
Retool is built for engineering teams and operations, with a focus on drag-drop-ui and database-connectors. Supabase targets developers and startups and leads with postgres-database and authentication.
On pricing, Retool is the clear winner for budget-conscious users — starting at $10/mo compared to $25/mo for Supabase. That $15/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.
Both tools are a solid fit for startups — in those cases, the decision often comes down to workflow style and how your team prefers to organize work.
This is a genuinely close comparison. If you can, sign up for both free trials (where available) and run a one-week test with your actual team tasks before deciding.