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GitLab 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

GitLab
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
12th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
82
Ranking in other categories
Application Security Tools (9th), Build Automation (1st), Release Automation (2nd), Static Application Security Testing (SAST) (7th), Software Composition Analysis (SCA) (5th), Enterprise Agile Planning Tools (2nd), Fuzz Testing Tools (2nd), DevSecOps (3rd)
Retool
Ranking in Rapid Application Development Software
18th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
7
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Rapid Application Development Software category, the mindshare of GitLab is 3.0%, up from 0.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Retool is 0.4%, up from 0.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Rapid Application Development Software
 

Featured Reviews

Gaurav Chandel - PeerSpot reviewer
Boosted productivity with automated pipelines and seamless collaboration
There are some challenges with repository file management as GitLab may struggle to manage larger files. Improvements could be made regarding size management and file partitioning. Also, the UI has remained the same for a couple of years and could benefit from an update with AI features and better customization.
Saurabh Tiwari - PeerSpot reviewer
Easy to use, I don't need to write extensive code and built-in components helps to develop tools
Retool provides multiple tools and functionalities that we can use. However, there are restrictions on the front-end side. From the back-end side, we can use anything, but on the front-end, we have limited tools. This limits our ability to enhance functionality. For example, if I'm creating a tool for you to collect feedback from your clients or users, we have limited resources on the front-end. For the back-end, we have unlimited resources, but for the front-end, we are restricted to creating dashboards and similar tools. If you want to enable other functionalities, we can add them, but this is a limitation on the front-end side.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"A user friendly solution."
"GitLab offers a good interface for doing code reviews between two colleagues."
"The scalability is good."
"I like that it's easy to deploy our services over GitLab. The customer support is also good with a really active community. You have a lot of support that you can get online with your stack. That is probably one of the benefits of using GitLab. It's also really fast."
"Everything is easy to configure and easy to work with."
"The tool helps to integrate CI/CD pipeline deployments. It is very easy to learn. Its security model is good."
"This is a scalable solution. We had around 200 users working with it."
"GitLab's best feature is Actions."
"There are several key aspects to Retool that make it stand out. Firstly, its extensive range of components makes integration straightforward. Secondly, its support for SQL and JavaScript allows for the implementation of complex logic, which is particularly beneficial for developers like yourself with experience in .NET development."
"We can create the dashboards quickly."
"The most valuable feature of Retool is the workflow because I can integrate multiple features, such as RESTful API, JavaScript API, or different databases on the same dashboard."
"The stability is okay."
"Retool's most valuable features are its drag-and-drop components and the ability to customize them extensively."
"Retool provides us with the opportunity to save time and be more efficient."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is connectivity with APIs and other databases."
 

Cons

"There was a problem with the build environment when we were looking at developing iOS applications. iOS build require Mac machines and there are no Mac machines provided by GitLab in their cloud. So to build for mobile iOS application, we needed to use our own Mac machine within our own infrastructure. If GitLab were to provide a feature such that an iOS application could also be built through GitLab directly, that would be great."
"GitLab's UI could be improved."
"We do face issues in our company when we run out of disk space."
"GitLab doesn't have AWS integration. It would be better to have integration with other container management environments beyond Kubernetes. It has very good integration with Kubernetes, but it doesn't have good integration with, for example, AWS, ETS, etc."
"In the free version, when a merge request is raised, there is no way to enforce certain rules. We can't enforce that this merge request must be reviewed or approved by two or three people in the team before it is pushed to the master branch. That's why we are exploring using some agents."
"The integration and storage capabilities could be better."
"The solution should be more cloud-native and have more cloud-native capabilities and features."
"Atlassian offers more products than GitLab. GitLab offers source control management, version control and collaboration between developers. Atlassian offers features on top of this as well as more integration points for developers."
"One area for improvement in Retool is expanding its library support to include a broader range of third-party JavaScript libraries."
"The part where we can add some custom logic or custom plugins could be better."
"Retool could enhance support, including efforts to establish support centers in Europe, which was lacking previously. However, the community is still in the growth phase, leading to potential delays in receiving responses to queries."
"There are restrictions on the front-end side."
"The solution lacks inbuilt customization to customize bar charts."
"The components are changed frequently, which is very irritating."
"Retool should add more resource integration."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The open-source version is very good and the commercial version is reasonably priced."
"It seems reasonable. Our IT team manages the licenses."
"The price of GitLab could be better, it is expensive."
"In total, I believe we have more than 300 licenses spread over about 100 users, though I can't comment on the costs involved."
"The solution is based on a subscription model and is reasonably priced."
"On a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the pricing a five out of ten."
"GitLab's pricing is good compared to others on the market."
"GitLab is an open-source solution."
"For new users, evaluate the scale of their administrative needs as Retool provides excellent free services for smaller setups, but larger deployments might require transitioning to a paid plan."
"The tool is a little bit expensive."
"For me, I'm in India right now, and we have Retool's subscription for one team member for $10 per month."
"I don't know Retool's current pricing, but it cost around $12 per month earlier."
"The pricing is very expensive. It costs for each user, for automated users, open-end users, et cetera."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
25%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
9%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about GitLab?
I find the features and version control history to be most valuable for our development workflow. These aspects provide us with a clear view of changes and help us manage requests efficiently.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for GitLab?
The pricing of GitLab is reasonable, aligning with what I consider to be average compared to competitors.
What needs improvement with GitLab?
Certain features in Jira are not available in GitLab, such as the functionality to have weights at the milestone and epic levels. Hopefully, these features will be resolved with work items in GitLa...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Retool?
For new users, evaluate the scale of their administrative needs as Retool provides excellent free services for smaller setups, but larger deployments might require transitioning to a paid plan.
What needs improvement with Retool?
One area for improvement in Retool is expanding its library support to include a broader range of third-party JavaScript libraries. This would enhance the tool's versatility and allow more complex ...
What is your primary use case for Retool?
I employ Retool primarily to build admin panels that effectively manage office and backend project staff. These panels facilitate the management of various organizational functions and streamline u...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

Fuzzit
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

1. NASA  2. IBM  3. Sony  4. Alibaba  5. CERN  6. Siemens  7. Volkswagen  8. ING  9. Ticketmaster  10. SpaceX  11. Adobe  12. Intuit  13. Autodesk  14. Rakuten  15. Unity Technologies  16. Pandora  17. Electronic Arts  18. Nordstrom  19. Verizon  20. Comcast  21. Philips  22. Deutsche Telekom  23. Orange  24. Fujitsu  25. Ericsson  26. Nokia  27. General Electric  28. Cisco  29. Accenture  30. Deloitte  31. PwC  32. KPMG
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Find out what your peers are saying about GitLab vs. Retool and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
847,772 professionals have used our research since 2012.