n8n vs Retool
n8n scores 8.7 to Retool's 8.4 among the workflow automation tools we rate, and is the better pick for 1 of the 4 kinds of buyer below.
n8n wins, 8.7 to 8.4
Retool connects to just 74 apps against n8n's 2,174, by far the widest gap in this pack. Retool's Team plan costs $11.88 a month per builder seat though, much less than n8n's Starter plan at $25.92. Both let agents work together, test and evaluate their outputs, and run on your own servers through a self-hosted edition. Retool keeps 30 days of run history on its cheapest plan; n8n keeps only 7.
Pick n8n if you want far more app connectors to work with.
Pick Retool if you want a lower price and email support included.
Best for
Who each one suits, decided on the criteria that matter to that buyer and the checked facts where the two differ.
- Cost of 1,000 five-step runs a month: $11.88 against $25.92
- Monthly price, cheapest paid plan: $11.88 against $25.92
- App connectors: 2174 apps against 74 apps
- But Retool leads on run history kept on the cheapest plan: 30 days against 7 days
- What agents can learn from: n8n Files, website, notion, google_drive, database, Retool Files, website, databases
- Ways to reach support: Email, community against Community
How they score
Both are scored the same way, against the other workflow automation tools we rate, from facts on each vendor's own pages. Retool leads on 4 of 7 criteria.
Where they differ
Every point where the two vendors' published facts disagree, with a link to where each fact was read. "Not published" means the vendor does not say either way.
Published by only one of them
Where they match (11)
Pricing, plan by plan
Every plan each vendor publishes, monthly and yearly where both are offered.
n8n
Retool
Pros and cons
From each tool's full review, written from the same checked facts.
n8n
- The self-hosted community edition is genuinely free with no workflow limits, which is rare among automation platforms.
- Code nodes allow JavaScript or Python to be inserted anywhere in a workflow, so developers never feel constrained by visual node limitations.
- Full infrastructure flexibility — runs on Docker, on-prem, or cloud depending on team preference.
- The visual canvas shows every step of a workflow with execution tracing, giving technical users clear visibility into what happened and why.
- A 200,000+ strong community actively solves real problems, often filling the gap when official support is slow.
- Cloud plans start at just €24/month, making the paid tier accessible compared to competitors that charge significantly more.
- Built without dumbing down the interface, making it a genuinely powerful tool for technical and DevOps teams.
- Non-technical users tend to bounce off the platform quickly due to its complexity and technical design philosophy.
- The interface is not designed to hide complexity, which creates a steep learning curve for teams without developer resources.
- Support tickets can be slow, pushing users to rely on the community forum rather than official channels.
- The tool is not competing with beginner-friendly platforms like Zapier, so teams expecting that experience will be disappointed.
- Self-hosting requires infrastructure management overhead that smaller or less technical teams may not be equipped to handle.
Retool
- The drag-and-drop app builder allows developers to ship internal tools in an afternoon that would otherwise take weeks of custom engineering.
- Enterprise-grade governance features including audit logging, permission controls, staging environments, and source control are built into the core product, not added as afterthoughts.
- Supports web, iOS, Android, and self-hosted deployments, making it viable for regulated industries like financial services and manufacturing.
- The platform has expanded into four distinct layers — build, launch, scale, and govern — giving teams a structured path from prototype to production.
- AI-assisted app generation via AppGen can take a natural language prompt and produce a production-ready app.
- Native AI Agents capability includes observability and evaluation tooling built in rather than bolted on.
- With 10,000+ teams using it across seven years, Retool has a proven track record and mature product depth beyond basic app building.
- Retool occupies an awkward middle ground between no-code and developer platform, which creates real friction for teams that don't fit that specific profile.
- The platform's complexity and positioning means teams either find it a perfect fit or struggle with it from day one — there is little middle ground in user experience.
- Teams migrating from simpler tools like Appsmith or Budibase may find the governance overhead unnecessary if they don't have enterprise compliance requirements.
- The breadth of features — app builder, workflows, AI agents, and a database layer — can make the product harder to evaluate and onboard quickly.
- Self-hosting, while available, adds operational overhead that smaller teams or those without dedicated infrastructure may find burdensome.
- The aggressive push into AI features like AppGen and Agents introduces unproven capabilities that may not yet match the maturity of the core app builder.
n8n vs Retool: common questions
Which is better, n8n or Retool?
n8n scores 8.7 and Retool 8.4 out of 10 among the workflow automation tools we rate. n8n is ahead on apps it connects to. Retool is ahead on pricing, reliability and control, hosting and security and support.
Is n8n or Retool cheaper?
n8n's cheapest paid plan is €24/mo — Starter and Retool's is $12/mo. Compare what each plan includes below before going on price alone.
Do n8n and Retool have a free plan?
Yes, both do.
