1v1 Pricing Showdown
Glide vs Retool
Side-by-side pricing breakdown for No-Code App Builders decision-makers
Prices in USD, verified from the United States. Regional pricing may vary.
When choosing between Glide and Retool for your no-code app builders stack, the right answer depends on three things: your budget, the specific features you actually use day-to-day, and your tolerance for renewal-price increases. Below we lay out the prices each vendor advertises today (verified against their live pricing pages), the plan limits that decide whether they'll fit your team, and the features that differ between them.
Glide starts at $199/mo; Retool starts at custom pricing. The cheaper headline price isn't always the cheaper total cost — renewal pricing, per-user fees, and overage charges can shift the math. Use the plan-by-plan tables below to model your actual spend.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| mobile first | Tablet and phone-native app output | — |
| spreadsheet backend | Google Sheets + Airtable + Excel + Glide Tables | — |
| 40 plus components | Free tier | — |
| unlimited drafts | Free tier | — |
| workflows | Business+ — automation | Scheduled + triggered automation |
| api access | Business+ | — |
| users metric | Personal (Gmail, .edu) + business email accounts | — |
| updates metric | Changes to data + sync from external sources | — |
| 100 plus data sources | Enterprise — HubSpot + Stripe + PostgreSQL + Salesforce | — |
| single sign on | Enterprise only | — |
| data backups | Enterprise only | — |
| priority support account manager | Enterprise only | — |
| express support | Business+ | — |
| glide ai | AI features in Business+ tiers | — |
| internal tool focus | — | Admin panels + BI dashboards + ops tools |
| connects databases | — | PostgreSQL + MySQL + MongoDB + Snowflake + BigQuery + many |
| rest api integrations | — | Connect any REST/GraphQL API |
| saas integrations | — | Stripe + Salesforce + HubSpot + 50+ more |
| pre built components | — | 100+ UI components |
| javascript transforms | — | Custom logic in JavaScript |
| staging environment | — | Team+ |
| app release versions | — | Team+ |
| audit logging | — | Business+ |
| permission controls | — | Business+ |
| portals | — | Business+ — customer-facing |
| embedded apps | — | Business+ |
| saml openid sso | — | Enterprise only |
| source control git | — | Enterprise only |
| builder vs internal user | — | Builder = edited app in billing cycle; Internal = view-only |
| 20 percent annual savings | — | All paid plans |
Affiliate links — you pay the same price
Dive Deeper
About the no-code app builders category
No-code app builders in 2026 have specialized by target audience and output. 'Web app builders' (Bubble $29-349/month annual): visual programming for full-stack web applications with database + logic + UI. 'Internal tools for developers' (Retool $10-50/builder/month): connect databases/APIs/SaaS to build internal dashboards and admin panels. 'Mobile-first builders' (Glide $199+/month, Adalo $36-160/month annual): tablet/phone-native apps with spreadsheet or database backend. 'Cross-platform visual dev' (FlutterFlow $29-112.50/month annual): Flutter-based output for iOS + Android + web with exportable code. Adalo emphasizes 'flat, predictable pricing' (no usage-based charges). Bubble uses Workload Units (WU) metric — consumption-based pricing. Glide charges per updates (changes to data). Retool charges per 'builder' (user editing apps) vs 'internal user' (viewer). The 2024-2026 shift: AI code generation (FlutterFlow 5-500 requests/month, Adalo Ada AI assistant included, Glide AI features), GitHub integration (FlutterFlow Growth+), and generated code exports (FlutterFlow unique — get your Flutter source). Pricing philosophies diverge: Bubble's WU-based usage pricing scales with app complexity (cheaper for simple apps, expensive for power users), Adalo's flat pricing is predictable but capped on editors, Retool's builder-vs-internal-user split rewards read-heavy deployments, Glide's updates-based pricing aligns with data change frequency.
How to choose between no-code app builders options
First: what are you building? Full-stack web application (SaaS with database + complex logic + web UI): Bubble Starter $29/month annual or Growth $119/month annual. Internal tools (admin panel, BI dashboard, ops tools connecting to Postgres/APIs/Stripe): Retool Free (5 users) or Team $10/builder + $5/internal user. Mobile app for operations (field service, inventory, customer-facing apps): Glide Business $199/month annual or Adalo Professional $52/month annual. Cross-platform native mobile + web with code export: FlutterFlow Basic $29.25/month annual or Growth. Second: team structure? Solo builder: Bubble Starter $29/month annual, Retool Free (5 users), Glide Free (1 editor), Adalo Starter $36/month annual, FlutterFlow Basic $29.25/month annual. 2-5 builders: Retool Team $50/builder/month ($10 Team for each additional), FlutterFlow Growth ($80 first + $55 second), Adalo Professional (5 editors for $52/month). 5+ builders: Retool Business $50/builder, FlutterFlow Business $150 first + $85 seats 2-5, Bubble Team $349/month annual. Third: consumption-based vs flat? Usage-based (Bubble WU, Glide updates): better for low-consumption apps but unpredictable at scale. Flat (Adalo): predictable monthly cost but caps editor count or published apps. Retool: per-builder predictable once you know builder count. Fourth: code export matters? FlutterFlow unique — export Flutter source code at Basic+ tiers. Others are proprietary platforms with no source export. Fifth: database needs? Bubble includes database. Retool expects you to bring database (connects to Postgres/MySQL/MongoDB/APIs). Adalo has built-in Postgres + Xano integration at Team tier. Glide uses Google Sheets/Airtable/Excel/Glide Tables as backend. FlutterFlow connects to Firebase or Supabase native. Sixth: audience — internal vs external? Internal tools: Retool purpose-built. Customer-facing mobile: Glide or Adalo. Customer-facing web: Bubble. External mobile + web: FlutterFlow (export code for App Store + Google Play). Seventh: AI generation? FlutterFlow Pro gets 200 AI generations/month; Basic gets 50; Business 500. Adalo Ada AI included all plans. Glide has AI features in Business+. Retool has Agents with free hourly allocations.
Building Your Business Stack?
Decision-makers comparing tools often need more than one category. Here are related comparisons:
WordPress.com)Frequently Asked Questions
- Does Glide or Retool offer a free plan?
- Glide and Retool both offer a free plan.
- Which is better, Glide or Retool?
- Retool scores 9.3/10 compared to Glide's 8.7/10 in our analysis. Retool ranks higher on features and value, but Glide may suit specific use cases — see the feature comparison above.
- Are there other no-code app builders alternatives besides Glide and Retool?
- Yes. Our [No-Code App Builders pricing comparison](/pricing/nocode-app-builders/) page covers all major providers with daily-verified prices. You can also see the [cheapest no-code app builders](/pricing/nocode-app-builders/cheapest/) for budget-focused options.