Is Budibase or Retool cheaper?

Budibase has the lower entry price — Budibase starts at $0/mo and Retool at $0/mo.

Does Budibase or Retool support HIPAA?

HIPAA support — Budibase: —; Retool: —. Confirm current scope with the vendor.

Best Internal Tool Builders · head-to-head

Budibase vs Retool

A sourced, side-by-side comparison for internal tool builders. Budibase has the lower entry price. Every figure links to the public page it was captured from — the vendor's own wherever the vendor publishes the number, otherwise the named public source — with the date we captured it.

Budibase has the lower entry price — Budibase starts at $0/mo, Retool at $0/mo. Free tier: Budibase Yes, Retool Yes. HIPAA: Budibase —, Retool —.

As of 2026-09-05 · figures link to their source below

Side by side

Budibase

$0/mo entry

Entry price$0/mo (Open Source (Self-hosted))

Free tierYes

HIPAA (BAA)—

SOC 2—

GDPR—

Best forSMEs and enterprises building employee-facing request and approval workflows

Retool

$0/mo entry

Entry price$0/mo (Free)

Free tierYes

HIPAA (BAA)—

SOC 2Yes

GDPRYes

Best forEngineering teams building internal ops tools at scale

Sources — Budibase: budibase.com (verified 2026-09-02) · Retool: retool.com (verified 2026-09-05)

Key features

Budibase: Open-source fair-code with self-hosted option (unlimited users, no seat fees); ISO 27001 certified with SOC 1/2 data-center compliance for cloud infrastructure; AI-powered agents that handle employee requests across Slack, Teams, and other channels; Low-code workflow automation with approval routing, conditions, and loops; Multi-channel integration supporting 100+ business tools and databases

Retool: Visual drag-and-drop UI builder with 100+ pre-built components; Enterprise governance layer with inherited permissions and audit logs; Workflow automation with JavaScript/Python code steps; AI-powered app generation and code assistance; Self-hosted (on-prem, VPC) and cloud deployment options

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