Retool Pricing in 2026: Plans, Costs, and Billing Explained

Retool pricing can look straightforward at first: choose Free, Team, Business, or Enterprise, then pay based on users. In practice, the final monthly cost depends on the plan, user activity, annual or monthly billing, external users, workflow runs, AI credits, Agents usage, and whether the team needs enterprise controls.

This guide explains how Retool pricing works in 2026, what each plan includes, how builder and internal-user billing works, and which costs to model before committing.

Retool pricing at a glance

The important thing: Retool pricing is not only a per-seat price. A team with a few builders and many viewers can have a very different bill from a team where many employees edit apps or workflows.

How Retool bills users

Retool uses three billing user types:

• Builder: an enabled user who built or edited an app or workflow during the billing cycle.
• Internal user: an enabled user who used Retool but did not build or edit an app or workflow during the billing cycle.
• External user: someone outside your organization, such as a customer, partner, vendor, or contractor, who accesses apps you build.

Builder and internal-user billing is activity-based. Retool calculates user type at the end of each billing cycle based on what each enabled user did during that month.

That distinction matters. If an employee only uses apps, they should usually be billed at the internal-user rate. If they edit apps or workflows, they can be billed as a builder for that cycle. On Business plans, admins can use permission groups to restrict users from editing apps or workflows so they remain internal users.

Retool Free plan

Retool's Free plan is useful for early exploration, prototypes, and very small teams. It includes unlimited web and mobile apps, 500 workflow runs per month, 5GB of data storage, up to 5 users, up to 20 hours per month of Agents usage, and 250 AI credits per month.

The Free plan is not the right fit if you need larger team access, staging workflows, governance controls, portals, embedded apps, or enterprise security features.

Retool Team pricing

Retool Team is the first paid plan for collaborative teams. It is designed for teams that have outgrown the Free plan and need more than 5 users, staging, release versions, and a larger monthly workflow allowance.

Common US pricing for Team is:

• Monthly: $12 per builder/month and $7 per internal user/month.
• Annual: $10 per builder/month and $5 per internal user/month, billed annually.

Retool's current pricing page may show localized currencies depending on region. For example, the pricing page can display annual Team pricing as GBP for UK visitors. The underlying thing to verify is the same: how many builders you expect, how many internal users you expect, and whether you are choosing annual or monthly billing.

Team includes 5,000 workflow runs per month and 1,000 AI credits per month. Additional AI credit packs are available on paid plans.

Retool Business pricing

Retool Business is usually the plan teams evaluate when they need stronger access control, audit logging, external apps, embedded apps, or more mature environment management.

Retool's billing docs show this Business pricing:

• Monthly: $65 per builder/month and $18 per internal user/month.
• Annual: $50 per builder/month and $15 per internal user/month, billed upfront for the year.

Business adds audit logging, richer permission controls, portals and embedded apps, unlimited environments, unlimited modules, and access to external-user pricing.

For many teams, Business is where the Retool cost model becomes more important to calculate carefully. It can be a good fit for governed internal tools, but the final cost depends heavily on how many people become builders, how many employees only consume apps, and whether external users are part of the use case.

Retool Enterprise pricing

Retool Enterprise uses custom pricing. It is meant for organizations that need advanced governance, security, deployment flexibility, and support.

Enterprise can include SAML or OpenID Connect SSO, source control, custom branding, independent workspaces, platform APIs and workflow triggers, volume-based discounts, and dedicated support.

Retool also supports cloud and self-hosted deployment. Retool's pricing page states that Enterprise supports both cloud and self-hosting, which matters for teams with infrastructure, security, or data-residency requirements.

Monthly vs annual billing

Retool supports monthly and annual billing for paid plans.

Monthly billing has no upfront annual commitment. At the end of the billing cycle, Retool calculates builders and internal users for that month and bills the total.

Annual billing lets teams lock in a discounted rate for a committed number of builders and internal users, paid upfront for the year. If usage stays within that commitment, there are no extra user charges for the month.

There are two important details to model:

• Added users during a billing cycle are not prorated.
• If usage on an annual plan exceeds the prepaid amount, extra builders and internal users are billed monthly at monthly rates.

Retool's own Business Annual example shows 5 builders and 10 internal users at $50 and $15 respectively, for a $400 monthly equivalent and $4,800 upfront annual cost. If that team adds 1 builder and 4 internal users above the commitment in a month, Retool bills the overage at Business Monthly rates: $65 plus 4 x $18, or $137 for that month.

External-user pricing

External users are people outside your organization who access Retool apps, such as customers, vendors, partners, or contractors.

For Retool Cloud organizations on Business, Retool includes 50 external users per month at no cost. Above that, external users are priced in tiers:

External-user pricing was updated and went into effect on September 13, 2025. Enterprise external-user pricing is custom.

If you are building a customer portal, partner portal, vendor app, or public-facing operational app, model this separately from internal users. It can change the economics of the project quickly.

Workflow runs, AI credits, and Agents

Retool pricing also depends on usage beyond seats.

Workflow runs:

• Free includes 500 workflow runs per month.
• Team and Business include 5,000 workflow runs per month.
• Additional workflow runs are available at $75 per 5,000 runs per month.

AI credits:

• Free includes 250 AI credits per month.
• Team includes 1,000 AI credits per month.
• Business includes 3,000 AI credits per month.
• Enterprise includes 10,000 AI credits per month.

Retool says AI credits are pooled at the account level, renew monthly, and do not roll over. They cover app building and AI Actions. Agents are billed separately.

Agents:

• Retool organizations receive $50 of free Agents usage each billing month.
• Depending on the model used, that can equal up to 20 hours of Agents usage.
• After the free monthly limit is reached, paid usage is required for additional Agents usage during that billing month.

This matters if your Retool use case includes scheduled automations, ETL-like workflows, AI actions, or agent-based processes. Seat count alone will not explain the full bill.

Retool pricing examples

These examples are simplified and exclude taxes, discounts, enterprise agreements, additional workflows, extra AI usage, and professional services.

Example 1: Small Team plan

A team has 1 builder and 4 internal users on Team.

Monthly billing:

• 1 builder x $12 = $12
• 4 internal users x $7 = $28
• Estimated monthly total: $40

Annual billing:

• 1 builder x $10 = $10
• 4 internal users x $5 = $20
• Monthly equivalent: $30
• Annual upfront cost: $360

If the team can stay within Free plan limits, it may not need Team yet. If it needs staging, release versions, or more than 5 users, Team becomes more relevant.

Example 2: Business internal tools team

A business operations team has 5 builders and 20 internal users.

Monthly billing:

• 5 builders x $65 = $325
• 20 internal users x $18 = $360
• Estimated monthly total: $685

Annual billing:

• 5 builders x $50 = $250
• 20 internal users x $15 = $300
• Monthly equivalent: $550
• Annual upfront cost: $6,600

This is the kind of team where permissions matter. If too many employees can edit apps or workflows, more people may become builders for billing purposes.

Example 3: Business portal with external users

A team has a Business Annual plan with 5 builders, 10 internal users, and 210 external users.

Base annual monthly equivalent:

• 5 builders x $50 = $250
• 10 internal users x $15 = $150
• Base monthly equivalent: $400

External users:

• First 50 external users: free
• Remaining 160 external users x $8 = $1,280

Estimated monthly equivalent before other usage: $1,680

For external apps, the number of customers, vendors, or partners using the app can become a bigger cost driver than the internal team building it.

What can make Retool more expensive than expected

The most common cost drivers are:

• Builder activity: users who edit apps or workflows are billed as builders for that cycle.
• Permission setup: loose editing permissions can create more builders than expected.
• External users: portals and embedded apps can add tiered external-user charges.
• Workflow runs: automations can exceed the included monthly allowance.
• AI and Agents usage: AI credits are monthly and Agents are billed separately.
• Annual overages: annual plans can still create monthly charges if usage exceeds the prepaid commitment.
• Enterprise requirements: SSO, source control, self-hosting, custom support, procurement, and services can move the buyer into custom pricing.

The practical step is to model Retool pricing by use case, not only by plan.

When Retool pricing is worth it

Retool can be worth the cost when a developer-led team needs to ship internal tools quickly on top of databases and APIs, especially when the organization values a mature platform, governance controls, app release workflows, portals, embedded apps, and enterprise deployment options.

It is especially relevant when engineering owns the app-building process and wants a platform that can support custom logic, workflows, permissions, and data-connected applications.

When to compare Retool pricing alternatives

You should compare Retool pricing alternatives when:

• many employees need to use apps, but only a few people build them;
• your app will have many external users;
• your team wants predictable costs around public app users;
• you need self-hosting or deployment flexibility and want to compare commercial terms;
• non-technical teams need more app-building ownership;
• you are comparing Retool with platforms such as UI Bakery, Appsmith, Superblocks, ToolJet, or Budibase.

UI Bakery is one option to evaluate if your team is building custom internal tools, admin panels, portals, dashboards, or workflow apps and wants a different pricing model. UI Bakery pricing is developer-seat based, includes unlimited apps and data-source connections, supports public and private apps, and offers cloud and self-hosted options.

For a broader platform comparison, see the full guide to Retool alternatives. For a direct product comparison, see UI Bakery vs Retool. To model UI Bakery's cost for your team, see UI Bakery pricing.

Retool pricing FAQ

Is Retool free?

Yes. Retool has a Free plan at $0. It includes up to 5 users, unlimited web and mobile apps, 500 workflow runs per month, 5GB of data storage, up to 20 hours per month of Agents usage, and 250 AI credits per month.

How much does Retool Team cost?

Common US pricing for Retool Team is $12 per builder/month and $7 per internal user/month on monthly billing, or $10 per builder/month and $5 per internal user/month on annual billing. Retool may show localized currencies depending on billing location.

How much does Retool Business cost?

Retool's billing docs show Business Monthly at $65 per builder/month and $18 per internal user/month. Business Annual is shown at $50 per builder/month and $15 per internal user/month, paid upfront annually.

What is the difference between a builder and an internal user in Retool?

A builder is an enabled user who built or edited an app or workflow during the billing cycle. An internal user is an enabled user who used Retool but did not build or edit an app or workflow during that cycle.

Does Retool charge for external users?

Yes, for external users above the included allowance. Retool Cloud Business includes 50 external users per month at no cost, then applies tiered pricing. Enterprise external-user pricing is custom.

Are Retool workflow runs included?

Yes, but with limits. Free includes 500 workflow runs per month. Team and Business include 5,000 workflow runs per month. Additional runs are available at $75 per 5,000 runs per month.

Are Retool Agents included?

Retool organizations receive $50 of free Agents usage each billing month, up to 20 hours depending on the model. Agents usage beyond the free monthly limit requires paid usage.

Is annual Retool billing cheaper than monthly billing?

Annual billing uses discounted seat rates, but it is paid upfront for a committed number of builders and internal users. If monthly usage exceeds the prepaid commitment, Retool bills extra users at monthly rates.

Can Retool be self-hosted?

Yes. Retool supports cloud and self-hosted deployment. Retool's pricing page states that Enterprise plans support both cloud and self-hosting.

When should I compare Retool alternatives?

Compare alternatives when Retool's pricing model, external-user costs, deployment terms, or builder/internal-user split do not match how your team plans to build and use apps. For example, teams with many app viewers, many external users, or a need for a different developer-seat model may want to compare UI Bakery and other Retool alternatives.