Head to head
Glide vs Retool (2026)
Retool takes the overall rating, but this pairing is decided on axes rather than totals: Glide leads 3 of the ten, Retool leads 6.
Glide
GlideOS: internal tools shaped like phone apps, built by people who are not developers
3.8out of 5
This review is of GlideOS, the product sold at glideapps.com/pricing today, and that distinction matters more than it sounds. The vendor's own FAQ says GlideOS "is a standalone product, completely separate from the original Glide platform (Glide Classic)", with "its own plans and pricing", requiring "a separate subscription", and "not accessible through the Glide Classic platform". Glide Classic still exists on its own separate plans, which we have not captured as of 20 August 2026, so if you are already running a Classic app, nothing on this page describes your bill. GlideOS itself is very good at a specific and common job: it takes operational mess and produces a fast, good-looking app your warehouse staff will actually use, more reliably than most of the index at 4.3. Note how it meters, because it is not what we used to publish: storage, projects and credits, not rows. Rows were a Glide Classic concept. The API needs the same care: the Glide Tables API works only with built-in Glide Tables and Big Tables, and the vendor excludes external sources such as Google Sheets, Airtable, SQL and Excel, so the data source is the real gate rather than the plan tier. Since connecting an existing spreadsheet is the archetypal Glide use case, that matters. There is no MCP server. There is no code export either. Judge it as an internal tools platform, on the SEO and GEO axis marked not applicable because nothing it builds is a public crawlable page, and it is a genuine buy.
- Price from
- USD 25 / month, billed monthly
- Best for
- Field teams, inspections, inventory and any internal process currently living in a shared spreadsheet
- Ratings
- 23
Retool
The internal tools standard, priced for companies that have an engineering budget
4.1out of 5
The most professionally engineered product in this index, and priced accordingly. Retool takes the top marks on integrations at 4.7 and reliability at 4.6 because it connects to real databases with real credentials, has genuine source control, and self-hosts properly: a full deployment inside your own VPC via Docker in about fifteen minutes, which is a stronger ownership story than any hosted builder here, including our top-ranked tool. It also imports React apps built elsewhere, from Lovable or Replit, by ZIP upload or GitHub sync, and it now promotes a hosted MCP server on its own homepage: "Build an app from your favorite AI coding agent and deploy it here within your governed Retool environment." The honest qualifier on that axis is that the MCP server exists while the Platform API is Enterprise only with no published per-call price. Two costs to plan for: per-user pricing gets expensive fast, and Agents are billed separately from AI credits at a rate the vendor does not publish, so agent-heavy usage cannot be costed from public information.
- Price from
- EUR 9 / builder / month, billed annually
- Best for
- Engineering teams building admin panels and operational tooling over production data
- Ratings
- 37
What each one looks like
Axis by axis
The leader on each axis is set in bold. The weight column is what that axis contributes to the overall rating, so a win on reliability counts for more than five times a win on code ownership.
| Axis | Weight | Glide | Retool | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16% | 4.3 | 4.6 | Retool |
| Integrations | 16% | 4.0 | 4.7 | Retool |
| SEO and GEO | 13% | n/a | n/a | Not compared, axis does not apply |
| Design quality | 12% | 4.2 | 3.7 | Glide |
| Agent performance | 10% | 3.4 | 3.6 | Retool |
| Speed | 9% | 4.1 | 4.0 | Glide |
| Value | 9% | 3.5 | 3.0 | Glide |
| Scalability | 7% | 3.2 | 4.5 | Retool |
| API and MCP access | 5% | 3.0 | 4.5 | Retool |
| Code ownership | 3% | 2.0 | 3.8 | Retool |
| Overall, weighted | 100% | 3.8 | 4.1 | Retool |
Axis definitions and the full weighting are on how we review. Both tools last verified 6 September 2026.
Where the capabilities differ
| Capability | Glide | Retool |
|---|---|---|
| Full-stack backend | No, app layer over a data source | Yes, connects to yours |
| Database included | Glide Tables and Big Tables, or connect Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable and SQL as external sources | No, bring your own |
| Auth included | Yes, with row owners | Yes, with SSO and granular permissions |
| Code export | No | Partial, apps as JSON in Git, plus React app import from Lovable or Replit by ZIP or GitHub sync |
| GitHub sync | No | Yes, source control on paid plans |
| One-click deploy | Yes | Yes, or self-host |
| Custom domain | Yes, paid plans | Yes, paid plans |
| Mobile or native output | PWA, installable on phones | Retool Mobile |
| Team collaboration | Yes | Yes, with review and staging |
| Public API or MCP server | Glide Tables API, and only for built-in Glide Tables and Big Tables. External sources such as Google Sheets, Airtable, SQL and Excel are excluded, and there is no MCP server | Yes, a hosted MCP server for building from an AI coding agent inside your governed environment. The Platform API is Enterprise only, with no published per-call price |
| Self-hosting the output | No | Yes, a full self-host inside your own VPC via Docker in about fifteen minutes |
Shaded rows are the ones where the two differ.
What each one costs
Glide
GlideOS sells a Free plan with limited credits, then Basic at USD 25 a month, Plus at USD 50 a month, Pro at USD 125 a month and a quote-based Enterprise tier. Credits are the metered unit, and the published app allowance runs 0, 2, 5 and then unlimited.
GlideOS Basic plan. Plus is USD 50 a month, Pro is USD 125 a month, and Enterprise is quote based. GlideOS is a separate subscription from Glide Classic and is not accessible through it.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Free | Free |
| Basic | USD 25 |
| Plus | USD 50 |
| Pro | USD 125 |
| Enterprise | On request |
Retool
Free plan for up to five users. Team from EUR 9 per builder a month billed annually, plus EUR 5 per internal user, and the tier most buyers actually need is Business at EUR 46 per builder plus EUR 14 per internal user.
Team plan, billed annually, EU price list, plus EUR 5 per internal user. The realistic tier is Business at EUR 46 per builder plus EUR 14 per internal user, because audit logging, permission controls, embedded apps and unlimited environments all start there. A reader anchored on about 10 EUR will be off by an order of magnitude.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Free | Free |
| Team | EUR 9 |
| Business | EUR 46 |
| Enterprise | On request |
Prices are shown in the currency each vendor publishes, never converted. Sorting by price groups the currencies and orders within each one, so it is not an exact cross-currency comparison.
We list the plans we could verify on the vendor's own pricing page. Where a plan exists but its price was not published in a form we could capture, the row says so rather than carrying a number we cannot source.
Which one should you choose
Pick Glide if your project looks like field teams, inspections, inventory and any internal process currently living in a shared spreadsheet. Its strongest axes in this pairing are design quality, speed, value. Avoid it for public-facing products, anything that needs to rank in search, or anything you might want to export.
Pick Retool if your project looks like engineering teams building admin panels and operational tooling over production data. Its strongest axes here are reliability, integrations, agent performance. Avoid it for non-technical solo founders, and anything customer-facing.
And the dissenting notes, which we publish rather than average away: on Glide, Two panellists argued that reviewing GlideOS while Glide Classic remains on sale gives buyers half a picture, and that we should either capture Classic's plans or say plainly that we have not. The second is what this page now does. On Retool, The editor in chief pushed for a lower design score, arguing Retool output looks like Retool no matter what you do. The panel settled at 3.7 because internal users tend not to care.
Frequently asked
- Is Glide better than Retool?
- On our weighted overall rating, Retool scores higher: 3.8 for Glide against 4.1 for Retool. Axis by axis it is closer than that sounds. Glide leads 3 of the 9 axes that apply to both, Retool leads 6, and 0 are tied. The right choice depends on which axes you weight, not on which total is larger.
- Which is cheaper, Glide or Retool?
- Glide starts at USD 25 / month, billed monthly and Retool starts at EUR 9 / builder / month, billed annually. Each figure is the vendor's own published price and currency, not converted, so compare the pricing models rather than the two numbers: Glide bills as glideos sells a free plan with limited credits, then basic at usd 25 a month, plus at usd 50 a month, pro at usd 125 a month and a quote-based enterprise tier. credits are the metered unit, and the published app allowance runs 0, 2, 5 and then unlimited. and Retool bills as free plan for up to five users. team from eur 9 per builder a month billed annually, plus eur 5 per internal user, and the tier most buyers actually need is business at eur 46 per builder plus eur 14 per internal user..
- Can I move a project from Glide to Retool?
- Only as far as code export allows. On the code ownership axis Glide scores 2.0 and Retool scores 3.8 out of five, which reflects how much of the running application you can take with you and whether it still works once moved.
- Which one is better for search visibility?
- The SEO and GEO axis, which we weight at 13 percent, does not apply to both tools here. Glide builds software that sits behind a login or ships to an app store, so there are no public crawlable pages to test and the axis is left out of its overall rating. That is true of both tools, so search visibility is not the axis to decide this pairing on.