Retool vs Zoho Creator: What are the differences?

Introduction

Retool and Zoho Creator are two popular low-code development platforms that allow users to build and customize applications without extensive coding knowledge. While both platforms offer similar functionalities, there are key differences that set them apart from each other.

1. Customization Options: Retool offers a highly flexible and customizable interface, allowing users to tailor the user experience and create pixel-perfect designs. On the other hand, Zoho Creator provides a wide range of pre-built templates and modules, which can be customized to a certain extent, but offers less flexibility in terms of design and layout.

2. Integration Capabilities: Retool excels in its integration capabilities, allowing seamless connection with a variety of external APIs and databases. This enables users to fetch data from multiple sources and create dynamic applications. In contrast, Zoho Creator focuses more on its own suite of Zoho apps and provides limited options for integrating with other third-party services.

3. Deployment Options: Retool provides flexible deployment options, allowing users to deploy applications on their own servers or cloud providers of their choice. This offers more control and security to users. On the other hand, Zoho Creator primarily offers cloud-based deployment on Zoho's servers, limiting the deployment options and control for users.

4. Collaboration Features: Zoho Creator offers strong collaboration features, allowing multiple users to work on the same application simultaneously. It provides options for version control and track changes, making it suitable for team-based development. Retool, while it supports collaboration, lacks the same level of granular collaboration features provided by Zoho Creator.

5. Analytics and Reporting: Zoho Creator offers built-in analytics and reporting features, allowing users to generate visual reports and gain insights from their application data. Retool, on the other hand, provides basic reporting capabilities but lacks extensive built-in analytics features.

6. Pricing Structure: Retool offers a more flexible pricing structure, with options for both monthly and annual subscriptions. It also offers a free plan for limited usage. Zoho Creator follows a tiered pricing structure based on number of users and applications, making it more suitable for larger organizations.

In Summary, Retool excels in customization and integration capabilities, offers flexible deployment options, while Zoho Creator stands out with its collaboration features, built-in analytics, and tiered pricing structure.