Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Handsontable VS Retool

Compare Handsontable VS Retool and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Handsontable logo Handsontable

JavaScript Spreadsheet

Retool logo Retool

Build custom internal tools in minutes.
  • Handsontable Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-05
  • Retool Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-04

Retool

Website
retool.com
$ Details
freemium $10.0 / Monthly (Startup)
Release Date
2017 January
Startup details
Country
United States
State
California
Founder(s)
David Hsu
Employees
10 - 19

Handsontable features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Handsontable provides an Excel-like interface that many users find intuitive and easy to navigate, reducing the learning curve for new users.
  • Feature-Rich
    It offers a wide range of features, including data validation, sorting, filtering, and support for complex data operations, making it suitable for various applications.
  • Customization
    Handsontable allows for high flexibility and customization, enabling developers to adapt it to their specific project requirements.
  • Performance
    Optimized for handling large datasets efficiently, thereby improving performance in data-intensive applications.
  • Integration
    Can be easily integrated with other frameworks and libraries, such as React, Angular, and Vue.js, offering a seamless development experience.
  • Active Development
    Handsontable is continuously maintained and updated with new features and improvements, ensuring it remains relevant and up-to-date.

Possible disadvantages of Handsontable

  • Cost
    Handsontable is not free for commercial use, which may be a limitation for small projects or individual developers with limited budgets.
  • Complexity
    For very simple applications, Handsontable may be overkill, adding unnecessary complexity and overhead.
  • Performance Limitations
    While optimized for large datasets, performance can still be an issue with extremely large or complex data manipulations.
  • Documentation
    Some users have reported that the documentation, while comprehensive, can sometimes be difficult to navigate or lacks clarity in certain areas.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its user-friendly interface, developers might still face a learning curve when integrating it with complex applications.

Retool features and specs

  • Speed of Development
    Retool allows developers to rapidly build internal tools with a drag-and-drop interface, reducing the time it takes to get functional applications up and running.
  • Integration Capabilities
    Retool supports integration with a wide range of databases, APIs, and other services, making it easier to connect different data sources and systems.
  • Customizability
    While Retool provides prebuilt components, it also allows for custom code and scripting, enabling developers to tailor applications to specific requirements.
  • Collaboration Features
    Retool supports collaborative features, such as sharing applications with team members and version control, making it easier to work in teams.
  • Security
    Retool provides robust security features, including access control and data encryption, to help protect sensitive information.

Possible disadvantages of Retool

  • Cost
    Retool can be relatively expensive compared to building internal tools from scratch or using some other platforms, potentially making it less accessible for smaller teams or startups.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its user-friendly interface, there can be a learning curve for new users who need to become familiar with its specific functionalities and scripting capabilities.
  • Customization Limitations
    Though Retool offers customizability, there might be certain limitations compared to fully bespoke solutions, impacting highly specific or complex use cases.
  • Dependency on Retool
    Relying heavily on Retool may create a dependency that could be problematic if the company changes its pricing, features, or discontinues services.
  • Performance
    For very large datasets or highly complex operations, performance can become an issue, as it is with many platform-based solutions.

Handsontable videos

No Handsontable videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

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Retool videos

Retool - Logic Review

More videos:

  • Review - #Worth?! Ep.12 - Retool (Gameplay / Review)
  • Demo - February NY Enterprise Tech Meetup: Retool Demo

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Handsontable and Retool)
JavaScript Tools
100 100%
0% 0
No Code
0 0%
100% 100
Data Grid
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Handsontable and Retool

Handsontable Reviews

Best Free and Open-Source JavaScript Data Grid Libraries and Widgets
There are a lot of plugins available to add extra functionality to your grid. This includes things like auto-fill with drag-down and copy-down functionality. You can even perform Excel-like calculations by integrating HyperFormula, which is a powerful calculation engine developed by the Handsontable team.

Retool Reviews

Top 5 Dynobase alternatives you should know about - March 2025 Review
The choice ultimately depends on your environment and use case. Many teams use a combination of tools: for example, Dynomate for developers, and a Retool app for operations or support teams. By understanding the strengths of each alternative, you can select the tool (or combination of tools) that best integrates with your AWS workflow, making DynamoDB development smoother...
Source: www.dynomate.io
React UI Components Libraries: Our Top Picks for 2023
Retool offers extensive documentation and support. Its support is available on its Discourse forum, Slack (if you are a Retool power user), Intercom for live chat, and dedicated support for enterprise customers.
Source: kinsta.com
ILLA Cloud vs. Retool vs. Bubble - Unveiling the Best Low-Code Platforms
In the quest for the best low-code platform, Retool, Bubble, and ILLA Cloud all offer unique features and capabilities. While Retool shines with its self-hosted option and Bubble contributes to the open-source community, ILLA Cloud stands out as a powerful and flexible low-code platform. With its comprehensive feature set, affordable pricing models, and self-hosted...
Top 9 Low-Code Tools for 2023 for low-code development
Retool is a powerful low-code platform that enables developers to build internal tools and apps with ease. It offers a drag-and-drop interface and a wide range of pre-built components for seamless development. Retool integrates with various data sources and external services, allowing users to fetch data, perform calculations, and display results in real-time. Its...
Superblock vs Retool: A Comprehensive Comparison for Low-code development Platforms
Retool caters to a diverse audience, including developers, product managers, and business professionals. Developers benefit from Retool's low-code capabilities, allowing them to build applications quickly without sacrificing customization. Product managers can leverage Retool to streamline internal workflows and enable teams to be more productive. Business professionals can...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Retool seems to be a lot more popular than Handsontable. While we know about 104 links to Retool, we've tracked only 9 mentions of Handsontable. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Handsontable mentions (9)

  • Battle of the Rows: The Limits of Data Performance
    Welcome to our recently conducted series of performance benchmarks. Data grids are becoming more popular and increasingly important as they play a vital role in managing and visualizing large datasets, especially in data-intensive applications. In this article we are going to evaluate one of the most famous data grids: AG Grid, Handsontable, and RevoGrid. Our goal was to provide you with some insight into this... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Recommendation on stack for a spreadsheet-like product
    Https://handsontable.com/ This is the best commercial library you can just buy and put it in your product. Source: over 3 years ago
  • [AskJS] Is there a good table js library?
    I've always liked https://handsontable.com/ but I'm not sure what the licensing is for something other than a personal project. Source: over 3 years ago
  • Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2022)
    Handsontable | Head of Engineering/Tech Lead | On-site/Hybrid/Remote within Poland | https://handsontable.com/ We are looking for a Head of Engineering for our portfolio of. - Source: Hacker News / over 3 years ago
  • Top JavaScript Spreadsheet Components for Data Management Apps
    Handsontable is primarily known as a JavaScript grid library for business apps but the decision to include it in this article is not accidental. Although this tool doesn't offer as many text formatting options as Excel, it includes quite a lot of features for manipulating data typical of spreadsheets. The list of the most widely used Handsontable features includes operations on rows & columns (moving, hiding,... - Source: dev.to / about 4 years ago
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Retool mentions (104)

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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Handsontable and Retool, you can also consider the following products

DataTables - DataTables is a plug-in for the jQuery Javascript library.

Airtable - Airtable works like a spreadsheet but gives you the power of a database to organize anything. Sign up for free.

ZingGrid - Built using web components, ZingGrid is a fully-featured, native solution for interactive, mobile-friendly JavaScript data grids and tables.

Bubble.io - Building tech is slow and expensive. Bubble is the most powerful no-code platform for creating digital products.

AG Grid - The best HTML5 datagrid in the world

Appsmith - Appsmith is an open source web framework for building internal tools, admin panels, dashboards, and workflows.