Retool alternative for engineering‑led teams
Build secure custom internal software faster and cost-effectively.
Better developer experience
Transparent, scalable pricing
Best-in-class engineering support
From startups to Fortune 500s, the world’s leading teams rely on DronaHQ to build custom apps.
600+ panels managed by 2 devs
“Shift to DronaHQ was a critical step in modernizing our internal operations and enabling our team to move with incredible speed and focus on what truly matters to the business.”
Vivek Parihar / Head of Engineering
Superior engineering support you can count on
“We now ship four 4x faster with half the people. But what truly sets DronaHQ apart is their engineering support. They’re responsive, in‑tune with our needs. It gives us great confidence in every build.”
Christian Urrea / COO
Switching over from Retool for better DevEx
“We switched from Retool to DronaHQ for crucial features like centralized authorization, boosting our development speed by 60%. Now, 1 developer delivers the work of 8.”
Sagar Harale / Director of Engineering
Save tons of engineering hours
“Migrating to DronaHQ moved all our internal apps onto one platform, cut dev time, boosting productivity and putting our engineers' focus back on core product work.”
Amit Bhawnani / VP of Engineering
Platform that makes developer's life easy
Retool is strong for quick starts, but scaling it can slow teams down. Here’s how DronaHQ removes those limits.
Web & Mobile o/p
AI-enabled app building
Action flow builder
Powerful UI controls
Dynamic themes
Engineering calls
AI assistants
Custom MCP builder
Platform APIs
Multiple SSO
Custom SSO
Git sync
Multiple instances on self-hosted
Data environments
Builder capabilities
Add-ons
White labeled apps
Pricing
Transparent, flexible pricing for every stage
Whether you choose user‑based, usage‑based, or developer‑only licensing, DronaHQ keeps pricing predictable and cost‑effective, scaling smoothly as your apps and teams grow.
Get a tailored Retool migration plan and slash costs
Talk to a migration specialist for a tailored migration plan, cost breakdown, and engineering support in one call.
Proven migration playbook
Side‑by‑side feature mapping
Developer onboarding and support
Exhaustive AI suite
Advanced features from Business plan itself
Clevertap saves 50% on subscription fees with DronaHQ's dynamic licensing
Clevertap swiftly transitioned over 70 essential internal tools from Retool to DronaHQ within 30 days, saving over 50% in subscription costs thanks to dynamic licensing models, and achieving better ROI for custom application development.
Top alternative to Retool AI
Why IT and dev teams choose DronaHQ over Retool
What feels quick in the first sprint can turn into delays, rework, and cost creep as your needs grow.
Developer‑first experience
AI powered visual builder when you want speed, full‑code control when you need precision.
Ship once for web and mobile
Surpass mobile app limitations on Retool. Build custom apps natively for web and mobile in one go with DronaHQ’s cross-platform app builder.
Lowcode AI platform
DronaHQ sports meaningful AI-powered UI builder, database queries and JS generation widgets across platform to speed up time and remove complexities of coding.
Seamless data connections
Hook up to any database, API, or LLM with 75+ ready‑to‑use connectors. Easily add custom ones. Use them in apps or even to generate custom MCP servers.
Version control & environments
Git sync, branching, and multiple environments keep your app lifecycle predictable and secure.
Switch to DronaHQ for faster, cost‑effective app building
Confidently build the next generation of internal apps with AI‑driven low‑code.
Most teams start seeing migrated apps in production within 2–4 weeks. For example, CleverTap moved 70+ internal tools in 30 days. We follow a proven migration process that includes app audits, automated scaffolding where possible, and parallel testing to avoid downtime.
Yes — in most cases. Core UI, data bindings, and workflows can be recreated with equivalent or better components in DronaHQ. In many cases, customers take the migration opportunity to standardize UI, simplify logic, and combine apps that were previously fragmented in Retool.
Retool’s business plan starts at $50 per standard user and $15 per end-user monthly, which adds up as teams grow. DronaHQ offers a more affordable business plan from $25 per user monthly, plus offers flexible usage-based and developer-based options.
Yes. DronaHQ is designed to handle internal tools, partner portals, and public‑facing apps in the same builder. You can manage access, SSO, branding, and deployments across environments from one place without maintaining separate stacks for internal and external use cases.
Minimal changes for most internal tools. Your devs will map existing queries and APIs into DronaHQ’s connectors, rebuild custom JS or SQL logic in the visual flow builder (with code drops where needed), and re‑apply any business rules. If you have heavy custom React components in Retool, these can be integrated into DronaHQ’s Custom UI controls or re‑built with equivalent features.
DronaHQ is SOC 2 compliant, with flexible pricing plans tailored for enterprises like usage-based and developer-based options. We offer prompt feature rollouts, on-demand engineering support, and free engineering hours to accelerate onboarding.
DronaHQ provides 24/7 dedicated engineering support to all customers, regardless of plan. Retool limits such support to enterprise customers only, making DronaHQ a more reliable choice for consistent, accessible support.
Retool’s pricing grows with the number of end‑users or seats. DronaHQ offers unlimited end‑user (usage-based) plans and developer-only (self-host) licensing. This means you can roll tools out across your entire org, partners, or customers without triggering per‑seat cost spikes.