Where is Retool still saving time vs AI-assisted React/Postgres apps?

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I’m looking for feedback from people using Retool for serious internal tools, especially anyone who has used both classic Retool and the new app builder.

We used classic Retool in the past and were not especially happy with it. In practice, it felt like we were building a custom app inside a constrained UI framework:

  • The UI framework felt dated, no first-class support for responsive flexbox-style ui layouts

  • Basic data grids take work to put together and are limited, pagination vs virtualized. With all the work I want the end result to be first class and performant

  • Component options felt limited: no strong gallery/card view, limited Gantt/calendar options, and weak nested-data patterns.

  • The component model is monolithic, either use the monolith, or build out custom-coded components. There is no way to build out complex UI from smaller atomic parts.

  • Because our data lived in an external Postgres/backend API, we still had to build POST/PATCH endpoints, server-side filtering, pagination, forms, custom queries, frontend state, and workarounds for nested data UI.

  • The app builder Ui was difficult to use, layout out a simple form too a lot of fighting a janky drag and drop interface

Maybe we architected it wrong. Maybe we should have used Retool Database, direct Postgres connections, or a different query pattern. The way we built our app in retool we had to build out a lot of basic functionality manually without ai agent assistance. Beyond a simple data grid with client-side filtering, we found ourselves building almost everything manually. In practice, when are client-side filtered tables sufficient for real internal tools?

The comparison I’m trying to make is:

Approach Clear advantage Main concern
Airtable Instant tables, gallery views, nested tables, forms, tags, filters, multiple views, and basic CRUD. Performant and virtualized. Ai agent works within ecosystem. Record limits, automation/API limits, permissions, versioning, limited customization
Retool classic Hosted internal app shell, resource connections, basic table apps. Useful out of the box components like PDF viewers etc Lots of work to build out basic CRUD, no first class support for nested data grids, no galley view, limited Gantt chart, ai agent doesn’t work within ecosystem, Once data/UX gets complex, you need to build everything yourself.
New Retool app builder Potentially React/TypeScript + Retool infra + MCP/agent workflow Unclear what is now first-class vs still custom code
Custom React/Postgres Full control, clean architecture, normal codebase, no platform ceiling Must build all admin UI, CRUD, filters, views, auth, deployment, etc.

The specific pain point is data interaction:

Need Airtable Retool classic, as we used it Custom React/Postgres
Create table/grid Immediate Fast for simple cases Build it
Edit records/forms Immediate Build form + wire queries Build it
Tags / multi-select First-class Custom handling Build it
Filter/search/sort larger datasets Smooth within Airtable limits Client-side dump or custom server-side filtering Build server-side
Gallery/card views First-class Mostly custom Build it
Nested relational views Built-in enough for many cases Workarounds/custom state Build it
Bulk actions Workarounds/automations Custom queries/actions Build it
Domain logic Poor fit; use backend Risk of scattered logic unless disciplined Cleanest fit

That is where I’m stuck. Airtable is limited, but the productivity gain is obvious: create data, view it, filter it, edit it, and move quickly. With classic Retool, the productivity gain was less obvious once we needed server-side filtering, forms, relational views, galleries, and custom workflows. I would also say that as we build our app the amount of baric CRUD operations that don’t need to do through our domain model gets smaller.

With Cursor, Claude Code, v0/Builder-style tools, shadcn, TanStack Table, Supabase/Postgres, etc., custom internal app development has also gotten much faster. Is it just better to take a month and build it yourself and own it?

So my question is:

Where does Retool actually save time today compared with an AI-assisted React/Postgres internal app? With the advances in AI are these tradeoff save time now vs sacrifice downsteam flexibility worth it?

Specifically:

  • Has the new app builder changed this tradeoff?

  • Is the Cursor/MCP workflow useful in day-to-day development?

  • If your data lives in external Postgres/Supabase or your own backend, how are you architecting Retool to create quick datagrids with out of the box CRUD operations?

  • Does Retool now provide a better path for CRUD, forms, pagination, filtering, galleries/cards, nested views, tags, and bulk actions?

  • Does Retool work well as a thin UI layer when domain logic lives in your own backend?

  • Where does Retool still slow you down?

I’m trying to understand the real tradeoffs so we do not save two weeks upfront and lose months downstream fighting the framework.

For teams who have made this comparison recently: what did you choose, and why?

Questions about new app builder beta
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hate to say this, but when I started on Retool, coding agents weren’t as matured as today. Today, the drag and drop nature of Retool is a big limiting factor to my team. The new Retool MCP is a great start but it cannot edit the canvas directly, I love Retool, and I hope the team can accelerate this.

Not to mention a lot of entreprise grade features are behind the 5 figure paywall

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Thanks for posting, @benjaminfortunato! There are already some great conversations happening across the forum - here, for example - and I recommend checking them out!

To answer your primary question, though, we've really embraced the fact that AI-assisted development has changed the game when it comes to speed. The new app builder lets you use your favorite LLM to build Retool apps at the speed of AI, but I don't think that is still our primary differentiator. Instead, Retool accelerates the process of deploying and maintaining the apps that you've built and gives you confidence that they're running in a secure, governed environment. At a high level, I'd say that our time-saving impact has thus moved a bit downstream.

I'll share some technical details, as well:

  • Retool apps are now written as React apps that hook into an org's authentication scheme and resource definitions. And they actually utilize the shadcn/ui component library!
  • The Retool MCP includes a wide variety of tools that allow you to do most things via your favorite LLM, including resource CRUD and app building.
  • In terms of data flow, there are two primary primitives: resource definitions (including authentication scheme) and serverless functions. The latter isn't yet reusable across apps, but will be coming soon.

I'm happy to answer any additional specific questions, but think this is a good place to start!

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Hey @wonka - out of curiosity, have you tried using the new app builder?

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Hey @Darren , yes I did, my first impression was it was a bit slow, and completely changed the original design of my app when I was migrating over, but it’s the right direction

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Glad to hear it - the app conversion process is definitely something we're iterating on. To your earlier point, though, the MCP will likely never hook into the classic drag-and-drop app builder. It's fully integrated into the new experience, though! As you spend more time building, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts.

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