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Founder, No Code MBA
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Coda vs Retool

An in-depth head to head comparison

In this article, read a side-by-side comparison between two no-code tools: Coda and Retool. We'll compare pricing, the benefits, the drawbacks, give examples of what you can and can't build, as well as our overall recommendation.

What is Coda?

A new doc that brings together words, data, and teams together
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What is Retool?

Build internal tools, remarkably fast
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Pricing

Coda pricing

  • Free plan with limited document size and limited integrations (called "packs" in Coda)
  • Pro - $10/month per doc maker, free editors/viewers
  • Team - $30/month per doc maker, free editors/viewers
  • Enterprise – Details on request

Retool pricing

  • Free plan with editor mode only and up to 5 modules
  • $10/month - $50/month per user enables user mode (people can use your app without the ability to edit your set up), version history, more modules, and more advanced features

Benefits

Coda benefits

  • Bring structured and unstructured data together in one web page.
  • Lots of templates
  • Bring in data from popular apps like Gmail, Github, Slack, etc
  • Build automations between apps (for example, send a Slack message when you receive an email)
  • Can replace both simple Google docs as well as more complex internal processes

Retool benefits

  • Build internal apps connected to your company's data
  • Supports data from just about every database and data source
  • Lots of templates and components
  • Display, filter, and edit your company's data directly from retool
  • Allows businesses to create custom dashboards without developer resources

Drawbacks

Coda drawbacks

  • Can't publish as a website or app without Coda branding

Retool drawbacks

  • Somewhat high learning curve

What you can build

Coda use-cases

  • App-like, published webpages with varying levels of interactivity and a sleek interface
  • Customized workflows for everything from a design sprint to a CRM
  • A database or wiki to house team knowledge, pulling information from other docs or other tools (e.g. Jira)
  • Automations like sharing team notes to Gmail or sending time-based Slack reminders to teammate

Retool use-cases

  • Internal dashboards
  • Internal apps for your business such as a refund management system, data visualization, inventory management, content scheduler, promo code manager and more

What you can't build

What you can't build with Coda

  • A standalone app that can be published to an app store
  • A published app or website without Coda branding

What you can't build with Retool

  • Customer-facing apps (Retool apps are meant to be used internally)

Overall Recommendation

Coda recommendation

Coda is a great tool for working collaboratively with your team, as well as for building automations for internal processes.

It has a much easier learning curve than something like Retool, but is less powerful and connects to less data sources.

It also has somewhat similar functionality to Airtable, but is less optimized for large data sets (10K+ rows).

Where I'd recommend Coda is to replace Google Sheets and Google Docs as much as possible, and build lightweight automation for internal processes.

Retool recommendation

Retool is a fantastic tool for building internal apps at your business.

Where Retool really shines is allowing non-technical people to build apps that interact with a live database without needing to use developers.

Retool is the best tool for this use-case.

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Easy to follow tutorials broken down into lessons between 2 to 20 minutes
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Bring Your Ideas to Life with AI and No Code

Unlock premium step-by-step tutorials building real apps and websites
Easy to follow tutorials broken down into lessons between 2 to 20 minutes
Get access to the community to share what you're building, ask questions, and get support if you're stuck
Access all of this with No-Code MBA Unlimited
Unlock premium step-by-step tutorials building real apps and websites
Easy to follow tutorials broken down into lessons between 2 to 20 minutes
Get access to the community to share what you're building, ask questions, and get support if you're stuck
Friendly Tip!
Companies often reimburse No Code MBA memberships. Here's an email template to send to your manager.

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