TL;DR: Retool is today’s standard for internal tools. If your data may live in the US cloud and per-user pricing is fine for you, Retool is faster live. If you need EU compliance, manage multiple tenants, or don’t want to build an audit trail yourself — that’s where Kumiko comes in.
What Retool is
Hosted internal-tools platform out of the US. Drag-and-drop editor, ~150 prebuilt data connectors (Postgres, MongoDB, Stripe, Salesforce, …), JavaScript for custom logic. Market leader for “dashboards on internal data” with around 10,000 paying customers.
Pricing: From $10/user/month, Enterprise with per-action billing. At 100 employees realistically ~$1,000/month = $12,000/year.
Where Retool is stronger
Honestly:
- Connector library: 150+ prebuilt connectors. Exotic data sources (Salesforce, Snowflake, MongoDB Atlas) — Retool has them ready
- Mature UI components: tables with filters and sorting, charts, maps — all there, all tested
- Time to first dashboard: if your data is in a Postgres in the US cloud and you need a read-only dashboard, Retool is done in an hour
- Community + templates: marketplace with prebuilt templates, big community
Where Kumiko is stronger
| Aspect | Retool | Kumiko |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting in DE | Enterprise tier (US-managed) | Hetzner / on-prem / bare-metal — your choice |
| GDPR + DPA | Nightmare (US cloud, Schrems II risk) | Architecturally compliant |
| AI features | Cloud-only AI (US providers) | BYOK: Anthropic, OpenAI or local model via env-var |
| Multi-tenant | Per-user pricing scales with tenants | Built-in, single price |
| Audit trail | Build it yourself | Built in, every change end-to-end |
| Lock-in | High — your app lives in Retool’s cloud | Low — code in your repo, framework public (BSL → Apache-2.0 after 2 years) |
| Price scaling | Per user per month | Per app (~€49–149/month) plus hosting |
| App depth | Dashboards + forms (no workflows, no state machines) | Real backend with aggregates, workflows, realtime |
When you should pick Retool
Honestly:
- Your data may go to the US cloud (no GDPR conflict)
- You need a read-only dashboard on existing data sources — not a real app
- Time-to-first-live is the only criterion (1 hour vs 1 day)
- Fewer than 20 users, no multi-tenant need
- You have an exotic connector (Salesforce, Snowflake) you don’t want to build yourself
When you should pick Kumiko
- EU compliance is required (GDPR, DPA, hosting in DE)
- Your tools need multiple tenants / locations / departments cleanly separated
- Audit trail is regulated (ISO 27001, BaFin, SOC 2)
- You want more than a dashboard — real workflows, state machines, realtime updates
- Per-user pricing hurts (more than 50 employees)
- You accept ~1 day initial setup for €0 per user and full code control
Migration from Retool to Kumiko
Realistically a 2–4-week project for a mid-size tool. Data source stays (same Postgres), UI is regenerated, custom JavaScript becomes TypeScript handlers. Migration audit is included in the pilot program.
→ Pilot program: hello@kumiko.so