ToolJet

What is ToolJet?

ToolJet is an open source low-code platform for building internal tools — admin panels, dashboards, CRUD apps, and business workflows — on top of your own databases and APIs. You drag components like tables, forms, and charts onto a grid, bind them to queries, and add logic in JavaScript or Python. It has a React frontend and a Node.js backend, and self-hosts via Docker or Kubernetes.

What is ToolJet best for?

ToolJet fits teams that need to ship internal apps fast — support consoles, ops dashboards, data-entry forms — without standing up a full frontend project. It suits developers and technical operators who are comfortable writing a little JavaScript or SQL but want the UI, data binding, and deployment handled for them. It’s especially useful when your data is spread across several databases, APIs, and SaaS tools and you want one interface to read and act on all of it.

What can ToolJet do?

• Lay out apps from 60+ prebuilt components — tables, charts, forms, lists, maps — on a drag-and-drop grid
• Connect to 80+ data sources: Postgres, MySQL, MongoDB, REST/GraphQL APIs, cloud storage, and SaaS apps
• Store app data in the built-in ToolJet Database, a no-code Postgres-backed store, when you don’t already have a backend
• Write JavaScript and Python for transforms, custom logic, and chaining queries together
• Collaborate in real time with multiplayer editing, inline comments, and mentions
• Build automations beyond single screens with the workflow builder and AI agents
• Self-host via Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, or the major clouds (AWS, GCP, Azure)
• Extend it with custom connectors and plugins through the ToolJet CLI

Where does ToolJet fall short?

• Enterprise governance is gated. SSO, SCIM provisioning, granular and row-level access control, audit logs, multi-environment support, white-labeling, and Git sync sit in the paid Team and Enterprise tiers — the free AGPL community edition builds apps but leaves out most org-level controls.
• The headline AI is a paid feature. Generating a full app from a natural-language prompt is part of ToolJet AI, the commercial cloud/enterprise product — not the self-hosted community edition.
• The visual editor can be fiddly. Independent reviews note widgets can overlap on the grid and per-component styling is limited, and Git sync is single-branch only — weaker for teams that want branch-based review workflows.

Is ToolJet free?

Yes — the self-hosted community edition is free and open source under AGPL-3.0, with no per-user fees or app limits. ToolJet’s paid tiers cover its managed cloud and enterprise features: a free Cloud tier (2 builders, up to 50 end users, 2 apps), Pro at $79 per builder/month, Team at $199 per builder/month, and Enterprise from around $3,000/month. Governance and advanced security — SSO, SCIM, audit logs, row-level security — require Team or Enterprise, whether you run it on the cloud or self-host.

What does ToolJet replace?

ToolJet is an open source alternative to commercial internal-tool builders like Retool and Microsoft Power Apps. It covers the same core job — building admin panels, dashboards, and CRUD apps over your data — but you can self-host it, avoiding per-user seat pricing and vendor lock-in. Among open source options it sits alongside Appsmith and Budibase.

FAQ

Is ToolJet open source? Yes. ToolJet’s core is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and the source is on GitHub. The self-hosted community edition is fully open source; some enterprise features live in a separate commercial edition.

Can I self-host ToolJet for free? Yes. The community edition self-hosts free via Docker, Kubernetes, or Helm, with no per-user or per-app fees. You only pay for the managed cloud or enterprise-only features like SSO, SCIM, and audit logs.

Is ToolJet a good Retool alternative? For many internal-tool use cases, yes — it offers a similar drag-and-drop builder, 80+ data connectors, and JavaScript logic, but self-hostable and without Retool’s per-user pricing. Retool is more polished with a larger component library; ToolJet trades some of that polish for open source and cost control.

What do I need to run ToolJet? Docker (or Kubernetes/Helm) and a PostgreSQL database. It runs on a single server for small deployments and scales onto Kubernetes across AWS, GCP, or Azure. The stack is a React frontend with a Node.js backend.