ToolJet vs Windmill
Both are alternatives to Retool. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as Windmill vs ToolJet — same comparison, one verdict.
ToolJet
Lighter than Appsmith, AGPL, and quick to stand up.
ToolJet is a low-code builder for internal tools with a visual app designer, around fifty data-source connectors, and a notably light deployment — it will run comfortably on hardware you would consider too small for Appsmith. AGPL-3.0 with roughly 38.3k stars. The licence is the thing to read carefully: AGPL is strong copyleft, which matters if you intend to modify it and offer it as a service to others. For ordinary internal use it changes nothing at all.
Windmill
For teams whose internal tools are mostly scripts and workflows.
Windmill takes the opposite approach to a drag-and-drop canvas: you write scripts in Python, TypeScript, Go or Bash and Windmill generates the UI from their inputs, alongside a workflow engine for chaining them. For an engineering team whose internal tooling is fundamentally automation with a form on top — reruns, backfills, ops jobs — that is a much better fit than a widget canvas. AGPL-3.0 core with a commercial enterprise edition. Roughly 17.5k stars, and unusually fast because the execution engine is Rust.
Side by side
| ToolJet | Windmill | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty Score | 89 | 88 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first | Yes | Yes |
| License | AGPL-3.0 (core; enterprise edition is commercial) | AGPL-3.0 (core; enterprise edition is commercial) |
| Pricing | Free and open source to self-host. Paid cloud and enterprise editions. | Free and open source to self-host. Paid cloud and enterprise editions. |
ToolJet edges it on the Sovereignty Score, but the right pick depends on the trade-offs below.
ToolJet
Strengths
- +Lightest deployment of the serious options — small servers are fine
- +Around fifty data-source connectors built in
- +Clean, fast app designer
- +Active development and a responsive community
Trade-offs
- −AGPL-3.0 strong copyleft — read it before modifying and redistributing
- −Smaller community than Appsmith
- −Enterprise features including SSO are commercial
- −Fewer worked examples for complex applications
Windmill
Strengths
- +Script-first: the UI is generated from code you already write
- +Serious workflow engine, not an afterthought
- +Rust execution engine — genuinely fast
- +Fits engineering teams better than a drag-and-drop canvas
Trade-offs
- −Wrong shape if you want non-engineers building tools
- −AGPL-3.0 strong copyleft
- −Smaller community than Appsmith or ToolJet
- −UI generation is less flexible than hand-placed widgets
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Facts verified 2026-08-07. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.