Best offer on record: Retool Free plan (cloud). 4 verified findings, checked 2026-10-22.
Offers
Retool Free plan (cloud) high confidence
Permanently free plan, $0/mo. Unlimited web & mobile apps; up to 5 users; 500 workflow runs/month; 5GB data storage; up to 20 agent-hours/month plus 250 AI credits/month. AI credits are account-level and monthly with no rollover; bonus credits 'may change over time'; agent execution pauses when free agent-hours are exhausted. Page states no credit-card requirement and no time-limited trial; this is a standing tier, not a trial. No region limits stated on the page.
Eligibility
Anyone; no .edu, no funding-stage, no region limit stated. Credit card NOT required for the Free plan.
How to claim
Sign up at retool.com; the Free plan is applied automatically with no card entry. Keep the org on the Free plan (up to 5 users) and use 500 runs / 20 agent-hours / 250 AI credits per month at no cost.
Expiry
No expiry; renews indefinitely at $0 while the org stays on the Free plan.
Gotchas
Trial-vs-free: none — this is a free tier, not a trial. Agents bill by the hour separately from the AI-credit pool and pause at 20 h/mo. Free plan lacks Team/Business features (public apps, release versions, staging, granular permissions). AI-credit allowances (20 agent-hrs + 250 credits) are a recent 2025-era addition to the Free tier, not a legacy free-tier value.
All four tiers (Free, Team, Business, Enterprise) support self-hosting. Free self-hosted keeps the 5-user cap and adds 'unlimited database management' on top of the cloud-free limits. Team/Business self-host cap at up to 100 users; Enterprise self-host adds multi-instance deployments and bring-your-own-PostgreSQL. You run and operate your own infrastructure (no cloud hosting; agent-hour/AI-credit entitlements are not documented for self-hosted Free).
Eligibility
Anyone; no card, no .edu, no region limit stated. Requires your own Postgres/infrastructure.
How to claim
Install the Retool self-hosted edition (builds from retool.com; Free license, no card); self-hosting is opt-in on any plan tier — no claim form needed.
Expiry
No stated expiry; the Free tier is standing.
Gotchas
Data/egress costs are yours: infrastructure, hosting, maintenance. The 5-user cap applies even when self-hosted (matches the cloud Free tier). Feature parity for Agents/AI on self-hosted Free is not stated on the pricing page.
Retool for Startups program (100% off year 1, up to $60k value) high confidence
Year 1: 100% off coupon for one year on a monthly Team or Business plan, value up to $60,000. Year 2: 25% off coupon on the paid plan. Year-1 Agents: up to 50 hours / $125 of free usage per month; Year 2: up to 20 hours / $50 per month; usage beyond that is billed out-of-pocket (year 2 with the 25% coupon applied). VCs/accelerators/incubators can add Retool to their deal books via the partner channel.
Eligibility
All of: bootstrapped, angel-funded, debt-funded, pre-seed, seed, or Series A; total funding raised under $10M; founded within the last 10 years; new Retool customer on a MONTHLY Team or Business plan (no annual plans, no Enterprise). Excluded: customers already on a paid plan for multiple billing cycles, and any org previously enrolled (one-time only, no re-application). No region limit stated.
How to claim
Steps: (1) create a free Retool org; (2) upgrade to the monthly Team or Business plan via plans & billing — card info required but not billed immediately; (3) submit the Startup Program application (HubSpot form linked in the docs and at retool.com/startups); (4) acceptance email; the 100% discount auto-applies to the first invoice at end of first billing cycle. No reply after a week: email startups@retool.com.
Expiry
100% discount lasts exactly 1 year from approval date, then 25% off in year 2, then full price (graduates). No extensions are granted. If nothing changes, Retool automatically continues the current plan and charges the card on file. Downgrade to the Free plan at any time via plans & billing.
Gotchas
Credit card IS required at signup for the paid plan (though not billed immediately and invoices are $0 under the 100% off). Monthly-only program — annual contracts and Enterprise are ineligible. Overage Agents usage charges out-of-pocket. Card on file is charged at discount expiry if you stay on the plan.
Retool Education program (free Team/Business for students & educators) high confidence
100% off discount for any MONTHLY Team or Business plan — i.e., free Business-tier access for the duration of eligibility (third-party aggregators such as StudentPerks quote ~$120/yr value; official docs give no dollar cap). No agent-hour/AI-credit add-ons are specified for this program. No stated region limits; an education email is the eligibility signal. Exclusions: admin/back-office/operational staff at educational institutions, former students/educators who merely retained a .edu, edtech companies and education-adjacent service providers.
Eligibility
Current students or individual educators; education (e.g., .edu) email address required. One program per org (if accepted to another discount program, you cannot apply to this one).
How to claim
Steps: (1) create a free Retool organization using your education email; (2) submit the Education Program application (Typeform linked from the Discount Programs docs page) with the same education email; (3) on acceptance, upgrade to a monthly Team or Business plan via plans & billing. Applications are typically processed in under a week.
Expiry
Runs for the duration of student/educator status. When you graduate or lose eligibility, 'you'll be notified by our team and given a timeline for exiting the program' — no automatic downgrade/charge-off terms are spelled out.
Gotchas
Standard card-on-file billing applies when you subscribe to the plan; if the discount fails to apply (multiple accounts or currency mismatch between account and credits), the card may still be charged — contact support. Monthly Team/Business only (no annual, no Enterprise). Former students with a lingering .edu are NOT eligible.