Nautobot
Nautobot 3.3 alpha adds API rate limits while 3.2.9 stops cross-user token reads.
Comparison · Infra & APIs
Quay vs Retool
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Quay and Retool — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Quay vs Retool: at a glance
What is Quay?
Quay keeps both enterprise branches on a monthly CVE-patch metronome — and nothing else.
All ten releases in this window are security maintenance: dependency bumps for CVEs, SSRF hardening in mirroring and proxy cache, and a robot-token visibility fix for readonly superusers. The October pair (3.12.23 and 3.10.27) patches the same four CVEs — immutable, qs, lxml, WebOb — plus a compression bump. Neither line has shipped a user-facing feature in four months.
What is Retool?
Retool gives workflows their own run identity and sells self-hosted through Google Cloud.
Retool's first November week was about running and buying Retool in production. Workflows can now run as a chosen permission group, so scheduled and webhook-triggered runs no longer borrow a person's access. Self-hosted Enterprise can be deployed to GKE and billed through Google Cloud Marketplace, Microsoft SQL integration versions 1.0 and 2.0 were removed, and 4.88 reached the Edge channel. App testing entered public beta on November 3.
Quay vs Retool: editorial side-by-side
Quay
5.0INFRA · APIS
Quay keeps both enterprise branches on a monthly CVE-patch metronome — and nothing else.
◆ Current state
All ten releases in this window are security maintenance: dependency bumps for CVEs, SSRF hardening in mirroring and proxy cache, and a robot-token visibility fix for readonly superusers. The October pair (3.12.23 and 3.10.27) patches the same four CVEs — immutable, qs, lxml, WebOb — plus a compression bump. Neither line has shipped a user-facing feature in four months.
◆ Where it's heading
The 3.10 and 3.12 lines move in lockstep, typically within hours to days of each other, on a roughly monthly cadence. New Containerfile.art files for ART/Konflux builds point to packaging work on Red Hat's build pipeline rather than product changes. Feature work, if any, is not surfacing in these maintenance branches.
◆ Prediction
Expect the next 3.12.x/3.10.x pair in roughly a month with another batch of CVE bumps. The entries give no signal of when or whether new capabilities will land on these lines.
Retool
6.3INFRA · APIS
Retool gives workflows their own run identity and sells self-hosted through Google Cloud.
◆ Current state
Retool's first November week was about running and buying Retool in production. Workflows can now run as a chosen permission group, so scheduled and webhook-triggered runs no longer borrow a person's access. Self-hosted Enterprise can be deployed to GKE and billed through Google Cloud Marketplace, Microsoft SQL integration versions 1.0 and 2.0 were removed, and 4.88 reached the Edge channel. App testing entered public beta on November 3.
◆ Where it's heading
After the late-October app builder GA, Retool is filling in governance and operations: testing for generated apps, AI spend controls, service identities for automation and procurement through a cloud marketplace. Older integration versions are being retired on a schedule.
◆ Prediction
Expect more admin and governance controls around workflows and the app builder, plus further marketplace or self-hosted deployment options.
Alternatives to Quay and Retool
Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Quay or Retool.
SpinupWP
SpinupWP now writes DNS records for you, starting with Cloudflare and Route 53.
Elasticsearch
One Node.js Brotli bug and a compromised CA bundle force ten patches across the Elastic Stack.
OpenMQTTGateway
OpenMQTTGateway returns after 22 months with a security-first 1.9.0.
Parse Server
Parse Server 9.11.1 alphas close two beforeSave advisories, one a server crash.
GitLab
GitLab sells Orbit as the evidence layer for agent pilots and AI-code rules.
Recent activity from Quay and Retool
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 4d agoRetoolService users for workflows
- 5d agoRetoolSelf-hosted Retool 4.34 and 4.0 stable updates
- 5d agoRetoolMicrosoft SQL integration versions 1.0 and 2.0 removed
- 5d agoRetoolRetool 4.88 Edge for self-hosted instances
- 6d agoRetoolApp testing
- 6d agoRetoolRetool on Google Cloud Marketplace
- 1mo agoQuayQuay 3.12.23 patches four CVEs and adds ART build file
- 1mo agoQuayQuay 3.10.27 backports October CVE fixes to LTS
- 1mo agoQuayQuay 3.12.22: security patches, robot token exposure fix
- 2mo agoQuayQuay 3.10.26: security patches, robot token exposure fix
- 3mo agoQuayQuay 3.12.21: SSRF blocked in mirroring, CVEs patched
- 3mo agoQuayQuay 3.10.25: SSRF blocked in mirroring, CVEs patched
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Quay and Retool?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Retool is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Quay better than Retool?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Retool is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 0 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Quay?
Top Quay alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Quay alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/quay for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Retool?
Top Retool alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Retool alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/retool for the full list with editorial commentary on each.