What is the cheapest Pastel alternative?

Of the tools compared here, Markify has the lowest paid plan at $15/mo, followed by Ruttl at $18/mo per user. Both also offer a permanent free tier. Pricing is current as of September 2026.

Which website feedback tools still have a free plan?

Markify, Ruttl and Pastel all offer permanent free tiers. Marker.io, Feedbucket, BugHerd and MarkUp.io are trial-only — you get 14 or 15 days, then the tool stops working unless you pay.

Do reviewers need to create an account?

In Markify, no. Anyone you send the share link to can open it in their browser and comment without signing up or installing anything. Requirements vary by tool, so check this if your clients are the sort to abandon a review at a signup screen.

Can these tools annotate PDFs as well as websites?

Some can. Markify handles websites, PDFs, images and Word documents through the same workflow, and MarkUp.io covers websites, images, PDFs and video. Several of the others are website-only, so if you review documents too you may otherwise end up paying for two tools.

Is it hard to move away from Pastel?

There is nothing to migrate in the usual sense. Feedback lives per-canvas rather than in a long-lived database, so switching mostly means creating your next review in the new tool. With Markify you paste a URL or upload a file and share the link.

Markify

Pastel alternatives

Seven Pastel alternatives, compared on published pricing

Most "alternatives" lists skip the part you actually care about: what each tool costs and whether you can use it without paying. This one leads with it — every figure below is taken from the vendor’s own pricing page.

Start free →See pricing

No credit card · Clients need no account

acme.com/pricing

Markify

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Pastel alternatives

Why people go looking for a Pastel alternative

Pastel is a well-built tool, and for a lot of teams it is the right answer. The reasons people start shopping around are usually pretty specific: the free plan is limited to a single canvas, the first paid tier is $35/mo, and the price steps up sharply to $119/mo once more than a couple of people need access.

The tools below all do the same core job — pin a comment to an exact spot on a live web page, then share a link so other people can reply. Where they differ is cost, whether a permanent free plan exists at all, and whether the workflow extends to PDFs and documents as well as websites. Several of the best-known options have quietly dropped their free tiers, so that column is worth reading carefully.

The shortlist

The shortlist, cheapest first

Ordered by the lowest paid plan each vendor publishes. "Free plan" means a permanent free tier, not a trial that expires.

1
Markify
THAT'S USCheapest paid tier, plus PDFs
Paste a URL or upload a PDF, click anywhere to pin a comment, then share one link. Reviewers comment without creating an account. The lowest paid plan on this list, and the same workflow covers documents as well as live sites — useful if you are currently paying for a website tool and marking up PDFs somewhere else entirely.
Pro $15/mo · Max $49/moFree plan: 2 canvases
2
Ruttl
Solo creators on a free plan
Website and design review with a free Basic tier aimed at solo creators. Pricing is per user, so the cost scales with the size of your team rather than staying flat — worth modelling before you commit if more than two or three people need seats.
Pro $18/mo per userFree plan: Basic tier
3
Pastel
The tool you are comparing against
Included here for reference, since it is the benchmark. Pro is $29/mo billed annually and Team is $99/mo billed annually, with extra seats at $24 each. There is also a 14-day trial of any paid plan with no credit card. The jump from Pro to Team is the step most people are trying to avoid when they start looking elsewhere.
Pro $35/mo · Team $119/mo · Enterprise $450/moFree plan: 1 canvas, 1 user
4
Marker.io
Bug reports that land in Jira
Aimed at development teams rather than client review. Its strength is integrations: a reported issue can flow straight into Jira, Trello or GitHub with technical context attached. That is genuinely valuable if you are triaging bugs, and mostly wasted if you just need a client to approve a homepage.
Starter $39/moNo free plan · 15-day trial
5
Feedbucket
Agencies wanting a fixed team price
A website feedback widget you install on your own staging sites. Flat team pricing rather than per-seat, which suits agencies with a lot of collaborators. Pro drops to $39/mo billed annually. There is no permanent free tier, so you are choosing between paying and not using it.
Pro $49/mo · Business $89/moNo free plan · 14-day trial
6
BugHerd
Established QA workflows
One of the oldest tools in the category, with a kanban board built around the feedback it collects. Annual billing brings Standard to $42/mo and Studio to $67/mo, with extra members at $8/mo each. Priced for teams that have already standardised on it rather than for a first purchase.
Standard $50/mo · Studio $80/mo · Premium $150/moNo free plan · trial only
7
MarkUp.io
Large teams with a budget
Reviews websites, images, PDFs and video, with unlimited users on every plan. It removed its free tier and now starts at $79/mo, which puts it at the top end of this list — the trade-off is unlimited collaborators, so per-person it can work out well for a big team.
Pro from $79/mo · Business from $499/moNo free plan · 14-day trial

Pricing checked September 2026, taken from each vendor’s own published pricing page. Vendors change prices without notice — confirm on their site before you buy. Where a tool advertises both monthly and annual billing, the monthly figure is listed first.

Features

What Markify does differently

Starts at $15/mo

The lowest paid plan of any tool on this list, and there is a permanent free tier underneath it.

No account for reviewers

Share one link. Clients open it in their browser and comment — nothing to install, nothing to sign up for.

Websites and PDFs

The same pin-and-comment workflow covers live web pages, PDFs, images and Word documents.

Full-page capture

The entire scrollable page is captured, so feedback is not limited to what fits above the fold.

Real-time comments

Replies appear live for everyone on the canvas, so a review can happen in one sitting.

Resolve and reopen

Mark notes done as you ship them, and reopen anything that needs a second look.

Use cases

Who tends to switch

Freelancers who cannot justify $35/mo for occasional client review

Agencies that need more canvases than a starter plan allows

Teams marking up PDFs and websites in two separate tools

Anyone whose clients refuse to create yet another account

Studios that hit a per-seat price wall as the team grew

People who want to try a tool properly before paying for it

FAQ

Common questions

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Try the free Pastel alternative

No setup. No credit card. Free for your first 2 canvases.

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