Teams reviewing design across websites, apps and documents
Pro, $18 a month per user, for 1 admin and up to 50 users
Pastel alternatives, with prices and limits
The closest alternatives to Pastel are Ruttl, BugHerd, Marker.io and Notarus. Ruttl is the nearest match, because it also takes comments on live sites, images and PDFs and keeps a free tier. BugHerd adds Figma files and unlimited projects. Marker.io suits an agency billing per client site. Notarus is the outlier here: it reports bugs on a live page with the console attached and reviews no files at all. Pastel stays the right answer when the work being approved is a creative piece.
- 4 options
- Prices read 13 September 2026
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Studios reviewing designs and sites with a long list of clients
Standard, $50 a month or $42 billed annually, for 5 members
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Teams whose review round has turned into a bug queue on a live web page
Pro, $19 a month, for unlimited seats and 20 projects
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Agencies with many client sites and few internal seats
Starter, $59 a month or $39 billed annually, for 3 users and up to 10 projects
The options, side by side
Tool
Free tier
Entry paid price
Best for
A Basic plan at no cost with 1 project and 5 pages, though its plan card and its comparison table disagree on how many users it carries
Pro, $18 a month per user, for 1 admin and up to 50 users
Teams reviewing design across websites, apps and documents
None, though guests and projects are unlimited on every paid plan
Standard, $50 a month or $42 billed annually, for 5 members
Studios reviewing designs and sites with a long list of clients
Notarus unlimited seats, 5 projects, with session replay and the full MCP server included
Pro, $19 a month, for unlimited seats and 20 projects
Teams whose review round has turned into a bug queue on a live web page
None. Reporters are free and unlimited on every paid plan
Starter, $59 a month or $39 billed annually, for 3 users and up to 10 projects
Agencies with many client sites and few internal seats
Prices and plan contents read from each vendor's own pricing page on 13 September 2026.
Why teams look past Pastel
The first reason is the canvas count. A canvas is the thing being commented on, one page or one version, and the free plan keeps a single one active: a second review means retiring the first. Pro carries three at $35 a month, and canvases only stop being counted on Team at $119 a month.
The second is that a Pastel comment says where and not why. Console logs, network requests and session replay appear nowhere on its site, so a reporter writing that the save button did nothing hands over a pin and a sentence. That is enough to move a heading and not enough to fix a bug.
The third is when the trackers arrive. Trello, Asana, Jira, ClickUp and Monday are held to Team at $119 a month, and neither GitHub nor Linear is listed on any plan, so a team that works out of a repository has nowhere to send the comment.
What each one is good at, and where it stops
Ruttl
A feedback tool spread across surfaces rather than depth: live websites, mobile apps, images and PDFs in one place, sold per user with a free tier.
Strength. Feedback on mobile apps, images and PDFs as well as live websites, with Trello, Slack, Asana and Jira already connected on the free plan.
Limitation. No console logs, no network requests and no session replay appear anywhere on its site, and its annual price is painted in by a script rather than served in the page.
BugHerd
A pin-on-the-page feedback tool for agencies and studios, sold by team members with clients thrown in free.
Strength. Unlimited guests and unlimited projects on every plan, and feedback works on Figma designs, PDFs and images rather than only on a live site.
Limitation. The project trackers most teams already run, Jira, Linear, Asana, ClickUp and Monday, are held back to the Premium plan at $150 a month. Extra members cost $8 each a month on top.
Notarus
A widget, a fixed four-stage board, and an MCP server that exposes every action the panel can take.
Strength. Session replay, console, network and environment arrive on the free plan rather than on a paid tier, unlimited seats on every plan including that one, clients follow the work through a portal access that is not a member and never uses a seat, and every panel action is an MCP tool as a shipping rule, so an agent can work the board a person works.
Limitation. No mobile SDK at all, so a native app is out of scope, and no Intercom or Zendesk integration. What it takes feedback on is a live web page and nothing else: no Figma file, no PDF and no image.
Marker.io
A widget and browser extension aimed at agencies reporting bugs on client sites, priced by page views as well as by seat.
Strength. Reporters are free and unlimited, and sending feedback through the widget needs no account at all, so the people filing bugs never count against a seat.
Limitation. Session replay, console logs, network requests and the Jira integration all start at Team, which is $199 a month or $149 billed annually. Starter also caps page views at 5,000 a month.
When Pastel is still the right answer
- The thing being approved is not a web page. Pastel reviews PDFs, emails, uploaded images and uploaded video beside the live site, and none of the four options below states that it takes feedback on an email.
- You cannot put anything on the site you are reviewing. Pastel states that it layers comments on a live website through its own proxy, with no code snippets or Chrome extensions to install, which reaches a client's staging site on a day nobody can deploy for you. Notarus needs its widget on the page.
- The reviewers are clients and colleagues you are not going to buy seats for. Guest reviewers are unlimited on every Pastel plan, the free one included.
- You want the agent to close the loop rather than open a ticket. Pastel describes its MCP server as reading a new comment, making the change in the codebase, replying with what it did and resolving the comment, and it names Cursor, Claude and ChatGPT.
Common questions
What is the best alternative to Pastel?
It depends on what was on the canvas. Ruttl is the nearest match, because it also comments on live sites, images and PDFs and keeps a free tier. BugHerd is the one that reads Figma files, and gives every plan unlimited guests and projects. Marker.io fits an agency billing per client site. Notarus is worth a look only if the comments were becoming bug reports.
Does Pastel have a free plan?
Yes. Free Forever carries one user, one active canvas and 2 GB of video storage, with unlimited guest reviewers. The single active canvas is the line to read twice, because a second review waits for the first to be retired. Among the options here, Ruttl runs a free Basic plan and Notarus a free plan with unlimited seats and 5 projects; BugHerd and Marker.io are paid only.
How much does Pastel cost?
Pro is $35 a month, or $29 billed annually, for 2 users, 3 active canvases and 100 GB of storage. Team is $119 a month, or $99 billed annually, opening at 5 users with $24 a month for each one after that, and it is where canvases stop being counted and the trackers appear. Enterprise is $450 a month from 10 users, adding SOC 2 and SAML single sign-on. The trial is 14 days and asks for no card.
Which of these tools ship an MCP server?
Pastel does, and its own description is the most ambitious of them: the agent reads the new comment, makes the change in the codebase, replies with what it did and resolves the comment. Ruttl's reads tickets and marks a thread resolved once the fix ships. BugHerd lists MCP from its entry plan, marked as beta. Notarus puts one on the free plan and holds it to panel parity, so every action the interface offers is also a tool. Marker.io does not mention MCP on its pricing page.
Other tools people compare
Start collecting website feedback with evidence.
Free includes evidence capture, session replay and the MCP server.