3 MarkUp Alternatives for Web Designers: The Good, Bad & Buggy
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MarkUp.io decided to throw us all under the bus by killing their free plan and replacing it with a single ridiculous $79/month option. 🙄
As a Squarespace designer who's been in the graphic design industry for nearly 20 years, I want affordable solutions that actually make financial sense for solopreneurs like me.
So, I've been testing three alternative website annotation tools, and I'm about to spill all the tea on which one might actually be worth your time, if you’re looking to switch.
If you want the full backstory on the MarkUp.io situation, check out my previous blog post where I ranted about their price hike.
But for now, let's dive into these 3 alternatives to see if any of them can fill the MarkUp-shaped hole in our hearts (and workflows). 😬
Why Do Designers Even Need Website Feedback Tools
Let's be real—client feedback can be a total nightmare without the right tools, because there are so many variables & details. Before I discovered MarkUp.io, I was drowning in vague emails like “can you make that blue more blue-ish?” or “I don't like how that thing looks on the page with the stuff.” 🤦🏻♀️😂
If you've offered web design services any time in the last decade or two, you'll understand why tools like this are such game-changers for the revision process. Since 2020, MarkUp has been my go-to for client feedback because it solved so many problems at once, without costing me a fortune.
What made MarkUp magical (and why I'm annoyed AF they've priced us out)
Clients could click directly on elements to leave comments for those specific details
Comments were automatically grouped by page (a HUGE time-saver for me)
It’s intuitive—even my most tech-challenged clients could figure it out
It works easily with password-protected website drafts on Squarespace
It captured screenshots of the exact element being commented on (even hidden ones like links in navigation dropdowns, copy in slide 3 of a slideshow, or content in an FAQ accordion dropdown)
Clients could experience animations and interactive elements like button hover effects, scroll animations, and use anchor links
When MarkUp announced their changes in early 2025, it felt like a gut-punch. $79/month is genuinely absurd—that's more than I pay for tools like Squarespace that are actually essential to running my entire business. That price feels like going to buy a bike 🚲 and being told you can only get a luxury car. No thanks!
The Contenders: Three MarkUp.io Replacements
I’m testing: Pastel, Ruttl, and Workflow. I've been putting these three tools through their paces & in this post’s accompanying video you can see my real-time reactions to some of those tests!
I'm focusing on those 3 because they all have free or affordable plans, their core features include website feedback, and whether they'll actually work as a suitable alternative. Let's break them down one by one.
Tool #1:
Pastel – A solo designer's best option?
This was definitely my first pick going into testing based on their flexible free plan, so let's see if it holds up in practice.
The Free Plan
Pastel immediately caught my attention with what might be the most generous free plan of the bunch (as of posting):
Unlimited canvases (meaning unlimited projects/websites)
Unlimited clients and guest reviewers
Unlimited versions for each canvas
For a solopreneur trying to keep costs down, this is pretty damn appealing. You can try it yourself at usepastel.com.
The 3-day/72-Hour Commenting Window
Here's the catch—and there's always a catch, isn't there? Pastel has a 72-hour commenting window. After that, comments automatically close.
This could actually be a positive thing for those clients who like to take foreverrrrr to provide feedback, because it creates a sense of urgency and prevents projects from hanging out in revision purgatory for months & helping us automatically reinforce that deadline.
The 72-hour window creates a hard boundary. You can send it on a Monday and it'll close on a Wednesday without you having to do a damn thing. The client has a hard deadline whether you're awake and at your desk or not. I kind of like that, honestly! Especially for designers using the 2-week website build process from Paige Brunton’s course, Square Secrets Business™️, because 3-ish days is about the most that will fit into that schedule anyway.
But if you need more flexibility, there's a workaround: just create a new Canvas for each revision round, with each round taking up to 3 days. Since you have unlimited canvases, this isn't a big deal. It's a little extra step, but not the end of the world. Again, this could help you define each revision round clearly & keep/hold a hard deadline for each one without enforcing it yourself (ie: closing comments in whatever way the tool will let you).
Want to know what that message looks like for both the account owner & the guest? Me too, so here ya go:
Account owner’s expiration message
Guest user’s expiration message
Pricing for Premium Solo Accounts
If you want a longer commenting window, you’ll need a premium plan, and those (as of posting) start at $29/mo, paid annually. They come with some upgrades though:
premium canvases (ie: no commenting limits)
file attachments in comments
export comments to CSV
Whether those upgrades are worth the price or not, will be up to you!
Testing Pastel In Real Life
The setup process is refreshingly simple. You hit "Create a canvas," click on "website," and paste in your URL. It takes a few seconds to load the site’s Canvas in the tool. Sometimes I needed to refresh the page, but that was the only minor hiccup.
What really impressed me is the simple client experience. When a client opens their shared Canvas link, there's an automatic tutorial that shows them exactly how to use it. YASSS! I don't have to spend 5-10 minutes on a Loom making a tutorial video for how to leave feedback comments. 🙌🏻 There's a popup with clear instructions: "Click anywhere to start leaving feedback. If you need help getting started, click here." And that button triggers a short video tutorial showing them how to use it. So convenient for everyone!
Pastel offers generic desktop and mobile views of the website in each Canvas, which is fine for Squarespace sites. I'd love more viewport/screen-size options, but I can live with just these two.
The comments are automatically grouped by page—a must-have feature for me—and there are status options per comment for tracking progress. There's also a "new version" button that could make managing revision rounds pretty straightforward.
Pastel Pros & Cons
✅ Pros:
Most usable free plan by far
Super simple interface that doesn't require a degree in rocket science to figure out
No bugs or weird glitches in my testing (so far)
Easy client onboarding with automatic tutorial built into the platform
Comments are grouped by page (a basically non-negotiable feature)
Takes screenshots of elements for each comment (though not for hidden elements, –more on that later)
Each comment includes an editable status, & details about how that area was being viewed when the comment was created (operating system, desktop or mobile, etc)
❌ Cons:
That 72-hour commenting window could be too short for some (though there's a workaround)
Only desktop & mobile viewport options (no option to see it for tablets or other specific devices)
No video commenting (that I noticed, but do I really need that? Not really.)
Canvas navigation bar is at the bottom of the window, which could be easily missed by clients
Canvas expired message says to contact the owner to upgrade, which is weird for guests to see
Tool #2:
Ruttl – It should've been a contender
The Free Plan Lowdown
Ruttl's free plan is... fine, I guess:
Up to five users (more than Pastel's one user, so better for small internal teams)
ONE active project at a time (a major limitation)
Five pages (whatever that means—it's not super clear)
Unlimited guests
No time limit on feedback
You can check it out for yourself at ruttl.com.
The Edit/Comment Mode Weirdness
Here's where things get clunky and, frankly, annoying. When you start a project in Ruttl, you have to choose between “comments” and “edits” mode. Once you make that choice, you're stuck with it—no switching back and forth. Since you can’t switch it after you make it, and you’ve only got 1 active project at a time (on the free plan), –if you need to switch it at some point, you’ll have to delete the existing project to start a new one in the other mode.
Apparently, “edits” mode also includes inspect mode though, which could be nice for developers, but do clients see that? I’m not sure, because I honestly didn’t get that far in my testing.
Combined with the one-active-project limitation, this is a really restrictive option. What if I need both modes for different aspects of the same project? What if I have multiple client projects going at once & different team members are handling separate projects? 🤔
Pricing That Makes Sense
If there's one thing Ruttl gets right, it's the pricing. At roughly $10/month (already up from $4/mo in Feb. 2025), it's actually reasonable—unlike MarkUp's ridiculous $79 plan. That said, now that I’ve tested several of these annotation tools, I’m learning that –like with most things– you tend to get whatcha pay for. 😬
That said… I noticed that between my previous post on this topic, & this one, they’ve upped their pricing a little. It’s still the most reasonably priced, but it’s higher than it was before I began testing.
Ruttl is Buggy AF
I wanted to like Ruttl, I really did. But the bugs... OMFG, the bugs.
When creating a new project, I'd enter my website URL, choose "comments only" mode, and then... it would get stuck validating the URL. For actual ages. Like, make-a-sandwich-and-come-back levels of waiting. Or, go-take-a-lunch-break-&-bing-Netflix levels of waiting.
After refreshing, the project would might appear, but most often I had to go back to my Ruttl account dashboard and re-select it. That's not a great sign for a tool I need to rely on with clients who may be less tech-savvy than I am.
The device picker is also extremely limited on the free plan—you only get desktop view. All of the other viewport (screen-sizes) including mobile and tablet views are locked behind the paywall. Really, Ruttl? You're going to paywall basic responsive testing? 🤦🏼♀️
Ruttl Pros & Cons
✅ Pros:
More internal users on the free plan (than Pastel)
Reasonable paid plan pricing (but has already increased since Feb. 2025)
Inspect & edit mode for developers (on paid plans)
❌ Cons:
Buggy as hell (a deal-breaker for client work)
Limited to one active project at a time on free plans (another deal-breaker)
All but 1 device viewport/screen-size are locked behind the paid plan (only accessing desktop view on free plans is super annoying)
Tool #3:
Workflow – Pretty, but new & problematic
I didn't talk about this one in my previous post’s video because I didn't know it existed yet! Shoutout to the lovely people on my email list who suggested it after my first blog post on this topic.
The Free Plan Reality Check
Workflow's “free plan” appears to, but doesn't actually include website feedback features. It's basically just task management. *Insert heavy sigh here. 🙄*
You can see for yourself at workflow.design.
Pricing for Asset Feedback Features
To get website feedback functionality, you need their paid plan at $16/month (paid annually, as of posting). Still way cheaper than MarkUp's $79/mo nonsense, but not free.
The free plan does list “leave feedback” under the free plan, but I’m confused on what that means. I have to assume it’s referring to comments on real tasks using their task management features, because before I began testing, I met with one of the Co-Founders who told me that asset feedback on files & websites is only available on the paid plans. If this is still the case, then their messaging on the pricing tables could still use some edits to make this distinction clearer.
First Impressions: ...Damn, Ain’t She Pretty?
I'll give Workflow this—it has a beautiful, clean and simple interface. It's very minimalist and that allows us to focus on the design itself rather than the software we’re using to evaluate & revise it. Aesthetically, it's a winner.
I actually sat down with Will Taylor, a Founder of Workflow, to discuss the platform, ask some of my questions & provide some brief feedback on my experience of the tool so far. He acknowledged that the terminology on the pricing page was confusing & that they’d planned to update it, which they have since that call.
Workflow in Practice: The Deal-Breakers
Adding assets (websites) for feedback is slightly confusing because you have to create a project first, then add a “task” to that project, which isn't intuitive for website feedback if we’re tracking tasks elsewhere. But once you get past that, sharing with clients is very easy & straightforward.
Here's the bigger problem, though: Workflow doesn't take screenshots of hidden elements or tell you that the comment is on a hidden element. This is kind of a big deal for me. If a client is trying to leave feedback on a dropdown menu, a pop-out modal, accordion dropdown, or any other interactive element that only shows on click, Workflow doesn't capture it or tell us that’s what’s being commented on. This makes it harder to understand what the client is talking about without constantly toggling between the tool and the actual site to figure it out for ourselves.
Both MarkUp and Pastel capture screenshots of the element or page being commented on, which is essential for clearer & faster communication, though Pastel’s screenshots still don’t show the hidden element being commented on in the capture, so MarkUp is still the winner on this one.
Another major issue: Workflow doesn't group comments by page. This is a non-starter (dealbreaker) for me. I want to be able to tackle feedback page by page, not jump around the entire site chasing random comments. I don’t care if my clients leave feedback that way, but I want to address the comments on a page-by-page basis so I’m not losing time while context-switching between page layouts.
Workflow Pros & Cons
✅ Pros:
Beautifully simple interface
Generally reliable (not as buggy as Ruttl)
100GB storage limit with ability to delete projects & assets yourself to maintain that storage capacity
❌ Cons:
No website or files feedback on the free plan
Doesn't take screenshots of hidden elements (huge problem)
Doesn't group comments by page (another huge problem)
Slightly confusing project setup for users not using Workflow for task management
Noticeably slower loading times compared to Pastel & MarkUp
The Verdict: Pastel Wins (For Now)
After putting all three through their paces, here's where I landed:
🥇Pastel: Best free plan, simple, reliable, groups comments by page. Winner! 🏆
🥉 Ruttl: Way too buggy, and restrictive with the one-project limit.
🥈 Workflow: Beautiful and affordable, but missing a couple critical features like element screenshots and page grouping.
Again, the ability to group comments by page is an absolute non-negotiable for me. If you've ever tried to implement changes on multiple pages without this feature, you know the pain & time-suck of context switching while jumping all over the website to fix a bunch of 5-sec revision requests from anywhere & everywhere. Going from homepage to contact page to about page and back to homepage, etc –is a massive time-waster. I need to be able to tackle all feedback on one page at a time.
And with the bugs experienced in both Ruttl and Workflow, including their asset’s loading speeds, it makes my choice clearer.
For now, I'm going with Pastel. The ability to group comments by page is non-negotiable for my workflow and it had the least bugs/issues while testing. The 72-hour window isn't ideal for me personally, but the workaround is simple enough that it’s not a dealbreaker.
Of course, your mileage may vary. If you have different needs or workflow priorities, you might prefer one of the others. It's all about finding what works for YOU. Please do your own testing & see which one you like best!
Other Feedback Options Worth Mentioning
Before wrapping up, here are a few other options I've considered or used in the past:
Google Docs: Simple, But Limited
Yes, you can use Google Docs for feedback, but it's clunky as hell and not very time efficient. Clients tend to struggle with explaining WHERE on WHICH page they want changes, leading to endless back-and-forth messages like:
Me: “Where exactly is this button you're talking about?”
Client: “The blue one.”
Me: “There are three blue buttons...”
Client: “The one on the right.”
Me: “The page has four sections with buttons on the right.”
🤦🏻♀️
I got really tired of that kind of endless clarification cycle, as you can imagine. If Google Docs is working for you, great! But for me, this approach was a total productivity killer, so I haven’t used this method in 6+ years.
Loom: Video Feedback Has Potential
A designer friend of mine swears by Loom for this purpose. You could ‘present’ the website in a video recording, walking through each page, and clients can pause and leave timestamped comments.
The comments are automatically timestamped in Loom videos, which tells you exactly where they were in the video when they left the comment. But it's not a foolproof system, because they might not stop the video fast enough, might forget to clarify which button they're talking about when there are similar ones on different pages, or think of something later in the video & not be able to find it so they don’t bother & leave the comment in a random place near the end.
It's not as precise as pinning comments directly to elements, but it's still way better than vague email exchanges. Plus, seeing and hearing your client if they opt to leave video feedback can eliminate some miscommunication.
The Search Continues
The design world never stands still, and neither should we. New tools pop up constantly, and existing ones evolve (or devolve, in MarkUp's case).
I'll keep testing and exploring new options for website feedback as I find them. Maybe I'll even do some tutorials on using Pastel with clients once I've fully integrated it into my workflow.
In the meantime, Pastel will serve the purpose just fine, and I won't have to pay a subscription for it!
Share your pick!
If you've found another alternative worth checking out, drop it in the comments! And if you want to keep up with my client process adventures, make sure you're subscribed to my newsletters.
For now, pour one out for MarkUp.io's free plan—it was good while it lasted! But like every tool that pivots away from solopreneurs to chase agency money, we'll adapt and find something else. We always do! 😉
