Markup.io and Pastel compared for agencies: file types, how pins behave, the meters on each plan, and what a five-person team pays. Prices checked October 2026
Pastel is website-first. Paste a URL and get a canvas; upload images and PDFs for the rest. It reviews on a snapshot of the page, which keeps things fast and stable, and means a comment can sit on an old version if the site changes under it. Video is included on Pro and above with a storage allowance.
Markup.io reviews live websites, images, PDFs and video with one flow. Pins on a website anchor to the element on the live page; pins on files anchor to the spot. Multi-page PDFs keep their pages. For an agency whose client work is a mix of web and print, this is the stronger fit.
Both anchor a comment to a point on the page. The difference is what happens when the page changes.
Pastel locks each comment to the screen size it was left at and snaps the view back to that width when you select the comment. It is accurate and a little jumpy. Because the canvas is a snapshot, the pin does not move when the live site is updated.
Markup.io ties a MarkUp to the exact URL it was created from. Change the URL structure, or move the review from staging to live, and the pins can be lost. Pins also sit best at the screen size they were left at.
Both are fine for a single round on a stable page. Both get awkward when the site is being rebuilt between rounds, which is most of the time in agency work.
Both are easy for a first-time client. Open the link, click, type. No account.
Pastel adds a small set of client-facing tools on every plan: an Approve button, a feedback deadline with reminders, and a responsive tester so the client can see the page at phone width. These are the things agencies otherwise build out of email.
Markup.io keeps the reviewer's side plain. Pins, threads, resolve. Branded links and a vanity domain are on the Business plans, from $499 a month, so a client on a Pro-plan review sees Markup.io's branding.
This decides most choices between the two.
Pastel meters users and canvases. Free is one user and one canvas. Pro is $35 a month for two users and three canvases, and three open canvases is tight: finish one, archive it, start the next. Team is $119 a month for five users and unlimited canvases, with each extra user $24 a month.
Markup.io meters MarkUps per month and nothing else. Fifty on the $79 plan, 75 on $99, 100 on $129, and $4 each beyond that in packs of ten. Users are unlimited. The quota resets monthly, so a busy month costs more and a quiet month is wasted.
A solo designer with a few projects a month is cheapest on Pastel Pro. A ten-person agency with a steady volume is cheapest on Markup.io Pro. A five-person agency sits right between them, and the deciding question is whether three open canvases is enough.
Prices in US dollars, monthly, from each vendor's pricing page on 23 October 2026. Annual prices in brackets where published.
| Markup.io | Pastel | |
|---|---|---|
| Free | None, 14-day trial | 1 user, 1 canvas, approvals, deadlines, reminders, responsive tester |
| Entry plan | Pro $79: 50 MarkUps a month, 100 GB, unlimited users | Pro $35 ($29): 2 users, 3 canvases, 100 GB video |
| Middle plan | Pro $99 or $129: 75 or 100 MarkUps a month | Team $119 ($99): 5 users, unlimited canvases, 500 GB, Trello, Asana, Jira, ClickUp, Monday, Zapier |
| Top plan | Business $499 to $799: 200 to 600 MarkUps a month, branding, vanity domain | Enterprise $450: 10+ users, SSO, SOC 2 report |
| Over the limit | $4 per extra MarkUp, in packs of 10 | $24 per extra user on Team |
| Approvals and deadlines | Resolve only | Every plan |
Prices and features checked on 1 November 2026 against Markup.io's pricing page. If something has changed, tell us and we will fix it.
For five people doing, say, twenty reviews a month, Markup.io Pro is $79 and Pastel Team is $119. For two people doing six reviews a month, Pastel Pro is $35 and Markup.io has nothing under $79.
Neither tool has a revision round. Round-two comments land next to round-one comments, resolved and unresolved mixed, and when the client says "we already fixed that in v2" there is no record to point to. Pastel's Approve button is a real step forward, but approval is a status, not a locked record with a name and a time, and the feedback underneath it can still be edited after work has started.
For many agencies that is fine for a while. It stops being fine the first time a project runs to round five.
HopBack is the third option, built for the review that runs in rounds. Reviews have numbered rounds the client can see, unresolved comments carry forward, Compare shows two rounds side by side, Finish review locks the round, and Approve records a name and a time. Pins stay on the element when the review switches between desktop, tablet and mobile, and when the page is updated for the next round. One link holds the whole project: round one can be the concept as a PDF, round two the staging site, round three the live site, and the client can open any earlier round and compare two side by side. On Markup.io and Pastel each of those is a separate MarkUp or canvas with its own link, and there is no history between them. Reminders chase the deadline. Pricing counts active reviews, not a monthly quota or a canvas cap: 10 on Starter at $19, 30 on Studio at $49, unlimited on Agency at $99, with unlimited client reviewers on every plan. What it does not have yet: a free plan, like Pastel, or branded links, like Markup.io Business.
Pastel for small teams and tight budgets, with a free plan and a $35 Pro plan that includes approvals and deadlines. Markup.io for teams that review video and multi-page PDFs alongside websites and want unlimited users.
Pastel does: one user, one active canvas, with approvals, deadlines and the responsive tester included. Markup.io has no free plan and a 14-day trial.
A MarkUp is one reviewable thing on Markup.io, such as a website, a PDF or a video, and plans allow a number of new ones per month. A canvas is the same idea on Pastel, and plans allow a number open at once: one on Free, three on Pro, unlimited on Team.
On Pastel the canvas is a snapshot, so pins stay where they were and may no longer match the live site. On Markup.io pins are tied to the exact URL and can be lost if the URL changes. HopBack keeps pins on the element across updates and screen sizes.
Pastel has an Approve button on every plan. Markup.io has resolve on comments. Neither locks the feedback or records who approved and when; HopBack does.
On 23 October 2026, on each vendor's public pricing page. If something has changed, tell us and we will fix it.
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