The closest free Huddlekit alternative, plus 3 more picks
MarkLayer replaces Huddlekit's core job, visual feedback on a live page shared by link, for free and with no project limit. It does not replace private team-only comments, video review, basic-auth staging in the no-extension flow, or two-way tracker sync. Pastel, BugHerd and Marker.io each cover part of that gap, at a price.
On this page
Huddlekit alternatives compared
| Option | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| MarkLayer | Free (1 project, 3 members, 100MB); Pro $16/mo yearly or $19 monthly; Team $33/mo yearly or $39 monthly | Anyone who wants Huddlekit's live-page review without the plan, and teams reviewing together in real time. |
| Pastel | Free plan (1 user, 1 canvas); Pro $29–35/month; Team from $99/month + $24 per extra seat | Agencies that want a client-facing review workspace and will pay for it. |
| BugHerd | No free plan. Standard $50/month (5 members); extra seats $8 each | QA teams that need feedback to land in a tracker and stay in sync, and have the budget. |
| Marker.io | From $59/month ($39/mo billed annually, 3 team members) | Engineering teams whose reports need a stack trace more than a drawing. |
Top free Huddlekit alternatives
1. MarkLayer
Free and open source, with nothing to install for a public page: paste any URL at marklayer.app, annotate the live page with drawings, comments, arrows and highlights, then share a link. There is no project count, no member count and no storage tier. Live cursors and a peer-to-peer voice or video call run in the same room, a kanban board sorts threads by status, and every share link is also an MCP server, so Claude Code or Cursor can watch the room, resolve threads and leave annotations of their own. Password-protected staging and apps behind a login need the free browser extension, on the reviewer's side as well as yours. An unclaimed link is deleted 90 days after its last activity; claiming it with the free account stops that clock.
2. Pastel
The closest paid match to Huddlekit's agency shape: persistent canvases per client, version history and branded review pages, with Slack, Trello, Asana and Jira integrations. The free plan is one user and one canvas, tighter than Huddlekit's. Pro is $35 a month, or $29 billed annually, for two users and three active canvases; Team is $119 a month, or $99 billed annually, for five users plus $24 per extra seat.
3. BugHerd
A visual bug tracker rather than a review tool: every pinned comment becomes a task on a built-in kanban board, with browser, OS and resolution captured automatically and native Jira, GitHub and Trello sync. There is no free plan. Standard runs $50 a month for five members with extra seats at $8 each, and the Jira and Linear integrations sit on a $150 tier.
4. Marker.io
Bug reporting with automatic console logs and network requests on every report, which neither Huddlekit nor MarkLayer captures. Starter is $59 a month, or $39 annually, for three users with GitHub, GitLab, Linear, Trello, Asana and ClickUp included. Two-way Jira sync needs Team at $199 a month, or $149 annually, for 15 users. Reviewers can use a widget on the site or a browser extension, and an MCP server is open to every customer.
What Huddlekit's free plan does and doesn't cover
One project, three team members, 100MB of storage, unlimited guests. For a single client site that is enough, and the guest commenting is as frictionless as it says: a share link, no sign-up. The cap bites on project two. Custom breakpoints, tags, folders and MCP are Pro. Integrations and API access are Team. Private comments, inspect mode and the kanban board are on every plan, including Free, which is more generous than most tools in this category.
The head-to-head with Huddlekit goes row by row. This page is for choosing between the alternatives.
Which one fits which job
MarkLayer is the free replacement for the part of Huddlekit most people actually use: annotate a live page, share a link. It adds live cursors and an in-room call, which Huddlekit does not advertise, and an agent on every link. It gives up private comments, video, custom breakpoints and sync.
Pastel is the paid tool shaped most like Huddlekit, with canvases per client and branded review pages. BugHerd and Marker.io are bug trackers more than review tools: BugHerd for a built-in task board that syncs with Jira, Marker.io for console and network capture attached to every report. If the thing you would pay Huddlekit for is the Linear or Asana sync, Pastel and BugHerd are the comparable spend. If it is the video review or the private comments, none of the four replace it, and Huddlekit's Pro at $16 is a fair price.
Sources
Prices come from each vendor's own pricing page, read on 11 October 2026 for Huddlekit and as dated on each comparison page for the rest:
- Huddlekit pricing
- Huddlekit features
- Huddlekit MCP
- Huddlekit integrations
- Pastel plans
- BugHerd pricing
- Marker.io
Frequently asked questions
- What is the closest free Huddlekit alternative?
- MarkLayer, for the live-page annotation Huddlekit's free plan covers, without the one-project cap and without anyone making an account. For private comments, video review or two-way tracker sync, none of the free options match Huddlekit's Pro and Team plans, and the paid tools above are the honest comparison.
- How much does Huddlekit cost?
- Per its pricing page on 11 October 2026: Free is $0 with one project, three team members and 100MB. Pro is $16 a month billed yearly ($190) or $19 monthly, with unlimited projects, 5GB, custom breakpoints, tags, folders, comment pausing and MCP. Team is $33 a month billed yearly ($390) or $39 monthly, with 15 members, 50GB, integrations and API access. Guests are unlimited on every plan.
- Does Huddlekit's free plan let clients comment without an account?
- Yes. Guests on a share link comment without signing up on every plan, including Free. The account is on the workspace side: whoever creates the project needs one. On MarkLayer neither side does.
- Which of these work on a staging site behind a password?
- Huddlekit takes a staging password or basic auth inside its normal website project, with no extension and no code. MarkLayer needs its free browser extension for that, in each reviewer's own logged-in browser, because the plain web-app link fetches the page anonymously. Marker.io and BugHerd can run as a widget snippet inside the site's own code, which loads for any logged-in visitor once someone adds it.
- Which ones sync with a task tracker in both directions?
- Huddlekit on Team (Linear, ClickUp, Notion, Trello, Asana), Marker.io on Team for Jira, and BugHerd for Jira, GitHub and Trello. MarkLayer files one Linear, GitHub or Jira issue or a Trello card per thread and nothing syncs back. Pastel connects to Slack, Trello, Asana and Jira; its site does not say which direction status travels, so I have not counted it either way.
- Which ones connect to an AI coding agent?
- MarkLayer: every share link answers MCP with nothing installed, free, and the agent can watch, resolve, reply, create annotations and suggest text edits. Huddlekit: hosted MCP on Pro and Team, OAuth, read-only by default, and the agent can never create comments. Marker.io's MCP is open to every customer, and BugHerd's is in beta. Pastel does not advertise one.
- Are any of these open source?
- MarkLayer is. Huddlekit, Pastel, BugHerd and Marker.io are closed commercial SaaS.
Related comparisons
Try MarkLayer
Paste any URL at marklayer.app and annotate the live page in your browser. No install, no account, no sign-up. Recipients of your share links don't need to install anything either.
Annotate a page