The closest free SimpleCommenter alternative, plus 3 more picks
MarkLayer replaces SimpleCommenter's core job, pinned comments on a live site shared by link, for free with no project or member cap. It does not replace a widget your clients click on the live site, white label or a custom domain. Pastel, ruttl and Feedbucket each cover part of that gap, at a price.
On this page
SimpleCommenter alternatives compared
| Option | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| MarkLayer | Pro $34.99/month (3 members, 10 projects, 50GB), extra seats $9.99/month; Agency $79/month (unlimited, 500GB); Enterprise on request. Annual billing gives two months free | Anyone who wants SimpleCommenter's on-page comments without the plan, and teams that review together in real time. |
| Pastel | Free plan (1 user, 1 canvas); Pro $29–35/month; Team from $99/month + $24 per extra seat | Agencies running structured client rounds who want a free plan to start on. |
| ruttl | Freemium with project limits; paid plans per user | Small teams that want unlimited projects on a flat per-user price. |
| Feedbucket | Pro $49/month (2 members); Business $89/month (25 members); Enterprise custom. Unlimited projects on every plan. 14-day trial, no free plan. Checked October 2026 | Agencies with many client sites and few internal seats. |
Top free SimpleCommenter alternatives
1. MarkLayer
Free and open source (Apache-2.0), with nothing to install for a public page: paste any URL at marklayer.app, draw, pin comments, highlight, 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. Pages behind a login need the free browser extension on each reviewer's side. An unclaimed link is deleted 90 days after its last activity; claiming it with a free account stops that clock.
2. Pastel
The closest paid match to SimpleCommenter's agency shape: persistent canvases per client, version history, comment approvals and deadlines. The free plan is one user and one active canvas, which SimpleCommenter does not offer. Pro is $35 a month, or $29 billed yearly, for two users and three canvases. Team is $119, or $99 yearly, for five users with unlimited canvases and the project-management integrations (checked October 2026).
3. ruttl
Website feedback with a free Basic plan of one project and five pages, including Trello, Slack, Asana and Jira. Pro is $18 per user a month for unlimited projects and pages, so three members cost $54, a little more than SimpleCommenter's Pro, with no 10-project cap (checked October 2026).
4. Feedbucket
A feedback widget for client sites with unlimited projects and unlimited client reporters on every plan. There is no free plan. Pro is $49 a month for two team members and Business is $89 for 25, with 20 percent off on yearly billing and a 14-day trial (checked October 2026).
What SimpleCommenter charges for
SimpleCommenter gets onto a site three ways: a script snippet, a WordPress plugin or a Chrome extension. Clients then comment on the live page, images or PDFs, and each comment carries a status from To Do to Done. Pro at $34.99 covers 10 projects and three members, with integrations, automatic screenshots and an MCP service. Agency at $79 lifts every cap and adds white label and a custom domain. There is no free plan; the 14-day trial is the only free window.
The head-to-head with SimpleCommenter goes row by row. This page is for choosing between the alternatives.
Which one fits which job
MarkLayer is the free replacement for what most SimpleCommenter projects are: comments pinned on a live site, shared by link. It adds live cursors, an in-room call and an agent on every link. It gives up the on-site widget and white label.
Pastel is the paid tool shaped most like SimpleCommenter for agencies, with a free plan to try. ruttl is the flat-rate pick for a small team that wants unlimited projects. Feedbucket is the pick when the client count is high and the internal seat count is low. If the thing you would pay SimpleCommenter for is white label on your own domain, Agency at $79 is the cheapest of the four to offer it, and Pastel and Feedbucket do not advertise it at all.
Sources
Prices come from each vendor's own pricing page, read on 11 October 2026:
Frequently asked questions
- What is the closest free SimpleCommenter alternative?
- MarkLayer, for the on-page comments and link sharing SimpleCommenter sells, without the 10-project cap, the three-member cap or anyone making an account. For a widget your clients click on their own site, white label or a custom domain, none of the free options match SimpleCommenter's plans, and the paid tools above are the honest comparison.
- How much does SimpleCommenter cost?
- Per its pricing page on 11 October 2026: Pro is $34.99 a month for 10 projects, three team members and 50GB, with extra seats at $9.99 a month. Agency is $79 for unlimited projects and members, 500GB, white label, your own domain and email from your address. Enterprise is custom and adds SSO, API access and an API comments endpoint. There is no free plan. The trial lasts 14 days with no card and does not convert on its own. Yearly billing gives two months free.
- Do SimpleCommenter's clients need an account?
- No. Clients open the link and comment on the live site without signing up. The account, and the member cap, sit on the workspace side. On MarkLayer neither side signs up.
- Which of these review PDFs and images, not just websites?
- SimpleCommenter, Pastel and Feedbucket do. ruttl has project types beyond websites on every plan. MarkLayer reviews PDFs and images up to 25MB with the same tools it uses on a page.
- 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. SimpleCommenter lists an AI MCP service on Pro and an AI Agent integration, without detail on what the agent can change. Pastel, ruttl and Feedbucket do not advertise one.
- Are any of these open source?
- MarkLayer is. SimpleCommenter, Pastel, ruttl and Feedbucket 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