Atarim vs MarkLayer: a free Atarim alternative
Choose MarkLayer if what you need is the feedback: free annotation of any page, live cursors and a call in the room, a kanban board, side-by-side device review and an MCP server on every link. Choose Atarim if you run client WordPress sites and want AI agents to do the maintenance, SEO and content work, under your brand, with your approval on each risky change.
On this page
At a glance
| Feature | MarkLayer | Atarim |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free (1 project, one site, 200 credits one time); Pro $67/mo billed monthly, 20% off yearly; Enterprise by quote |
| What the product is | Annotation and review of any web page, PDF or image | AI specialists (project manager, SEO, content, UX, design, bug fixes) that run client sites, plus visual feedback |
| Sign-up required | No, for anyone | Yes for the workspace; guests in Guest Mode give a name and email instead of an account |
| Recipient install | Not required | Not required; the Chrome extension is optional and recommended |
| Staging and non-public sites | Via the free browser extension, in each reviewer's own logged-in tab | Via the Atarim WordPress plugin on the site, or the Chrome extension |
| Screenshot on every comment | No | Yes, each comment becomes a task with a screenshot |
| Device widths | Desktop, tablet and mobile side by side on one screen | Tablet or mobile width from a device menu |
| Real-time presence | Live cursors | Shows who is online, with cursors you can show or hide |
| Voice and video calls in the room | Yes, peer to peer | Voice dictation into a comment; no calls advertised |
| Kanban board | Yes, status columns on every link | Yes, Boards and an Inbox |
| Task tracker | One way. Files a Linear, GitHub or Jira issue or a Trello card; nothing syncs back | Pushes tasks to Jira, Trello, Asana, ClickUp, Monday, Basecamp, Teamwork and Slack, or a webhook, on plans with native integrations; Jira issues can be imported back |
| Chat notifications | Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord or any webhook, free | Slack |
| AI coding agent access (MCP) | Every share link is an MCP server, nothing to install. Agents can watch, resolve, reply, leave their own annotations and suggest text edits | One hosted MCP with OAuth per person. Agents read and create tasks, add comments, run workflows and request approvals, but cannot grant them |
| White label | No | Yes, client workspace and reports under your brand |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| Best for | Fast, free review of any page, with or without an agent on the other end | Agencies and hosts handing WordPress maintenance to AI agents |
About Atarim
Atarim is an AI web agency platform for agencies and hosts, with AI specialists that maintain client WordPress sites and visual client feedback on the live page.
About MarkLayer
MarkLayer is a free, open-source web app for annotating any live webpage. Paste a URL atmarklayer.app and draw, comment, arrow, or highlight directly on the page in your browser — no install, no account, no sign-up. Share a single link and anyone can open the annotations in any browser. A free Chrome extension is available for the sites the web app cannot embed, such as pages behind a login, but it is optional and never required to view a share link. There is no paywall and no trial period.
Two different products now
Atarim's own homepage calls it "The AI web agency, plugged into yours." Six AI specialists, Claro, Index, Lexi, Navi, Pixel and Glitch, handle project management, SEO, content, UX, design and bug fixes on client sites. Workflows run as fixed step-by-step procedures, and anything risky, like a checkout change, goes to a person first. Visual feedback is still there, but it sits inside the Pro plan next to all of that.
MarkLayer is the feedback part on its own. A share link opens a live page with drawing tools, comment pins and a kanban board, and that is the product. If you came to Atarim for the comments, most of the $67 pays for agents you may not use.
What the credit meter means
Atarim's Free plan is one project on one site with 200 credits that do not refill, and its pricing page describes the workflows on it as "set up but dormant". Pro brings 5,000 credits a month. A credit pays for a workflow run, a site review or a "Do it" request, and Atarim prices extra credits at $10 per 1,000 for the first 5,000, falling to $6 above 10,000.
MarkLayer has no credits, plans or seats. A share link is the whole unit, and you can make as many as you want.
Staging, WordPress and installs
Atarim reaches a page in three ways. Paste a URL, or put atarim.ai/ in front of one, and it loads with no install; its own blog says cookie banners can interfere and dynamic pages can behave inconsistently that way. The optional Chrome extension fixes that. On WordPress, the Atarim plugin puts the toolbar on the site itself, which covers staging, and Guest Mode lets clients comment without a WordPress login.
MarkLayer's web app also fetches the page from its own server, so a password-protected page shows the password prompt there. The free browser extension handles that case on any stack: it runs in your own logged-in tab and overlays the page. On a public page, nobody installs anything.
Trackers and agents
Atarim pushes tasks to Jira, Trello, Asana, ClickUp, Monday, Basecamp and Teamwork, and changes made in Atarim keep syncing to Jira after the first push. MarkLayer files one Linear, GitHub or Jira issue, or one Trello card, per thread, and posts the ticket URL back once.
Both have MCP. Atarim's covers the whole workspace: tasks, sites, workflows and the approval queue, behind a per-person OAuth sign-in. MarkLayer's covers one room, and the link is the setup: claude mcp add --transport http marklayer https://marklayer.app/s/<id>/mcp. The agent can work the comments, leave its own and propose text edits. It can never mark a thread approved.
Who should not switch from Atarim
Agencies that want AI agents maintaining client WordPress sites under their own brand. That is what Atarim sells now, and MarkLayer does not try to copy it. Everyone else is comparing a $67-a-month agency platform with a free link, and for annotating a page the link does the job.
Atarim's Pro plan is $67 a month with 5,000 credits, up to 100 seats and 1,000 projects (checked October 2026). Most of that buys the AI agency. If all you wanted from Atarim was a comment pinned to an element, MarkLayer does that for free and asks nobody to sign up.
When to choose MarkLayer
- You want visual feedback and nothing else, at no cost, without a credit meter running.
- You review together: live cursors and a voice call in the same room, instead of comments read later.
- The site is not WordPress, or you do not control it. MarkLayer works on any URL you can open.
- You want an AI coding agent on the link itself, free, that can leave annotations and suggest edits as well as resolve yours.
- You want open source you can read, audit or self-host.
When to choose Atarim
- You run a book of WordPress client sites and want AI agents doing plugin updates, broken-link sweeps, SEO and blog posts, with your approval on each risky action.
- Clients should see your agency's name. Atarim's client workspace and monthly reports are white-labelled.
- Your staging site is WordPress and you would rather install a plugin once than ask each reviewer for a browser extension.
- Your tasks live in Asana, ClickUp, Monday, Basecamp or Teamwork. MarkLayer files into Linear, GitHub, Jira and Trello only.
- You need SOC 2, SSO or SAML from a vendor contract. Those sit on Atarim's Enterprise plan.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does Atarim cost?
- Per its pricing page on 11 October 2026: a Free plan with one project on one site and 200 credits, one time; Pro at $67 a month billed monthly, with 20% off on annual billing, up to 100 seats, up to 1,000 projects and 5,000 credits a month; and Enterprise at a custom price with SOC 2, GDPR, SSO, SAML and a custom API. Extra credits on Pro start at $10 per 1,000. Atarim says one credit is 100 tokens.
- Is Atarim still a website feedback tool?
- Partly. Its homepage now calls it an AI web agency: six AI specialists run client websites, and commenting on the live page is one feature of the Pro plan. Clients still click an element, leave a comment, and the comment becomes a task with a screenshot.
- Can my client comment on Atarim without an account?
- Yes, in Guest Mode. Atarim's help center says a guest gives a name and email before commenting. Setting up the project needs an Atarim workspace. On MarkLayer, the person who pastes the URL has no account either, and nobody is asked for an email.
- Does MarkLayer manage WordPress sites like Atarim?
- No. MarkLayer annotates pages and stops there. It does not update plugins, write content or touch the site. Atarim's AI agents do those jobs through its WordPress plugin, with backups and an approval queue.
- How do the two MCP servers differ?
- Atarim's is one hosted server for your whole workspace. Each person signs in with OAuth, and an agent can read and create tasks, comment, run workflows and request approvals, though it cannot approve its own actions. MarkLayer's is free and needs no sign-in: every share link answers MCP at /s/<id>/mcp. An agent can watch that room live, acknowledge, resolve, dismiss or reply, leave its own comment pins, and propose exact text edits that the reviewer accepts as a diff.
- What happens to a MarkLayer link if nobody claims it?
- It is deleted 90 days after its last view, comment or edit, and any of those resets the clock. Claiming it with the free magic-link account removes the idle clock.
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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