MarkLayer and Markup.io are both visual feedback tools for live websites, and until 2025 they were closer in spirit than they are now: Markup.io ran a free plan of its own before discontinuing it and raising Pro from $29 to $79 a month. That change is the reason most visitors land on this page. A workflow built around a free Markup.io account didn't get a price increase so much as the ground removed from under it, and a lot of teams went looking for what replaces the free tier that used to be there.
MarkLayer is the direct answer to that specific problem: no account, no project setup, no plan to pick, ever. Paste a URL, draw or comment, share the link. What it doesn't replicate is the reason Markup.io still has paying customers past $79 a month: persistent project workspaces, a team account tied to client deliverables, and review workflows built around PDFs and design files alongside live pages, not just the pages themselves.
If you're researching a Markup.io alternative, or reading this as a Markup.io review before committing to its pricing, here's the short version: Markup.io is built for teams that want to leave comments on live pages inside a persistent, billed project, and its flat per-workspace rate is a real advantage for a team large enough to make the per-seat math of other paid tools look worse. MarkLayer is built for anyone who wants to collect feedback right now, on any page, without opening an account, picking a plan, or trusting that the free option they signed up for will still exist next year.
Choose MarkLayer for fast, sign-up-free visual feedback on any live page with real-time live cursors. Choose Markup.io if you need persistent project workspaces, version tracking, and a team account tied to client deliverables.
| Feature | MarkLayer | Markup.io |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, no tiers, no paywall | No free plan. Pro $79/month (unlimited users, 1 workspace); 14-day trial |
| Sign-up required | No | Yes |
| Works on live websites | Yes. Annotate the actual live page | Yes. Imports URL into a project |
| Real-time live cursors | Yes | No (comment-based) |
| Drawing tools | Freehand, shapes, arrows, lines | Limited drawing; primarily pin comments |
| Recipient install | Not required. Share link opens in browser | Not required. Link-based reviewing |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| Browser | Chrome / Chromium | Web app (no extension required) |
| Best for | Quick visual feedback on any page | Agency project reviews with version tracking |
Markup.io is a project-based feedback platform from Ceros for reviewing live websites, PDFs, and design files.
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.
Markup.io removed its free plan and moved Pro to $79 a month, and a lot of teams went alternative-shopping after that. I built MarkLayer for the other end of the spectrum: drop an annotation on a page in ten seconds, no signup, no project setup, no bill.
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