zipBoard vs MarkLayer: a free zipBoard alternative

By Dean Rusin · Last updated: October 2026

At a glance#

About zipBoard#

zipBoard is a paid review and approval platform for documents, drawings, eLearning courses, videos and websites, aimed at AEC firms, learning teams and agencies.

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.

Where zipBoard charges and MarkLayer doesn't#

zipBoard has no free plan. The trial runs on every plan without a card, and then Team starts at $99 a month. That buys unlimited projects and reviewers, but caps you at 20 digital assets and 1GB of storage. A web team reviewing three sites with a handful of pages each can use up 20 assets in a week.

Agency, at $199 a month, raises the cap to 50 assets and adds the integrations, project reports and manager seats. MarkLayer has no asset count, no storage meter and no plan. A share link is the whole unit, and you can make as many as you like.

zipBoard reviews things MarkLayer can't open#

zipBoard's features page lists PDFs, images, video, audio, websites, HTML files, ZIP archives and SCORM packages. The industries named on its homepage match: architecture firms, contractors, civil engineers, learning designers and translation teams. Video gets time-stamped comments. Courses open as courses.

MarkLayer reviews web pages, plus PDFs and images up to 25MB with the same pen and comment tools. That is the whole list. If your week includes a SCORM module or a 40-second product video, zipBoard covers it and MarkLayer does not.

Approvals, versions and the paper trail#

zipBoard tracks file versions, compares two of them side by side, records approvals and lets a project run through custom phases. For a firm whose client signs off on drawing revision C, that record is the product.

MarkLayer keeps a room, not a history of revisions. A reviewer can approve a thread, and an agent is never allowed to, but there is no revision C to compare against B. If the sign-off has to stand up in a contract dispute, use the tool built for that.

What each one does with a tracker#

zipBoard's Jira link runs both ways. Its help center maps assignee, priority, due date, type, replies and description, and says a change in Jira updates the zipBoard task. The same article notes that status is not mapped. Wrike, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zapier, Procore and an API are on the list too, and the pricing page puts integrations on Agency.

MarkLayer files one Linear, GitHub or Jira issue, or one Trello card, per thread, and posts the ticket URL back once. After that the two stop talking. It posts new annotations to Slack, Teams, Discord or any webhook, free. For a team where Jira is the record, zipBoard's sync is worth paying for. For a team filing a few visual bugs a week, one way is enough.

Live review versus asynchronous review#

zipBoard is built around asynchronous review: upload, share, collect comments, assign tasks, approve. Its pages don't advertise live cursors or calls. A webpage review can record a video note with microphone and camera, which is the async version of explaining something out loud.

MarkLayer is built around the room. Live cursors show who is looking where, and a peer-to-peer voice or video call runs in the same tab. The device overview puts desktop, tablet and mobile side by side, with the open comment count at each width. And every share link is an MCP server, so a coding agent can pick up the threads, fix the code and resolve them while the reviewer watches the status change.

Who should not switch from zipBoard#

Teams reviewing courses, video, audio or construction drawings, and anyone whose process ends in a recorded approval on a numbered version. That is what the $99 to $199 buys, and MarkLayer does not try to copy it.

If your reviews are web pages and the occasional PDF, you are choosing between an asset-metered suite and a free link. The compare hub lists the other paid tools by what they add.

zipBoard's Team plan starts at $99 a month for 20 assets and 1GB of storage, and the integrations start on Agency at $199 (checked October 2026). MarkLayer costs nothing, files a Linear, GitHub or Jira issue or a Trello card from any thread, and every share link is also an MCP server.

When to choose MarkLayer#

• You review web pages and a few PDFs or images, and $99 a month for 20 assets is more tool than the job needs.
• You review together: live cursors and a voice call on the page, instead of comments read the next morning.
• You want an AI coding agent on the link, free, able to resolve your threads and leave its own.
• You want open source you can read, audit or self-host.

When to choose zipBoard#

• You review eLearning: zipBoard opens SCORM packages and HTML files, and MarkLayer does not.
• Your deliverables include video or audio, and you want comments pinned to a timestamp.
• You need a recorded approval, version history and side-by-side comparison of two revisions. MarkLayer keeps none of those.
• Your team lives in Jira and wants assignee, priority and due date kept in step both ways.
• IT requires single sign-on, which zipBoard offers on Enterprise.

Frequently asked questions#

Is MarkLayer a free zipBoard alternative?

For annotating a live web page, a PDF or an image and sharing a link, yes, and the person who starts the review does not need an account either. It does not replace zipBoard's SCORM, video and audio review, its approvals and version comparison, or the two-way Jira sync.

How much does zipBoard cost?

Per its pricing page on 11 October 2026: there is no free plan. Team starts at $99 a month with up to 20 digital assets, 1GB of storage and unlimited projects, collaborators and reviewers. Agency starts at $199 a month with up to 50 assets, project reports and integrations, and sells manager seats as an add-on. Enterprise is priced by sales and adds single sign-on, archived projects and custom permissions. Every plan has a free trial with no credit card, billed monthly or annually after that.

Can a client review on zipBoard without an account?

Yes, if the project owner leaves guest access open: the share dialog has a switch for requiring sign-up. The owner still needs a zipBoard account to create the project. On MarkLayer neither side signs up, though claiming a link with the free magic-link account keeps it past the idle limit.

Does zipBoard sync with Jira both ways?

Yes. Its help center says a change made in Jira updates the zipBoard task, and lists six mapped fields: assignee, priority, due date, type, replies and description. The same article says task status is not mapped, and comments from zipBoard show in Jira under a zipBoard label. MarkLayer files one Jira, Linear or GitHub issue, or one Trello card, from a thread and posts the link back once; nothing syncs after that.

Can MarkLayer review a SCORM course or a video?

No. MarkLayer reviews web pages, PDFs and images up to 25MB. zipBoard opens SCORM packages, HTML files, video and audio, which is a large part of why it costs what it does.

Can an AI coding agent work from either tool?

zipBoard does not advertise an MCP server or AI agent access. Every MarkLayer share link answers MCP at /s/<id>/mcp, so an agent like Claude Code can watch the room, acknowledge and resolve threads, reply, leave its own pins and propose exact text edits. Only a human can mark a thread approved.

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 account removes the idle clock. zipBoard meters storage instead: 1GB on Team.

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.

Or add the free Chrome extension for sites the web app cannot embed, such as pages behind a login.