Looking for a Pastel alternative? Here's how Annot compares.

What Pastel does well

Before getting into the differences, it's worth being clear on what Pastel actually does well, because the overlap with Annot is real.

Pastel lets you paste a live website URL and get back a shareable review link. Clients open that link and leave pinned comments directly on the page without creating an account or installing a browser extension. Comments are attached to specific locations on the page rather than requiring clients to describe what they mean in a separate email.

That zero-friction client experience is the core of Pastel and the main reason agencies choose it over screenshot tools or email-based review workflows. Annot is built on the same principle.

The question is what happens beyond that baseline.

Where Pastel falls short for agencies

Most people looking for a Pastel alternative are running into one of the same three problems.

The 72-hour comment expiry on the free plan. Comments left by a client disappear after three days. Any review that runs across a weekend or with a busy client loses its feedback before it can be acted on.

Per-user pricing at scale. Paid plans are priced per user. The Solo plan is $35/month and the Studio plan is $119/month for teams. For agencies with multiple team members involved in reviews across multiple concurrent projects, that adds up quickly.

Integrations are export-only. Pastel connects to Trello, Asana, Jira, Monday, and others, but the workflow is one-directional: you export comments out as tasks. There is no live sync, no Slack notifications when a client leaves a new comment, and no Notion integration. Feedback arrives in Pastel and someone still has to check in and act on it.

How Annot is different

Site rendering

Both Annot and Pastel use a proxy approach to load your site inside their review environment. The difference is in how well that proxy is optimised for complex builds.

Pastel's proxy can struggle with custom animations, scroll-triggered interactions, WebGL elements, Lottie files, and complex JavaScript. The client ends up reviewing a version of the site that looks or behaves differently to what you actually built.

Annot's proxy is specifically optimised for animation-heavy sites. Webflow animations, Framer interactions, custom cursor effects, and canvas-based elements render correctly, so the client is reviewing the finished product rather than a degraded version of it.

For agencies building straightforward sites on standard CMS platforms, both tools perform similarly. For agencies whose work relies on custom animations and interactions, Annot's proxy handles those cases where Pastel's does not.

Pricing

Annot's free plan has no comment expiry and includes one project with full guest reviewer access. The entry paid plan is Freelance at $9/month for one project and one user. Paid plans are priced by project capacity rather than per user, which means the cost of adding team members to a review does not increase as it does with Pastel.

For a solo freelancer running one project at a time, Annot's Freelance plan at $9/month is considerably cheaper than Pastel's Solo plan at $35/month. For an agency managing several concurrent projects, Annot's project-based pricing scales more predictably than per-user billing.

Integrations

Both tools connect to project management platforms, but they work differently.

Pastel's integrations are export-based. You can push comments out as tasks to Trello, Asana, Jira, Monday, and others via webhooks or API. It is a manual step: you finish the review, then export. There is no live notification when a new client comment arrives.

Annot's integrations are real-time. Slack notifications fire the moment a client leaves a comment, so your team sees feedback as it comes in rather than checking back later. Notion sync keeps comments visible inside your existing project setup without an export step.

AI and MCP integration

This is where the two tools diverge most sharply.

Pastel has no AI integration.

Annot has an MCP server that connects directly to Claude Code and Cursor. When a client leaves a comment on a live site, Annot generates a comment brief containing the exact CSS selector of the element the client was pointing at, the computed styles at the time of the comment, the surrounding HTML structure, the breakpoint they were viewing, and the client's feedback text.

Claude or Cursor can read that brief directly and apply the change to your codebase without you manually translating the comment into a prompt. For agencies running AI-assisted development workflows, that removes the most time-consuming step in the revision loop. See how to use Annot MCP with Claude to apply website feedback automatically for the full setup.

Side-by-side comparison

When Pastel still makes sense

Pastel is a well-designed tool and the client experience is clean. It still makes sense if:

You are a freelancer doing occasional reviews where the 72-hour window is not a problem because your clients turn around feedback quickly. The free plan works without any commitment.

You are working on a simple project on a standard CMS with no custom animations or interactions. On straightforward sites, both proxies perform similarly and Pastel's free plan is a reasonable starting point.

You do not need any integration with other tools in your workflow and want the absolute minimum setup.

When Annot is the better fit

Annot makes more sense if any of the following apply:

Your site has custom animations, scroll interactions, WebGL, or other elements that Pastel's proxy tends to break. Annot's proxy is built to handle these correctly so clients are reviewing the finished product, not a degraded version of it.

You are managing more than one or two projects concurrently and per-user pricing makes Pastel's paid plans expensive relative to what you get.

You need client feedback to flow into Slack or Notion automatically rather than sitting in a separate tool.

You are using Claude Code or Cursor in your development workflow and want client feedback to be readable directly by the AI rather than manually translated into prompts.

Common questions

Can clients leave feedback on Annot without creating an account?

Yes. Guest reviewer access is built in. Clients open the review link, land on your live site, and can click anywhere to leave a comment immediately. No sign-up, no extension, no friction.

Does Pastel work with Webflow and Framer sites?

Both tools use a proxy to load your site, but they handle complex builds differently. Pastel's proxy can break Webflow animations, Lottie files, and Framer interactions, particularly on sites with scroll-triggered or JavaScript-driven elements. Annot's proxy is specifically optimised for animation-heavy builds and renders those elements correctly. For a detailed breakdown see the best website feedback tools for Webflow builds.

What is the Annot MCP integration and do I need it?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is a standard that lets AI tools like Claude and Cursor read data from external services. Annot's MCP integration means Claude can read your client's comments directly as structured briefs and apply changes to your code. You do not need it to use Annot for standard client reviews. It is an optional layer for developers running AI-assisted workflows.

Does Annot work with password-protected staging environments?

No, and neither does Pastel. Both tools require a publicly accessible URL. If your staging environment is behind a password, use a public preview URL for the review session.

Which tool is easier for non-technical clients?

Both are comparable on client experience. The client receives a link, opens it in their browser, and clicks to leave a comment. Neither requires any technical knowledge or setup. Annot has a slight edge in that the site renders fully, so clients are not confused by broken animations or missing styles in the preview.

The short version

If you are doing occasional simple reviews on straightforward sites, Pastel's free plan is a reasonable starting point. If you are running an agency with multiple concurrent projects, sites with custom animations, and a workflow that includes Slack, Notion, or AI development tools, Annot covers everything Pastel does and the things Pastel does not. The client experience is the same. The difference is what happens after the client leaves their first comment.

Related reading: How to run a client website review without a single email.