The Pastel alternative for freelancers, not just agencies
Pastel is a polished review tool built for agencies and marketing teams, and it reviews websites. dotts is built for freelancers and small studios: review websites, staging URLs, PDFs and images in one place, on a free plan and one simple price.
Pastel and dotts, side by side
Based on publicly available pricing and docs, last checked July 2026. Spotted something outdated? Tell us and we'll fix it.
Pastel or dotts?
You're an agency or a marketing team
Website review is all you need
You're fine adding per-user seats as the team grows
You want a tool built around a bigger team workflow
You're a freelancer or a small studio
You review websites, staging URLs, PDFs and images in one place
You want a free plan with room for a few projects and one simple price
You want feedback that flows into your AI workflow (Copy for AI, MCP)
Why freelancers pick dotts over Pastel
“One active canvas isn't enough when I'm juggling clients.”
Pastel's free plan keeps one canvas active at a time.
With dotts: dotts' free plan gives you three projects, with unlimited reviewers on every one.
“The price climbs per person once the team grows.”
Pastel adds per-user costs on its Team and Enterprise plans as you scale.
With dotts: dotts is one simple price with unlimited reviewers, built for solo and small-studio budgets.
“It only does websites. My projects are sites, PDFs and social assets.”
Website-only review means a second tool for everything else.
With dotts: dotts reviews websites, staging URLs, PDFs and images in the same project.
“The feedback lives in the tool, my work lives in my editor.”
You retype client comments into prompts and tickets.
With dotts: Copy for AI turns any thread into structured context, and the MCP server feeds comments straight into Claude Code or Cursor.
Try it on your next client project
Free plan, no credit card. Pro comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee. Your clients comment straight from a link, so there's nothing to set up and nothing to learn.
Marcus, a freelance web designer from Stockholm, moved his client reviews to dotts and cut the back-and-forth per project by about 40%. His clients comment directly on the staging site instead of sending annotated screenshots by email.
Switching from Pastel, answered
Pastel is built for agencies and marketing teams, with a workflow made for bigger groups. If that's you, Pastel is a strong fit. dotts is built for freelancers and small studios: simpler, one price, and it covers websites, PDFs and images. Honest answer: for large agency workflows, Pastel; for everything smaller, dotts.
Pastel's free plan keeps one canvas active at a time. dotts' free plan gives you three projects, each with unlimited reviewers.
Pastel focuses on website review. dotts reviews websites, staging URLs, PDFs and images in the same project, so you don't need a second tool for design files.
No, and this is a place where the two are similar: like dotts, Pastel lets guests comment without an account. The differences are scope, how the price scales, and the AI workflow, not the login.
Pastel is $35/month (Pro), $119/month plus $24/user (Team) and $450/month plus $45/user (Enterprise). dotts has a free plan and one simple flat price with unlimited reviewers.
dotts is an EU company with EU hosting and is GDPR-compliant, which is often the deciding argument for agencies working with European clients.
One click turns a feedback thread into structured context for Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor, including page, element and browser details.
One simple tool for the whole review
Websites, staging URLs, PDFs and images, all in one link. Free plan, one simple price, no per-user surprises.