The Markup.io price hike: what changed and what it costs now
Markup.io today: no free plan, a 14-day trial, Pro at $79 to $129/month by MarkUp volume with unlimited users but a single workspace, Business at $499 to $799/month for higher volume and branding, and a custom-priced Enterprise tier for multiple workspaces and SAML SSO. Whether it's worth it hinges on the unlimited-users price: strong value for big teams in one workspace, weak value for freelancers and multi-client agencies, who have been the loudest to leave.
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Current published pricing
From markup.io's pricing page, October 2026:
| Plan | Price | MarkUps/month | Users | Workspaces | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pro | $79 / $99 / $129 a month | 50 / 75 / 100 | Unlimited | 1 | 100–200GB |
| Business | $499 / $649 / $799 a month | 200 / 400 / 600 | Unlimited | 1 | 500–600GB |
| Enterprise | Custom | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Annual billing takes two months off. Business adds branding, a vanity domain, a full metrics dashboard and priority support; Enterprise adds SAML SSO, SOC 2 documentation, and a dedicated success manager. Pro and Business come with a 14-day trial.
What changed, and for whom it still works
Before 2025, Markup.io's free tier plus a $29 Pro plan made it the default recommendation for freelancers and small studios. The current structure inverts the value: $79 to $129 with unlimited users is genuinely competitive for a 20-person creative team living in one workspace, where per-seat rivals would bill several times that. The same price is hard to justify for a solo freelancer who ran on the free tier, and the one-workspace cap works against agencies that separate clients into workspaces.
That reshuffling, not the number alone, explains the migration pattern since: large single-workspace teams stayed, and the small and multi-client end went shopping.
If you're deciding now
Run the seat math both ways. At 5 users, Markup.io's $79 entry tier beats Pastel's Team tier ($99+ plus per-seat) but loses to BugHerd's $50 Standard. At 15+ users in one workspace, the per-tier price usually wins among paid tools, as long as the team stays under 100 MarkUps a month; past that, Business starts at $499. And if what you actually need is annotation on live pages rather than a managed review pipeline, the free tier that Markup.io discontinued effectively lives on in MarkLayer: no accounts, no workspaces, unlimited everything, with the trade-off that there is no project management layer at all. The full alternatives comparison covers the middle ground.
Frequently asked questions
- How much does Markup.io cost now?
- As of October 2026, Pro is $79, $99 or $129 a month for 50, 75 or 100 MarkUps, with unlimited users and one workspace. Business is $499, $649 or $799 a month for 200, 400 or 600 MarkUps and adds branding, a vanity domain and a metrics dashboard. Enterprise is custom-priced with unlimited MarkUps, workspaces and storage, SOC 2 documentation, and SAML SSO. Paid plans come with a 14-day trial.
- Does Markup.io still have a free plan?
- No. The free tier was discontinued in early 2025, part of the same change that raised Pro from $29 to $79 per month. Reviewing via guest links remains free for reviewers; creating and managing MarkUps requires a paid workspace.
- Why did the Markup.io price increase cause such a backlash?
- Three compounding factors: the size of the jump (roughly 2.7x at the entry tier, with some annual customers reporting even larger renewals), the removal of the free tier that agencies had built client workflows on, and the single-workspace limit on Pro, which pushes multi-client agencies toward custom Enterprise pricing.
- What should former free-tier users switch to?
- Depends on what you used it for. Pure visual feedback on live pages: MarkLayer is free with no accounts. Agency review workflow with a budget: Pastel (from $29/month) or BugHerd (from $50/month). Screenshot-round reviews at the lowest paid price: Volley at $29/month. See the free Markup.io alternatives page for the full comparison.
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