Feedbucket vs MarkLayer: a free Feedbucket alternative
MarkLayer and Feedbucket solve website feedback from opposite ends of who installs what. Feedbucket is a script you add once to a site you own, and from then on a feedback button lives there permanently: any visitor or client can trigger it, capture an annotated screenshot or video, and have it routed straight into one of 16-plus trackers. MarkLayer has no script and nothing to add to a site, because the page being annotated doesn't have to belong to you at all.
That one constraint, the script must be installed on the site, is the real dividing line. Price is secondary. It's a non-issue for a team reviewing its own product, where Feedbucket's standing widget and deep tracker routing genuinely earn the $49-89/month (checked October 2026). It becomes a hard wall the moment the page in question is a client's production site you don't control, a competitor's checkout flow, or any third-party tool you need to annotate without asking someone else to add a script tag for you. MarkLayer's Chrome extension sidesteps the whole question: it overlays whatever the browser can already render, permission or not.
So the honest framing isn't "MarkLayer is the free Feedbucket," it's that they're built for opposite relationships to the site being reviewed. Own the site and want permanent visitor-facing intake: Feedbucket. Need to annotate a page you don't control, or don't want a script living there at all: MarkLayer, for free.
Sources
- Feedbucket pricing, checked October 2026: feedbucket.app/pricing
Choose MarkLayer to annotate any page, including sites you don't control, for free with no script install. Choose Feedbucket if you want a permanent feedback widget living on your own site with screenshot/video capture and native routing into 16+ trackers.
On this page
At a glance
| Feature | MarkLayer | Feedbucket |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, no tiers | Pro $49/month (2 members); Business $89/month (25 members); Enterprise custom. Unlimited projects on every plan. 14-day trial, no free plan. Checked October 2026 |
| Setup | Install the extension once; works on every page | Add a JavaScript snippet to each site you review |
| Works on sites you don't control | Yes | No. The script must be installed on the site |
| Reviewer accounts | None, either side | Unlimited client reporters without accounts |
| Capture | Annotations on the live page | Annotated screenshots and video recordings |
| Console logs | No | Yes. Listed on Business and up; the pricing page is inconsistent about Pro |
| Real-time live cursors | Yes | No |
| Integrations | One-way. Posts new comments to Slack, Teams, Discord or a webhook; files single threads as Jira, Linear or GitHub issues. Nothing syncs back | Jira, Linear, GitHub, GitLab, Asana, ClickUp, Trello, Basecamp, Monday, Notion, Slack, Zapier, webhooks |
| AI coding agent access (MCP) | Yes. Live watch, acknowledge, resolve, reply | Yes. An MCP Connector is listed on every plan |
| Open source | Yes (Apache-2.0) | No |
| Best for | Ad-hoc feedback on any URL | Standing feedback intake on sites you run |
About Feedbucket
Feedbucket is a paid feedback widget you install on your own site with one line of JavaScript, capturing annotated screenshots and video from reviewers.
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.
Feedbucket's one-line install is honest positioning: it lives on sites you own. That's exactly the boundary MarkLayer doesn't have. A client's production site, a competitor's checkout, a page you'll never get a script tag onto: point the extension at it and annotate.
When to choose MarkLayer
- You need to annotate pages you can't add a script to: client production sites, third-party tools, competitor pages.
- You want zero cost and no member caps.
- You review together in real time, with cursors and voice, rather than collecting reports.
- You want an AI coding agent working the annotations via MCP on a free share link with nothing installed.
When to choose Feedbucket
- You run the sites being reviewed and want a permanent feedback button on them.
- You need screenshot and video reports routed automatically into one of 16+ trackers.
- You need console logs attached to reports (listed on Business and up).
Frequently asked questions
- Is MarkLayer a free Feedbucket alternative?
- For annotating pages, yes, and it reaches pages Feedbucket can't (anything without the script installed). It does not replicate Feedbucket's two-way tracker routing, video capture, or console logs.
- Does Feedbucket have a free plan?
- No. As of October 2026 Feedbucket offers a 14-day trial, then Pro at $49/month with 2 team members, or Business at $89/month with 25 members. Enterprise is custom. Every plan has unlimited projects. Yearly billing says it saves 20%, but the page prints no yearly dollar amounts.
- Widget or extension: which model fits my workflow?
- A widget suits standing intake: reviewers land on your site and the feedback button is already there. An extension suits ad-hoc review: you can open any URL and start annotating without touching the site's code. Many agencies need the second model for pages they don't host.
- Does Feedbucket support AI coding agents?
- Yes, as of October 2026: its pricing page lists an MCP Connector on every plan. MarkLayer's MCP server is free and works on any share link with nothing installed; check Feedbucket's docs for what its connector exposes, since the pricing page does not say.
- Do clients need an account with either tool?
- No on both. Feedbucket allows unlimited client reporters without accounts on sites running its script. MarkLayer needs no accounts for anyone, on any page.
- What's the actual cost of standing feedback intake versus ad-hoc review?
- Feedbucket bills for the widget staying installed and ready, $49/month for Pro's 2 members, whether or not anyone leaves feedback that month. MarkLayer has no equivalent standing cost because there's no widget living anywhere; the tool only enters the picture at the moment someone opens a URL to annotate it. That makes MarkLayer cheaper for occasional or unpredictable review, and Feedbucket's model better suited to a site that expects a steady stream of visitor feedback.
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.
Annotate a page