Figma vs MarkLayer
Figma comments and MarkLayer comments look similar at first glance: pin a note to something on screen, reply in a thread, watch a cursor move in real time. They're solving different problems. A comment in Figma lives on the design file, before or during the build. A comment in MarkLayer lives on the actual page after it's rendered in a browser, with real fonts, real data, and whatever the build introduced that the design never had. The design can be perfect and the shipped page still wrong; Figma comments can't see that gap, because they're not looking at the shipped page.
The other difference is who gets to comment. Figma requires a free account to leave a comment on any file, even a link shared as view-only. That's a small ask for a design team that lives in Figma daily, and a real one for a client or a stakeholder who was sent a single link and now has to sign up before they can say what they think. MarkLayer's share link skips that step entirely: open it, draw or comment, no account on either side.
Neither replaces the other. A design review belongs in Figma, where frames, prototype flows, and component variants are native concepts. A build review, checking whether what shipped matches what was designed, belongs on the live page, which is what MarkLayer annotates. Most teams end up running both: Figma for the file, MarkLayer for the page it became.
Choose MarkLayer when the thing being reviewed is the built product: real fonts, real breakpoints, real bugs that only exist once code ships. Choose Figma comments when the thing being reviewed is still the design: a frame, a prototype flow, a component before anyone has built it.
On this page
At a glance
| Feature | MarkLayer | Figma |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, no tiers | Free Starter plan; paid editor seats from $20/mo (annual) |
| What you're commenting on | The live, rendered page: real fonts, real data, real breakpoints | A design frame or prototype inside the Figma file |
| Sign-up required to comment | No. Open the share link and comment | Yes. Figma requires a free account to comment on any file, even a shared view link |
| Catches implementation drift | Yes. You're marking up what actually shipped, not what was designed | No. A comment on a Figma frame can't see a bug introduced during build |
| Real-time live cursors | Yes | Yes, inside the Figma file |
| Drawing tools (freehand, shapes, arrows) | Yes, directly on the live page | Yes, directly on the design canvas |
| Threaded comments with statuses | Yes. Open, in progress, resolved, dismissed | Yes. Open and resolved, no in-progress state |
| Works on pages you didn't design in Figma | Yes. Any URL, marketing site, competitor page, staging environment | No. Limited to files that exist in Figma |
| AI agent integration | MCP server: watch, acknowledge, resolve, reply | Figma Make and Dev Mode assist design-to-code; no MCP room for a coding agent to work through |
| Best for | Reviewing the shipped page, bugs, copy, spacing that only exist post-build | Reviewing the design before anything is built |
About Figma
Figma is the design tool where teams comment on frames and prototypes inside the design file.
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.
Figma comments answer 'does the design work.' MarkLayer answers 'does the built page match it,' because it puts the comment on the page, not on a picture of one.
When to choose MarkLayer
- The thing you're reviewing already exists as a real webpage, not a Figma frame.
- You want a client or stakeholder to comment without creating a Figma account first.
- You're checking whether the build matches the design, not whether the design works.
- The page isn't yours: a competitor's site, a live client site, anything outside your own Figma project.
When to choose Figma
- You're reviewing a design before development starts.
- Your team already lives in Figma and the design file is the source of truth.
- You need prototype flows, component variants, or version history alongside the comment.
- Everyone reviewing already has, or is happy to create, a Figma account.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I use MarkLayer to comment on a Figma design instead of Figma's own comments?
- You can annotate Figma's share view the same as any webpage, but that's not the intended use. MarkLayer is built for the live, built product: the actual page with real fonts and real behavior. For a design file that hasn't shipped yet, Figma's native commenting is the better fit; it understands frames, prototype flows, and component state in a way a generic page annotator does not.
- Do reviewers need a Figma account to leave a comment?
- Yes. Figma's own help documentation confirms comments cannot be added to a file without signing in and creating an account, even on a view-only shared link. The account is free to create, but it's still a signup step between a stakeholder and their comment. MarkLayer's share link has no such step: open it, comment, done.
- Why would a comment on the live page catch something Figma comments miss?
- Because the live page is the only place where implementation drift shows up. A button that's 4px off from the Figma spec, a font that fell back because the web font failed to load, a state that only appears with real data, a responsive breakpoint that behaves differently than the prototype: none of that exists inside the design file to comment on. It only exists once the page is built and rendered in a real browser.
- Is MarkLayer trying to replace Figma?
- No. Figma owns the pre-build design conversation: frames, prototypes, component libraries, version history. MarkLayer owns the post-build conversation: is the thing that got built correct. Most teams that use MarkLayer also use Figma; they're reviewing different artifacts at different stages of the same project.
- Does MarkLayer integrate with Figma directly?
- There's no plugin and no .fig import, so a Figma file itself stays in Figma. The one bridge is an export: send a frame out as a PNG or a PDF and MarkLayer will annotate that like any other document, which is enough for a quick pass on a static comp but loses the prototype, the component state and the link back to the file. If the design file and the live page must be reviewed in the same tool with all of that intact, that's a Figma-only workflow today.
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