Visual feedback tools help you collect clear and actionable feedback on digital assets like design mockups or websites.
Imagine you’ve just put a client’s website on a staging environment and sent it over for review. Ten minutes later, you get an email saying, "Can we please make the button bigger?" Or maybe the classic, "The button doesn't work."
This leaves you and your team wondering, "Which page? Where? What exactly doesn’t work? Can you share a screenshot? What browser are you using?" and so on. You end up exchanging a dozen emails just to gather enough context to understand the feedback.
It can be frustrating. Trust me, after building hundreds of websites and web apps for clients, I know.
Visual feedback tools can solve this mess. Clients and stakeholders can visually show what they mean by drawing and annotating directly on the digital asset. The feedback also automatically captures crucial context like the page, browser, console errors, and screenshots.
This makes the feedback immediately understandable for you and your team.
In this article, we will explore 9 visual feedback tools that can help you take control of the often chaotic feedback process.
Let’s get into it!
How to choose the best visual feedback tool
- What type of digital assets do you need feedback on? This might be one of the most important questions. As a web agency, your primary asset will likely be websites. However, collecting visual feedback on images can be important too, especially if your agency doesn't use tools like Figma for design.
- Needs to be easy for clients to use. All of us who have worked with clients on web projects know that not everyone is tech-savvy. Telling a client to download an extension or start using a complex tool will likely mean they won't adopt it.
- Ability to collaborate. Collecting visual feedback is just the first step. If you need additional information, robust collaboration tools are a must, with features like comments and attachments. This also needs to be easy and accessible for the client. If collaboration tools are hidden in different platforms, they can easily be forgotten.
- Deep integrations with project management tools. Let's face it. Most web agencies already use project management tools like ClickUp, Asana, Jira, etc. Asking your team to handle feedback in another tool can cause huge context-switches. Ideally, your team should be able to handle all feedback inside your existing project management tools.
- Pick a tool for the job to reduce cost. There are many visual feedback tools and website feedback tools on the market. Some might not be built for a web agency and will come with extra features you'll never use, increasing the cost. Don't pay more than you have to!
1. Feedbucket
Feedbucket is our tool for collecting and collaborating on visual website feedback. Before creating Feedbucket, I ran a web development agency that built hundreds of websites and web apps for clients.
Recently, there was a big discussion about visual feedback tools in the popular Facebook group for WordPress agencies called The Admin Bar (TAB). Feedbucket was mentioned quite often as can be seen below.
We've been using Feedbucket since for a while and had no issues. It connects to many PM tools (we use ClickUp) and has two way sync so if you close a ticket in ClickUp it resolve it in Feedbucket. It's a great selling tool also - prospects live when I demo that we have a tool they can use to submit things to us from their website and it lands straight into our support queue.
Everything is right on the website for your clients. No installations required.
Feedbucket is installed on your client's staging site by adding a script tag, similar to installing Google Analytics.
If you use WordPress, there's a plugin for even faster installation.
Installing Feedbucket on the website has several benefits compared to other solutions. Many clients aren't tech-savvy, so asking them to "Please download this Chrome extension to submit feedback" isn't always easy.
Plus, using a Chrome extension doesn't work on mobile phones, limiting feedback to desktop devices only.
Another common method from visual feedback tools is providing a link for clients to submit feedback. We found that clients often forget this link and revert to emailing feedback instead.
With Feedbucket installed on their staging site, it's easier for clients and you. They can simply browse to the staging site and submit visual feedback from any device without leaving the website.
Submit visual website feedback without leaving the site
With Feedbucket installed on your website, there are two easy ways to submit visual feedback:
- Using annotated screenshots.
- Using video recording. With, or without, microphone.
Feedbucket transforms your website into an interactive canvas. Use tools like a pen, rectangle, arrows, blackout, and more to highlight your feedback. These annotation tools help make your points clear and precise.
To submit feedback, place a pin over the relevant area, describe your feedback, and click submit.
Feedbucket then captures a screenshot with all annotations and automatically includes technical details like the page, browser, OS, and console errors. This ensures your developers have all the information they need, reducing guesswork and back-and-forth communication.
Sometimes, a screenshot and text aren't enough to explain a bug or feedback. For example, issues with a contact form or animations can be hard to describe.
In such cases, clients can submit a video recording as feedback. This works directly from the browser without needing any extensions.
One feature we are particularly proud of is the ability to navigate the website while recording. This often requires extensions from other visual feedback tools. With Feedbucket, it’s like giving your clients Loom directly on the website without the hassle of downloading an extension or signing up!
Clients collaborate directly on the website
Submitting feedback is just the first step for clients or stakeholders. Afterward, collaboration tools are used to ensure everyone is on the same page, knowing what’s left to do and what feedback has already been submitted.
A unique feature of Feedbucket is the on-page guest portal. Directly on the website, you can open a sidebar that shows all open feedback. Start collaborating by adding comments, attachments, setting tags, etc. Or, just follow along in the review process to see what’s left to do.
When multiple stakeholders review a website, duplicate feedback is common.
To tackle this, Feedbucket shows a pin on the element where feedback has already been submitted, greatly reducing duplicate feedback.
Pins are shown on the website where feedback has been submitted.
Having the guest portal embedded directly on the site, instead of an external platform, has made a huge difference. Our customers often mention how much they appreciate this feature.
Integrates deeply into your project management tool
Most agencies already use a project management tool like Asana, ClickUp, or Jira to handle all their tasks. Asking your team to manage feedback in another tool doesn’t make sense. The context switch can be tough for project managers and developers, making it easy for feedback to get lost when tasks and feedback are in separate tools.
That’s why Feedbucket offers deep 2-way integrations with most popular project management tools.
With 2-way integration, your team can handle all aspects of feedback within the project management tool. Feedback submitted from the website flows directly into your PM tools as tasks, configured to your needs.
Visual website feedback from Feedbucket created in Asana with all details.
If comments are added, they will also be attached to the task. When feedback is resolved on the website, the task is automatically marked as completed in your PM tool.
This is the first part of 2-way integration. Any changes on the website sync automatically to your project management tool.
The second part lets your team manage feedback without leaving the project management tool. If you need more information from the client, you can add a comment with @feedbucket. This comment will flow back to Feedbucket and notify the client. Without @feedbucket, it's a regular comment that doesn't sync back.
When the task is completed, mark it as done in your PM tool, and the feedback will be resolved in Feedbucket too.
Your team can handle all feedback from within your existing tools.
Comments, status, and even tags syncs back to Feedbucket.
With 2-way integrations, your team can work in the tools they do today, just with a better feedback processes.
Only the features you need, without the high cost
Choosing a visual feedback tool for agencies isn't easy. There are many tools available, and some can be quite expensive because they include features you'll likely never use.
Feedbucket is focused on being the best visual feedback tool for web agencies. By cutting out unnecessary features, we can offer a lower price.
Feedbucket pricing
- Pro Plan: Priced at $39 per month, the Pro Plan allows you to use Feedbucket on unlimited projects and gather unlimited feedback, making it easy to collect and organize visual website feedback within your existing tools.
- Business Plan: Available for $89 per month, the Business Plan offers additional features such as console recording, custom branding with your own colors and logo, and several advanced functionalities.
Start collecting and organizing website feedback today with Feedbuckets full-featured, 14-day free trial - No credit card required
2. BugHerd
Source: BugHerd.com
BugHerd is a visual feedback tool that lets you submit feedback on images and websites, though its primary focus is on website feedback. It offers features like submitting annotated screenshots and recording feedback.
However, it is three times more expensive than Feedbucket while offering a similar set of features.
BugHerd Pricing
BugHerd offers four pricing plans, ranging from $39 to $229 per month. To avoid needing your clients to download a browser extension and to get built-in integrations, you need the Premium plan at $129 a month.
3. Marker.io
Source: Marker.io
Marker.io is a tool that you install on your website or use through a Chrome extension. It allows you to submit visual feedback and bug reports. Marker.io is best suited for internal QA, offering features like session recording and network capturing.
Marker.io has no video feedback.
Marker.io Pricing
Marker.io offers three pricing plans, from $59 to $399 per month. The Starter Plan, at $59 a month, includes all the basic tools for managing client feedback. If you need more features like session replay and console log tracking, the Team plan at $149 a month includes these extras.
4. MarkUp.io
Source: MarkUp.io
MarkUp.io allows you to submit visual feedback on 30 different file types, with images and websites being the most used for web agencies. It lets you submit feedback on any website without installation.
At first, this sounds convenient, but it comes with a few downsides. You need to share a link with your customers, there's no integration, and it doesn't support feedback on websites behind Basic Auth.
MarkUp.io Pricing
MarkUp.io has a free version, but it's quite basic. For business use, you'll likely need the Pro plan at $29 a month. This makes MarkUp.io one of the more affordable website feedback tools if you're okay with its downsides.
5. Pastel
Source: usepastel.com
Pastel is a tool designed for marketing teams to review and approve marketing assets like live websites, PDFs, and image files. Similar to MarkUp.io, Pastel lets you submit feedback on live websites without needing to install anything.
This is useful for feedback on live websites, but for agencies mostly working in staging environments, it presents challenges. One major drawback is the inability to submit feedback on websites behind Basic Auth.
Pastel Pricing
Pastel has a free tier, but it's only suitable for hobby use. The paid plans range from $29 to $350 per month. Because of the 72-hour commenting window, you'll likely need their Studio plan at $99 a month.
6. Userback
Source: Userback.io
Userback is a powerful tool that allows you to submit feedback on almost any asset in various ways. However, as the name suggests, Userback is primarily designed for gathering user feedback, especially for SaaS tools.
Due to this focus, Userback includes many features and tools that agencies are unlikely to use, making it significantly more expensive than other tools.
Userback Pricing
Userback offers three plans, ranging from $79 to $289 a month. To avoid having your clients use a browser extension to submit feedback, you need the Company plan at $159 a month, making Userback the second most expensive option on our list.
7. Usersnap
Source: Usersnap.com
Usersnap, like Userback, focuses primarily on collecting user feedback from your SaaS users, as the name suggests. While it’s a well-made tool that can certainly be used by agencies, its primary focus and project limitations make it less ideal for agency use.
Due to its emphasis on user feedback and the associated project constraints, Usersnap is the most expensive tool on our list.
Usersnap Pricing
Usersnap offers three plans, ranging from $99 to $329 a month. Due to project limits, an agency would likely need the Company plan at $189 a month, making it the most expensive option on our list.
8. Ruttl
Source: Ruttl.com
With Ruttl, you can collect visual feedback on websites, images, videos, and mobile apps. At first, this sounds very impressive. However, many users, including us, have found it to be extremely buggy. Here’s a comment from a user in TheAdminBar Facebook group for WordPress Agencies:
Ruttl Pricing
Ruttl has a free plan, but it's quite basic and not suitable for client projects. Their pricing is different from other alternatives, with two premium plans at $8 or $30 per user per month. Your entire team and sometimes clients will likely need their own accounts. Make sure you know who needs an account, or it can quickly become expensive.
9. Filestage
Source: Filestage.io
Filestage is a proofing software that allows you to submit visual feedback on various file types, including PDFs, images, videos, and websites. If you primarily need to collect feedback on images, Filestage is an excellent choice.
However, submitting feedback on websites can be challenging. You need to send a link to the client, and they must install a browser extension to submit their feedback, making the process less straightforward and user-friendly.
Filestage Pricing
Filestage offers a free plan that could be suitable for business use. It supports all file types but limits you to 2 projects and 2 reviewer groups. For more serious business needs, you'll likely need their Basic plan, which costs €59 a month.
Collect and organize visual feedback with Feedbucket today
Sign up for a full-featured, 14-day free trial of Feedbucket (no credit card required) and start collecting visual feedback from your clients immediately.
- Feedbucket is created by former web agency owners who understand your specific challenges and are dedicated to addressing them.
- Feedbucket is designed to complement your current tools and workflows. With thorough two-way integration, it enhances the feedback process within the tools you're already using, rather than adding another platform for your team to access.
- Get started for just $39 a month.
