What is the real difference between PinFeed and Pastel?

Different ideal customers. Pastel is designed for designer-to-client approval loops — a client gives feedback on a page, a designer resolves it, sign-off. PinFeed is designed for designer-and-QA-to-engineer handoff — feedback becomes a GitHub, Linear, or Jira ticket with full context. If your output is "approved," pick Pastel. If your output is a tracked ticket, pick PinFeed.

Can Pastel review staging sites behind login?

No — Pastel is a proxy/canvas model and cannot reach auth-walled pages, pages that set X-Frame-Options to DENY, or anything behind cookies it does not have. PinFeed is a browser extension, so it reviews whatever you can see in your browser, including staging behind SSO, production behind login, and internal tools.

How does pricing compare for a small team?

PinFeed is $9.99 per user per month. Pastel is $29 per user per month on Solo — roughly 3× more. For a 4-user team, PinFeed is ~$40/month vs Pastel Solo at $116/month. Pastel free is limited by a 72-hour comment expiry window; PinFeed free is permanent.

Comparison

PinFeed vs Pastel

Pastel is built for the designer-to-client approval loop — sign-off, not ticket. PinFeed is built for the engineering handoff — one click from a pin to a GitHub, Linear, or Jira ticket with full context. Different primary audience; honest comparison below.

Pick PinFeed if…

Your feedback needs to land in GitHub / Linear / Jira as a real ticket
You review auth-walled staging, production, or internal tools
You want predictable $9.99/user pricing (vs Pastel's $29/user)
Comments need to persist longer than 72 hours on free

Pick Pastel if…

You review designer-to-client approvals on public, non-logged-in pages
Reviewers refuse to install a browser extension
You review Figma designs + websites in one canvas
Your output is "approved" — a sign-off — not a tracked ticket

Side-by-side

	PinFeed	Pastel
Entry price	Free forever — 3 pages, 30 comments/page	Free, 1 canvas, 72-hour comment expiry
Paid pricing	$9.99 / user / month	$29 / user on Solo, $99/mo Studio
Review auth-walled pages (staging, prod, SSO)	Browser extension reads your browser	Proxy can't reach them
No install anywhere	Extension required	No extension, no widget
Push to GitHub / Linear / Jira	Full thread + URL + screenshot	Shallow Trello/Asana/Slack only
Figma / design file review	Live-web only
OS / browser / viewport capture		Light
Real-time presence		Partial
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Pricing math for a 4-person team

PinFeed

$39.96 / mo

4 users × $9.99. Linear, no surprises.

Pastel

$116 / mo

4 users × $29 on Solo. Almost 3× the PinFeed cost for the same team.

Where Pastel honestly wins

No install needed on either side. Reviewers don't need an extension. The target site doesn't need a widget. For one-off client reviews on public marketing pages, that's unbeatable friction.
Figma + design files. Pastel handles design review alongside live web; PinFeed is live-web-only.
Designer-first polish. The vocabulary, the resolve-to-inbox-zero flow, the revisions feel built for the design review loop. PinFeed feels built for engineers.
Non-technical client fit. When the reviewer is "the client" rather than "an engineer," Pastel's canvas model is the right mental model.

Try PinFeed free

Free tier is permanent (not 72-hour expiry). $9.99/user/mo for Pro. GitHub / Linear / Jira tickets in one click.