In this blog post, we look at the best 16 review and approval tools on the market based on features, use cases, and pricing.
Review and approval software simplifies tasks like:
- Video review
- Content feedback
- Design (UX/UI)
- Project management
- Feature requests
- Visual feedback
- Bug reporting
- and other complex approval processes.
This post presents a detailed review of 16 top-notch review and approval tools.
We aim to help you find the most fitting tools for your client projects.
16 Best Review & Approval Software in 2023
Review and approval software is crucial for managing workflows and tasks, and for securing swift approvals.
It's particularly useful for creative teams, marketing teams, and web development agencies.
Online proofing tools allow stakeholders to request revisions, and you to receive feedback and approval requests faster.
This accelerates project progress and automates the process to secure final approval and project sign-off.
Here’s a list of the 16 best review and approval SaaS tools in 2023, covering use cases, features, and pricing.
1. Marker.io — best for website feedback
Collect client feedback straight into your PM tools—so you can action bug reports and visual feedback quicker.
Marker.io is a robust, user-friendly review and approval tool for web development agencies.
It's particularly effective for handling bug reports and visual feedback.
With Marker.io, you can:
- Gather visual feedback, including screenshots and annotations, to make changes to a website or app's design or features. This can be done for both live and staging sites.
- Use our session replay tool to see what a user, client, or tester was doing before they sent a report. This tool is a significant time-saver for dev teams.
- Collect comprehensive bug reports, including automatic environment and record logs capture. This makes it easier to find, replicate, and fix bugs.
- Explore the reporters' network requests logs as if you were looking at their browser dev tools.
- Automatically sync every piece of feedback with your project management tool of choice (e.g., Jira, GitHub, Trello, Asana, and others).
2-way sync and integrations with PM tools
Unlike most other review and approval tools, Marker.io is the only one to offer 2-way sync with PM software.
Getting feedback about a new website or app is a time-consuming process.
Clients usually email, send messages, or want a video call to go over it.
Sometimes, feedback is in a Word, Google Doc, or a spreadsheet.
Once it comes through, you spend a couple of (tedious) hours transferring every email, Slack message, and transcribed notes into your PM tool.
Then, the tasks are assigned to the relevant team members or freelancers.
With Marker.io’s automatic 2-way PM sync, this time-consuming feedback process is a thing of the past.
Feedback and session replay recordings go straight into your PM tool.
Plus, every time an issue is marked as “Done” in your project management tool, that task is marked as “Resolved” in Marker.io.
Automatic notifications can be sent via e-mail to the client so they know the tasks have been actioned
It’s that simple!
Here’s Marker.io's 2-way sync in action:
Session replay
Even with a data-rich bug report—it’s not always easy to reproduce a bug in a test environment.
It’s quicker and easier if you can see exactly what happened when a user or client encountered a bug or submitted a feedback report for review.
Well—Marker.io's suite of tools includes session replay exactly for that reason.
Simply click the “Watch replay” link that automatically comes with every report.
You can then watch the last 30 seconds (or more) before any report is sent in.
Here’s Marker.io's session replay in action:
Data-rich bug reports
Bugs and errors are inevitable across every website, app, and SaaS product.
The challenge is that finding, replicating, and fixing them is much harder when a dev team only has partial information.
In most cases, clients and users only know: “Oh no, something’s broken; here’s what happened; please fix it.
Engineers trying to solve a problem need more detailed information, such as:
- The URL the reporter was on;
- Environment and console logs to reproduce the bugs;
- Metadata (browser, device, OS, etc.);
- Session replay/recording and any other useful information.
With Marker.io, all of this data is automatically included, collected—and sent off to your project management tool with every report.
No need to ask the client if they remembered the browser, device, and OS they were on at the time.
Visual feedback
Marker.io operates as a small feedback button on any website or SaaS product you upload it to.
This makes it really easy for users, clients, colleagues, and testing teams to leave feedback and bug reports.
All anyone needs to do is:
- Click the button when they’ve found a bug.
- Fill out the feedback form and input details.
- Click on “Report Feedback”—done!
Everything reported through the Marker.io widget will go straight into your project management tool of choice (Jira, Trello, Linear…).
Check it out in action:
Save hours on bug tracking, client and user feedback with our session replay tool, and so much more—try Marker.io for free today.
Pricing: starts at $39/mo.
2. GoVisually — best for images, PDFs, and videos approval
Online proofing tool to streamline the design feedback process for creative agencies.
With GoVisually, you can:
- Collaborate in real-time with design teams and clients
- Use UX/UI version control
- Utilize easy-to-use annotation tools for various formats like images, PDFs, and videos.
Pricing: Starts at $50/mo for 3 users.
3. ReviewStudio — best for synchronized media feedback
Facilitates synchronized feedback on visual media such as images, eBooks, and videos.
ReviewStudio is a tool for creative teams and agencies. With it, you can:
- Centralize and annotate your content feedback with comprehensive markup tools
- Integrate feedback comments and notes into your project management tools for different teams
- Use a timeline-based view with version control features.
Pricing: Starts at $24/mo per user and goes up to $336/mo for a team of 50.
4. ProofHub — best for integrated project management
Combines project management with built-in features for review and approval.
ProofHub offers:
- Task assignment features
- Deadline tracking for creative and development teams
- Built-in chat to keep all project communication within one app.
Pricing: Starts at $50/mo.
5. Wipster — best for video collaboration
Specializes in video review, offering frame-accurate feedback.
With Wipster, you can:
- Upload videos for quick and accurate reviews
- Compare pre- and post-edit videos side-by-side
- Have a clear audit and review trail.
Pricing: Starts at $25/mo.
6. InVision — best for UX/UI designers
Handles interactive prototypes, real-time design collaboration, and a wide range of file types and formats.
With InVision’s Freehand, you can:
- Create interactive prototypes
- Receive feedback directly on interactive designs and static images
- Conduct real-time user testing of wireframes and mockups.
Pricing: custom, depending on your needs.
7. Frame.io — best for video post-production
Video collaboration platform for post-production.
With Frame.io, you can:
- Collaborate in real-time during video post-production
- Make frame-accurate comments for precise editing
- Use version stacking during video editing.
Pricing: starts at $15 per user per month.
8. Filestage — best for agency content review
Streamlines the review and approval process for agencies.
With Filestage, you can:
- Set deadline reminders for team members, freelancers, and clients to ensure timely feedback
- Review threaded and asset-specific comments
- Manage a multi-step approval workflow.
Pricing: Starts at $49/mo.
9. Adobe Workfront — best for enterprise project management
Comprehensive project management solution for enterprises.
With Adobe Workfront, you can:
- Create custom workflows for different teams
- Integrate with Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Cloud, and Marketo Engage
- Use advanced reporting and other tools.
Pricing: Customized, enterprise-based pricing.
10. Aproove — best for automating complex creative workflows
Streamline your creative process with a cloud-based collaboration and proofing tool.
With Aproove, you can:
- Automate intricate review and approval workflows
- Set up conditional approval routes for various projects
- Assign tasks and monitor delivery timelines
Pricing starts at $750 per month, suitable for small and medium businesses.
11. Gain — best for social media teams
Automated approval workflows specifically designed for social media content.
With Gain, you can:
- Automate social media content approval workflows
- Create and share content calendars with clients
- Assign role-based permissions to team members and stakeholders
Pricing is set at $99 per month.
12. Dropbox — best for simple file sharing
Cloud storage platform perfect for straightforward file sharing and basic review.
With Dropbox, you can:
- Keep track of collaborative version history on shared documents
- Create shared folders for multi-stakeholder projects
- Comment on files within shared folders
Pricing options include free or Plus plans starting from $9.99 per month.
13. QuickReviewer — best for fast digital content reviews
Streamlined approach to quick and efficient reviews of digital content.
QuickReviewer features:
- Markup and annotation tools
- Multi-file review systems
- Version comparison, allowing you to revert to an earlier version if needed
Pricing starts free for 1 person with 100MB of storage, or $35 per month for 10 users and 25GB of storage.
14. Ziflow — best for complex review processes
Designed for organizations with intricate, multi-step review and approval processes.
With Ziflow, you can:
- Automate approval routing to different teams, managers, and stakeholders
- Ensure detailed audit trails
- Access a version history of every creative asset
Pricing is free for personal use, with business plans starting from $50 per user per month (minimum of 5 users).
15. Google Docs — best for basic document collaboration
Real-time document editing and collaboration tool.
Google Docs comes free with Gmail and Google Workspace.
With Google’s popular tool, you can:
- Edit in real-time
- Comment on documents
- Control versions of web copy documents and other written content
Google Docs is free to use.
16. Filecamp — best for digital asset management
Digital asset management system with light review and approval features.
With Filecamp, you can:
- Manage digital assets more efficiently
- Use powerful tagging and search features
- Benefit from custom branding when sharing file folders with clients
Pricing starts from $29 per month.
So there you have it: 16 best review and approval SaaS tools on the market.
We hope this post helped you decide on a tool that’s right for you.
Did we miss something? Let us know on Twitter or via e-mail!
