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Pastel Reviews

4.5 (42) Write a Review! Canada Local product

About Pastel

Pastel is a cloud-based visual feedback tool that enables web designers and developers to collect feedback on websites.

Learn more about Pastel

Pros:

Its really great the way UsePastel works. Everything is so clear, simples and efficient.

Cons:

Clients get confused on which tasks were done and which are still being worked on, so that leads to a lot of confusion right now.

Pastel ratings

Average score

Ease of Use
4.4
Customer Service
4.4
Features
4.1
Value for Money
4.3

Likelihood to recommend

8.6/10

Pastel has an overall rating of 4.5 out 5 stars based on 42 user reviews on Capterra.

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Filter reviews (42)

Justin Page
Justin Page
Designer in US
Verified LinkedIn User
Design, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Saves Tons Of Time For My Team & My Clients

5.0 6 years ago

Comments: Pastel's team is extremely responsive. Our clients jumped on Pastel immediately when we sent them the tool. No downloads, no installations. Other tools confused our clients with trying to download and install the program. You just jump on Pastel and start clicking - and it starts working. Saves our team probably hundreds of hours of work per month!

Pros:

I spent weeks looking for the easiest tool that my clients can use to get feedback. Our clients are often in their 50s and 60s, and not super tech savvy. Plus, our clients our business owners, so they have limited time. Ease of use was top priority. After looking at over 10 other options, Pastel was clearly the most simple and easy to use.

Cons:

The features are pretty limited, but this can be a good thing because we don't want our clients to get overwhelmed. I think a couple extra features such as marking tasks "In Progress" as well as allowing our clients to see that edits are "In Progress" would be a huge benefit. Clients get confused on which tasks were done and which are still being worked on, so that leads to a lot of confusion right now.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Design, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Excellent tool for annotating websites and giving feedback on the go

4.0 4 years ago

Comments: We were very satisfied with the product. We just moved to other alternatives which must admit are not as good as Pastel but are much cheaper.

Pros:

Pastel is a great tool, it well designed, and has a beautiful minimal UI.

Cons:

The price was expensive for what it was and we were not using it that much in the end.

JAZE
JAZE
Systems Administrator in South Africa
Verified LinkedIn User
Architecture & Planning, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Pastel Payroll Conclusion

3.0 3 years ago

Comments: I would say that my experience with Pastel was bitter/sweet. If I wasn't under so much pressure to perform at the time maybe I could've been good at it eventually.

Pros:

It is a widespread software in South Africa, it is sold in almost all consumer electronics stores nationwide and it is the most preferred method when it comes to Human Resources, on that front it stands out from most of its competitors.

Cons:

The user interface. I hated it! I was just freestyling my way through the software and that wasn't very conducive because I was dealing with other people's wages as well as my own, there's no room for error when it comes to that. To those that went to college and university for this line of work, this may seem trivial to you, but for a newbie... I would advise you to take your time in learning the software first before starting a new business.

Robin
Robin
Freelancer in South Africa
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

Not for begginers

5.0 3 years ago

Comments: It is perfect for people that have experience in accounting but not so for beginners

Pros:

It is a complete package for macro enterprises

Cons:

Not as easy for business owners with little knowledge of accounting practice.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Accounting Software, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Banking is simple with pastel

4.0 2 years ago

Comments: Our business operations have become more fluid as a result of automation, which has also significantly decreased our dependency on paper for reconciliation and reporting.

Pros:

The system is extremely safe and makes use of most of the security tools used in banking and other high security software. It links quickly to bank account ledgers, enabling real-time updates on cash and capital flow.

Cons:

The software is not very customizable, which limits its capacity to be a product that is specifically tailored for any corporate context.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Oil & Energy, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Easy to use, helpful tool

5.0 6 years ago

Comments: Great tool and a huge lifesaver when collecting feedback on web content. Will be using for a long time.

Pros:

Pastel's claim to fame in my mind is how easy it is to use. It's really REALLY easy to pull in a website and begin sharing it for feedback with others. The interface is pretty straightforward which means no need for training or looking up how to do things.

Cons:

When you start going above 30-40 comments on a single project it starts to get really unwieldy. The preview text for each comment isn't enough to be able to distinguish most of the time. I find that I end up opening up multiple comments looking for a specific one (and often re-opening the same comments erroneously) until I find the right one. It's a little nitpick but would be nice if they would make it easier to navigate comments.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Novel & functional

4.0 6 years ago

Comments: A great bridge between client, dev, and designer
Great to have guest option

Pros:

Offers a new, very specific way to interact within a team and provide feedback Great for small updates Super useful that it's not a website copy, and the comments/pastel interface is a frame or layer on top of this

Cons:

Would be great to be able to post thumbnail pictures or other visuals in comments, especially for websites More of user error/habit, but continuous feedback could distract from making greater progress - I think they've address this with the ability to pause feedback Sometimes could be a little slow, and some toggling between views/functionality was not totally intuitive in the beginning

Prince
Accounting Assistant in Zimbabwe
Verified LinkedIn User
Education Management, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source
Source: GetApp

Pastel the big brand

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: The software however works perfectly well given the various reports forms that are available that can be customized to meet individual needs

Pros:

I have used Pastel for quite a long time and it has so and i have seen it has become a big brand in Zimbabwe . I have seen that almost all state Universities are using pastel.

Cons:

however it has the disadvantage that we can still not fully the multi currency system using the software

Alessandro
Alessandro
UX/UI Designer in UK
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

The best tool out there to manage the neverending tweaking of existing websites

5.0 6 years ago

Comments: I've launched a website, and the minute we moved away from InVision I knew I needed a robust fedback system to carry on collecting the collective input in my organisation. So I found Pastel, which everyone found really easy to use. Customer support is also really well managed: I had an idea for a feature to be added to Pastel, and after recommending it to the product team via chat, this was implemented in no time.

Pros:

If you work with websites and need a place to share the ongoing flow of feedback and comments to request features, suggest enhancements, push requests to your developers, nothing beats Pastel. Forget links on Slack, sharing screenshots on Basecamp, or lenghty emails with vague descriptions of issues found on some page/subsection/pagagraph.. Use Pastel to pin comments right where needed, and those in charge of making the changes will be able to find all of them and reply to your comments or mark every suggestion as resolved.

Cons:

The software is in its infancy, so I'm sure more can be done in the future, such as integration with prototyping tools and reporting about the issues.

Jacques
Jacques
Managing Director in South Africa
Verified LinkedIn User
Computer Software, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Favourite accounting solution by accountants

3.0 4 years ago

Pros:

Most accountants are familiar with Pastel and the preferred choice. Easy to deploy and learn

Cons:

Not a lot if integrations available and somewhat resource intensive.

Siphiwe
Senior Bookkeeper in Canada
Health, Wellness & Fitness, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Pastel for everyday accounting

5.0 last year

Pros:

easy to use in most businesses and once you lear Pastel you can easily learn other softwares

Cons:

I wish it has AI to read documents and minimising having to manually capture.

Tatenda
Technical Sales Consultant in Zimbabwe
Information Technology & Services, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Pastel Accounting Software Review

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: Automation has resulted in our business processes becoming seamless, the reduction and reliance on paper for reconciliation and reporting has been heavily reduced. In time you see that it has a huge cost bearing on stationery and time wasted having to do it manually. Reports are now available at the click of a button and because they are pre-defined its just a matter of updating amounts and the system will auto generate the rest. This even enhances our service to our customers as invoices are sent on time and correctly, there is no need to keep on capturing data that can otherwise be static data captured and saved just once. Our customers making queries with their accounts are able to get a detailed statement and any outstanding invoices immediately which can then be integrated with emails. The efficiency Pastel offers cannot be taken lightly and it has integrated all departments on that one solution, making all business processes gel in that one solution. Sales can generate quotes, Admin can pay suppliers, Techs can log jobs and print bill of quantities of what is required for a job and accounts sends invoices for payment and reconciles payments received. All this is possible on one platform and this value is immense.

Pros:

1) The system is highly secure and uses most of the security features found in high security software's like banking softwares. 2 It connects easily with bank account ledger which allows for real time update on the flow of cash and funds. 3) The automation of the software provides for efficient accounting even for a beginner and this reduces reliance on an accountant or having to look for someone to manage your books. 4) The software allows for backups and encryption of data which is key in Data retention and security in most IT policies for corporates. 5) Data storage and retention can stretch upto 5 years without hanging when running the current processes. 6) You can sync and create a seamless flow of quotations, invoices and purchase orders which are easily available at your fingertip by just filtering and searching. 7) The solution allows for customer relationship management as it retains data of customers, suppliers created. 8) The ability to add extra functions and modules as per request. 9) Multi user licensing with different profile levels which allows for segregation of duties and limiting of users roles for junior level users. 10) Now offers a cloud based version which increases the efficiency of being able access the solution securely anywhere.

Cons:

1) The software is not highly customizable and this reduces the ability for it to be a custom fit software for any business environment. 2) Lacks a report writer that allows a customer to generate or design a report they might need. 3) Highly reliant on external and consultant support to resolve issues, which makes it costly in terms of the support fees to be paid by a corporate or individual using the system. 4) Implementation and setup of the system tend to be long and you will need a lot of help setting it up which also goes back to the cost factor. 5) The need to customize the software is of huge importance and this does not come easy with Pastel. 6) The application based solution is highly dependant on a good network connection and this can be a hindrance to organizations with average network connectivity as it tends to freeze, stick or hang. 7) The training is long and intensive and during this period the solution is prone to so many errors as compared to doing it manually and doing what you are used to.

Obvious
Bookkeeper in Zimbabwe
Farming, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Pastel an integrated software (accounting and human resources)

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: I am using Sage 50c pastel partner, its a very good accounting and human resources software because it is user friendly (typically fast and straight forward). From my experience pastel saves my time because i quickly produce and analyse the financial statements.

Pros:

The merit of pastel is that it is very efficient and simplifies most of the financial and accounting and human resource management tasks. Pastel as an accounting software is useful when it comes to the preparation of management accounts such as income statement and statement of financial position. Pastel also helps users to save time when it comes to bank and supplier reconciliations. Capturing into pastel is also easy. Pastel saves time of preparing accounts because it provides an option of uploading the formatted csv microsoft excel document. Pastel as a human resources management software helps the user to quickly process salaries through the use of pastel payroll. It facilitates computation of all payroll related taxes (expenses) such as Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and other levies. Pastel keeps an up to date record of workers and automatically prepares payslip of employees. From the control and risk management perspective pastel provides an audit trail of the details of individuals who posted and and updated the transactions in the system.

Cons:

The demerit of using the pastel accounting software is that it is expensive and hence used by companies. The Pastel package is difficult to use for the users without accounting knowledge. Users need to purchase yearly support and maintenance for the package.

Dickson
Accounting Assistant in Zimbabwe
Education Management, 1,001–5,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Pastel as an accounting software

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: i personally enjoy using pastel as it makes my work easy going. as long as the transactions from source are correctly posted, all financial reports are just a click of button away. all you need to need is to ensure that all posted transactions are vetted for correct

Pros:

the software is easy to use, as it has user friendly tools and any new person to the system can easily go through with easy. the security system is spot on in terms of levels of management, when it comes to access of reports. one can not delete anything once posted in the system but can only reverse a transaction which is there for everyone to see, therefore discourage any flaudulent activity. it helps very much in terms of understanding the dynamics of accounting, that is debit and credit rules and journals (most accounting students takes long to understand journals)

Cons:

i have discovered that some long batches (more than 2000), if posted during peak hours tend to fail during posting and resumes later but at this point either doubling, trebling and even quadrapling transactions. i have experinced this more than once

Victoria
accountant in Zimbabwe
Medical Practice, 10,000+ Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Accountants use Pastel

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: Overall Pastel is great, its easy to use, its reasonably priced. It makes you cover work efficiently, and its spreading like wildfire in all organisations.

Pros:

it works for almost any accounting issues, from doing the normal daily receipting, to doing my month end reconciliations, my balance sheets, payroll, to maintain and keep a safe soft record of transactions and for audit checks . Its easy to use, just a little training and you are good to go, it accommodates huge data, and its compatible with almost any laptop or desktop machine.

Cons:

There is so much on pastel, if you dont really take time to learn, you might never completely utilize the software effectively. Software setup is not something you can really do on your own, however there is always an active pastel team that makes sure you get all you need setup until you are good to go.

Noluthando
Financial Accountant in South Africa
Sports, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Pastel Partner Review

5.0 2 years ago

Comments: Overall experience good.

Pros:

Ease of Use and navigating thru the system for reports

Cons:

It does not have a feature for exchange rates between the Rand Currency and other world currency. You have to convert overseas transaction manually before processing them in Pastel.

Ann
Consultant in South Africa
Hospitality, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Pastel Review

4.0 4 years ago

Comments: Overall it is a good accounting and stock package and very easy and straight forward to use.

Pros:

It is great for tracking customers, suppliers and stock looking up who owes money and who to pay at the end of the month the reporting functionality is very good you can generate your own reports the way you like them. Even the people that don't know much about accounts can use it.

Cons:

It is quiet expensive to run especially as it renews every year. There are some features which would be nice to be able to change like the length of lines and a few other items I have come across as we have been working with it.

Fay
Owner in South Africa
Hospitality, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Pastel

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: I have been using pastel for many years and it is a good accounting package for a business. I have used others and do prefer to use pastel and it is a lot more user friendly.

Pros:

Full accounting functionality Stock control is fantastic tracking of customers and supplier payments Can find most information in one spot Can customise your invoices to your own unique one or they have standard ones for use

Cons:

It is very expensive and considering it also charges yearly can be a bit much for users and you don't always get updates that make it better. The reporting functionality could be better I cannot always generate the unique reports i want.

TJ
Project Manager in US
Design, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Pastel Makes Website Revisions A Breeze

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: Overall, I have been very pleased and impressed with Pastel. I use it every day and it has saved me hours on our website revision process. The Support team has been stellar as well, always willing to make a change or update if needed. I would definitely recommend Pastel to anyone looking to streamline their revision or mark up process.

Pros:

I really like that you are able to comment directly on the live site. With our previous revision process, we had to keep Google Docs explaining each revision from the client but with Pastel, the clients can leave their revisions right on the site itself so it is much easier for our team to understand and make the revisions.

Cons:

Whenever we embed a Google Maps iframe, it never shows up in Pastel and certain fonts are missing as well. This something causes confusion with our clients about whether or not something was completed.

FAITH
ACCOUNTS CLERK in Zimbabwe
Financial Services Software, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

newbie user

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: quick extraction of information when needed. creation of invoices is very fast.

Pros:

its easy to use especially with large amounts of data. one is able to detect errors faster

Cons:

You need to study its use for it to be efficient. a layman can not easily understand

Deenadayalan
director in South Africa
Management Consulting, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Pastel

4.0 6 years ago

Comments: easy to keep accurate record

Pros:

easy to use easy to learn very helpful for small business

Cons:

reports generated for Pastel not very user friendly however this is mitigated through excel export function

Clay
FM in South Africa
Construction, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Good Product

3.0 5 years ago

Pros:

The ease of use and the accuracy is great, I recommend it.

Cons:

The limited function can sometimes become an issue.

Laura
Project Manager in US
Marketing & Advertising, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Great product that has changed our process

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: I just wish I would have found it and used it sooner!

Pros:

Gathering client feedback on websites was really difficult before. We had Invision for the website designs but then when we got to the development phase we had to rely on screenshots and screenshare meetings to gather feedback. Now we can easily monitor and discuss changes with clients which improved our feedback timeline and reduced the amount of edits we miss or misunderstand.

Cons:

2 things - 1) you can't move the comments after you make them. I want to drag the comment around if I need to and 2) we password protect our staging websites and because of that it doesn't provide a good screenshot of the site with the comment. That absolutely needs to be fixed and then it will be the perfect tool for us.

Devin
CTO in US
Marketing & Advertising, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Pastel Review

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: It's been great. Their support is very responsive and they are open to suggestions for feature improvements.

Pros:

Honestly Pastel is something we have been looking for, for years. It's easy to use for our clients with minimal instructions required. It provides us the ability to gather tons of information about the clients browser, ios, and screen dimensions as well as a screenshot of exactly what they saw. Plus the email notifications are very handy.

Cons:

We have some issues with caching when we are making changes. Sometimes we get a delay before the clients browser updates but this is just a "in general" problem with developing websites/apps not something entirely specific to pastel.

James
James
COO in US
Marketing & Advertising, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Good Functional Tool...Needs a Few things

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: Love it. It's the right value at the right price.

Pros:

The easiness of the tool for new users. The ability it gives

Cons:

The back end. I would like the ability to only refresh the canvas for websites and archive old comments or issues. I'm having to make a new canvas each time the client comments and we work on it. Along with this is project organization. I like the folders, but would like to have the canvas' only live in folders and a folder named new canvas instead of all. I cannot comment on off canvas menu's easily. That would be very helpful. I would like for my team to be able to pause a canvas I created.