# Pastel Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is Pastel the right Review Management solution for you? Explore 43 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/176456/Pastel/reviews --- Pastel 4.5 (43) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/176456/Pastel/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 13th, 2026 # Reviews of Pastel Ease of use 4.3 Customer Service 4.4 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews NM Nosipho M junior bookkeeperAccounting, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “It links quickly to bank account ledgers, enabling real-time updates on cash and capital flow.“ September 15, 2022 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 43 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Justin Page W. Designer Design Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Saves Tons Of Time For My Team & My Clients" December 6, 2018 5.0 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. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Designer Design Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Excellent tool for annotating websites and giving feedback on the go" February 17, 2021 4.0 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. Alternatives considered [Dropmark](https://www.capterra.com/p/210649/Dropmark/)[OneDrive](https://www.capterra.com/p/161304/OneDrive/)[Volley](https://www.capterra.com/p/217071/Volley/)[Evernote Teams](https://www.capterra.com/p/154969/Evernote-Business/) Reason for choosing Pastel Pastel was more specific than Dropmark, Evernote, and OneNote for the purpose of marking up. And it is better designed than Volley, even though is more expensive. Switched from [Dropbox Business](https://www.capterra.com/p/143068/Dropbox-Business/)[Dropmark](https://www.capterra.com/p/210649/Dropmark/)[OneDrive](https://www.capterra.com/p/161304/OneDrive/) First, we moved from using Dropmark to Pastel because it seemed better to solve the purpose of annotating the websites right on top of the original item. Review Source JAZE P. Systems Administrator Architecture & Planning Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Pastel Payroll Conclusion" August 15, 2021 3.0 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. Alternatives considered [Gusto](https://www.capterra.com/p/131882/Gusto/) Reason for choosing Pastel I was doing someone a favor. The person who recommended Pastel to me was working as a representative for Sage and needed a sale so I supported her, to my disappointment though. Switched from [QuickBooks Payroll](https://www.capterra.com/p/174981/QuickBooks/) I was on a quest to find a more user friendly software and didn't have a lot of time faffing around. I was still new to the whole payroll thing so I just chose to jump ship if you know what I mean. Review Source Robin M. Freelancer Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Not for begginers" August 26, 2021 5.0 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. Alternatives considered [QuickBooks Enterprise](https://www.capterra.com/p/174984/QuickBooks-Enterprise/) Review Source VR Verified Reviewer junior bookkeeper Accounting Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Banking is simple with pastel" September 15, 2022 4.0 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. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Receptionist Oil & Energy Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Easy to use, helpful tool" March 8, 2019 5.0 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. Review Source VR Verified Reviewer Director of Product Marketing Computer Software Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Novel & functional" December 6, 2018 4.0 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 Review Source PM Prince M. Accounting Assistant Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Pastel the big brand " September 25, 2019 5.0 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 Review Source Alessandro P. UX/UI Designer Computer Software Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "The best tool out there to manage the neverending tweaking of existing websites" December 6, 2018 5.0 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. Review Source Jacques V. Managing Director Computer Software Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Favourite accounting solution by accountants" July 26, 2020 3.0 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. Review Source LH Laura H. Project Manager Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Great product that has changed our process " November 21, 2019 5.0 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. Review Source LCC Leah CR C. admin officer Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "pastel" October 30, 2019 5.0 Pros doing all the accounts work in one system, ability to track past transactions Cons ability to track past events, process any accounting Review Source GJ Gabe J. Customer Success E-Learning Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "This is a gamechanger. " February 11, 2020 5.0 Improves our updates and revisions process tremendously. Pros It improves our processes so much. I cannot believe that we weren't using this before. Makes things such a breeze. Cons The notifications are grouped into batches which is fine, but if a user is notating on pastel for a couple hours, we get several notifications. (Possibly, I'm just missing the setting to choose.) Review Source JD Jaquelene D. Bookkeeper Accounting Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Pastal- is it worth it?" September 12, 2021 4.0 Pastel is a handy software to use when interacting with accounting. Its nice to learn and you do not need internet to use it you can work offline. Pros Doing invoices, capturing petty cash and bank feeds, being able to send out invoices from pastel to clients Cons Journals, when you did a journal wrong you have to journal it out again which can lead to a messy business Review Source GJ Gareth J. Director Design Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Good Concept But Seems to be Bugs" December 6, 2018 3.0 Pros Easy to use and share and clients like the format, the branding and overall interactions are slick Cons There seems to be a lot of bugs so far with the product and how it interacts with site scripts, I've even had to put up different versions of the site in order to get it to work Review Source LD Laura D. Client Success Specialist Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Pastel Is Perfect for Collaboration " May 4, 2025 4.0 Pastel is a fabulous review tracking tool for creative agencies and businesses alike. Perfect for collaboration! Pros Pastel is an awesome tool for tracking creative reviews for internal teams as well as clients. You can send a custom URL for users to review and provide their comments and recommendations on creative work. Cons I have not had any major issues with Pastel. My only reservation is you have to right click on specific pieces of content that are hyperlinked to be able to open them up and make sure they are linked properly. Review Source TC Tatenda C. Technical Sales Consultant Information Technology and Services Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Pastel Accounting Software Review" September 25, 2019 4.0 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. Review Source OP Obvious P. Bookkeeper Farming Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Pastel an integrated software (accounting and human resources)" December 26, 2019 4.0 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. Review Source SH Siphiwe H. Senior Bookkeeper Health, Wellness and Fitness Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Pastel for everyday accounting" September 26, 2023 5.0 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. Switched from [Xero](https://www.capterra.com/p/120109/Xero/) it was not working for us. Review Source DM Dickson M. Accounting Assistant Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Pastel as an accounting software" December 9, 2019 5.0 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 Review Source VC Victoria C. accountant Medical Practice Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Accountants use Pastel" September 12, 2019 5.0 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. Reason for choosing Pastel Cost benefit analysis proved pastel to be the best It had many features which could cover most of the work which used to be done manually Review Source NS Noluthando S. Financial Accountant Sports Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Pastel Partner Review" September 9, 2022 5.0 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. Review Source AP Ann P. Consultant Hospitality Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Pastel Review" July 29, 2020 4.0 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. Review Source FP Fay P. Owner Hospitality Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Pastel" February 26, 2020 4.0 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. Review Source TC TJ C. Project Manager Design Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Pastel Makes Website Revisions A Breeze " August 12, 2019 4.0 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. Review Source Similar Products Featured