How we compare
Framecheck vs Chromatic
Framecheck and Chromatic both test Storybook stories in the cloud. Here are the published prices and what each includes, so you can compare them for your own team. Percy, Happo and Argos prices are below.
Chromatic pricing checked 4 October 2026. Sources: chromatic.com/pricing and chromatic.com/docs/billing.
Plans and allowances
| Plan | Monthly price | Snapshots included | Extra snapshots |
|---|---|---|---|
| Framecheck Starter | £84 | 35,000 | 50p per 1,000, from prepaid credit |
| Framecheck Pro | £149 | 50,000 | 45p per 1,000, from prepaid credit |
| Chromatic Starter | $179 | 35,000 | $8 per 1,000 ($0.008 each), billed at the end of the period |
| Chromatic Pro | $399 | 85,000 | Not stated on the pricing page |
Framecheck prices are in pounds sterling with no VAT added. Chromatic prices are in US dollars as published; we have not converted them. Chromatic also has a Free plan (5,000 snapshots a month, Chrome only) and a custom-priced Enterprise plan.
Framecheck also offers a 30-day Starter trial and custom allowances and rates.
A worked example
An illustrative team: 1,000 stories and 400 builds a month, visual snapshots only, at one viewport in one browser. That is 400,000 snapshots a month.
| Service | Billed snapshots | Monthly cost |
|---|---|---|
| Framecheck Starter | 400,000 | £266.50 |
| Framecheck Pro | 400,000 | £306.50 |
| Chromatic Starter, without TurboSnap1 | 400,000 | $3,099 |
| Chromatic Starter, with TurboSnap1 | 112,000 | $795 |
| Chromatic Pro, without TurboSnap1 | 400,000 | $399 plus 315,000 extra snapshots at a rate not published |
| Chromatic Pro, with TurboSnap1 | 112,000 | $399 plus 27,000 extra snapshots at a rate not published |
1. Chromatic figures use only published rates: Starter at $179 a month with 35,000 snapshots included and $8 per 1,000 extra; Pro at $399 a month with 85,000 included, and its rate for extra snapshots is not published on the pricing page, so we have not priced them. With TurboSnap, we assume 10% of stories change in each build and the rest are billed at 0.2 of a snapshot, as described in Chromatic’s TurboSnap documentation; builds with no relevant changes, which Chromatic bills at 0, are not modelled. Framecheck bills every story checked, including unchanged stories with Smart Snapshots, which can reduce fresh captures without reducing billed usage. At this volume a customer might also negotiate an Enterprise plan. These are illustrations, not quotes.
What each includes
| Topic | Framecheck | Chromatic |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan or trial | A 30-day Starter trial with 35,000 snapshots, one project and no card required. One trial per GitHub owner; subscribe to continue after 30 days. | Free plan with 5,000 snapshots a month, Chrome only. Testing pauses at the limit until the monthly reset. Source: Free plan or trial |
| Going over the allowance | Paid from prepaid credit, with a spend limit you set. Starter and trials have no grace credit; Pro can temporarily continue up to £50 below zero with a saved card, and that amount remains owed. Runs need enough available funding and must fit the spend limit. | On paid plans, testing continues and extra snapshots are billed at the end of the period. Source: Going over the allowance |
| Unchanged stories | Smart Snapshots, included on every plan: pull requests capture only the stories a change could affect, and unchanged stories show their approved baseline image. Every story checked counts as one snapshot, captured or unchanged. | TurboSnap: unchanged stories count as 0.2 of a snapshot, and builds with no relevant changes count as 0. Source: Unchanged stories |
| Browsers | Chromium, Firefox and WebKit (Safari’s engine). Each browser adds visual snapshots; accessibility runs in Chromium only. | Chrome on every plan; Firefox, Safari and Edge on paid plans. Each browser counts as separate snapshots. Source: Browsers |
| Projects | One project during the trial; multiple projects per company on paid plans. | Unlimited projects. Source: Projects |
| People and parallel builds | No per-user charge. Builds share capture capacity and can queue at busy times. | Unlimited collaborators with no per-seat charge, and unlimited parallel test runs. Source: People and parallel builds |
| Flaky stories | A story that keeps changing can be set aside, by hand or automatically, and shown separately so it does not block the check. | SteadySnap captures several renders and picks a stable one; the flake filter ignores unstable tests so the build is not blocked. Source: Flaky stories |
| Ignore regions | Ignore regions by marker or selector, including Chromatic’s markers. | Ignore parts of a story by class, attribute or selector. Source: Ignore regions |
| Approvals across commits | Approvals carry to new commits with the same images, and through the merge. | Accepted changes carry through later commits and the merge, including squash and rebase merges. Source: Approvals across commits |
| Diff threshold | One tolerance for the whole project, not adjustable per story. | Adjustable per story, component or project. Source: Diff threshold |
| Accessibility checks | axe-core with WCAG 2.2 A and AA rules, including same-origin iframes and “needs review” results, with their own baseline. | axe with WCAG 2.0 and 2.1 A and AA rules plus best practices, with violation baselines. Chrome only. Source: Accessibility checks |
| Accessibility reports | Findings per build, trends and CSV export. | Trends and CSV export, with 7 days of default-branch history; full history on Enterprise. Source: Accessibility reports |
| Notifications | GitHub checks, PR comment, webhooks and email digest. Slack app coming soon. | GitHub checks, PR comment, Slack, custom webhooks and email. Source: Notifications |
| Review collaboration | Accept or reject each change, with comments and assigned reviewers. | Threaded comments on changes, assigned and default reviewers. Source: Review collaboration |
| Hosted Storybook | Open the uploaded Storybook from a run, or inspect a component with Live review. Custom-domain hosting is separate. | Every build published, private by default, with branch and commit links. Source: Hosted Storybook |
| Other test types | Storybook stories, including play-function interaction results (a failing play function errors the story). No Playwright, Cypress or Vitest tests. | Storybook stories, plus interaction tests (not billed) and Playwright, Cypress and Vitest end-to-end tests. Source: Other test types |
| Git hosts | GitHub. | GitHub, GitLab and Bitbucket; other hosts without pull request integration. Source: Git hosts |
| Data retention | Uploaded build archives and raw worker results are retained for 30 days. Screenshots, baselines and run history remain while the project exists, unless deletion is requested. | At least 12 months for builds and snapshots on all plans. Source: Data retention |
| Roles | Viewer, member and admin roles across the company, and an admin audit log. | Project roles (owner, developer, reviewer, viewer) and account roles (admin, member, billing, viewer); collaborators synced from your Git host. Source: Roles |
| Security and sign-in | Email sign-in, with GitHub connected for repositories. | SOC 2 on all plans; SSO/SAML and SCIM on Enterprise. Source: Security and sign-in |
| Support and refunds | Support is by email to support@framecheck.dev. Pro also includes a dedicated Slack channel. We answer as soon as we reasonably can, on a best-effort basis; there is no service level agreement. Prepaid credit is non-refundable, except where the law requires otherwise. Unused credit stays on your company account and can be used again if you subscribe again. | Chat and email support on all plans; a refund of the first month’s usage on request. Source: Support and refunds |
Other visual testing services
Extra snapshots on Framecheck cost 50p per 1,000 on Starter and 45p on Pro. Published prices of other hosted services, checked 16 October 2026:
| Service | Lowest paid plan | Free plan | Extra, per 1,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Framecheck | Starter: £84 a month for 35,000 snapshots | None; a 30-day Starter trial with 35,000 snapshots | 50p (45p on Pro) |
| Chromatic | Starter: $179 a month for 35,000 snapshots | 5,000 snapshots a month | $8 Source: Chromatic |
| Percy (BrowserStack) | Desktop: $199 a month, billed annually, for 10,000 screenshots | 5,000 screenshots a month | $36 Source: Percy (BrowserStack) |
| Happo | Starter: $149 a month for 50,000 snapshots | 5,000 snapshots a month | $6 Source: Happo |
| Argos | Pro: $100 a month for 35,000 screenshots | 5,000 screenshots a month (Hobby, personal projects) | $4 ($1.50 for Storybook screenshots) Source: Argos |
Each service bills per screenshot, but what counts as one and what each plan includes differ; see each service’s site. Prices in US dollars as published, not converted. Applitools prices by checkpoint and does not publish its rate for extra usage, so it is not listed.
Questions
How do Chromatic alternatives compare on price?
It depends on your volume. For snapshots beyond the plan, Framecheck charges 50p per 1,000 on Starter and 45p on Pro. Among the other hosted services we checked on 16 October 2026, the lowest published rate was $1.50 per 1,000 (Argos, for Storybook screenshots) and Chromatic’s is $8. For small volumes, several services have free plans of 5,000 screenshots a month or paid plans from $100 a month; Framecheck Starter is £84 a month for 35,000 snapshots, with a 30-day trial instead of a free plan.
Is Framecheck a Chromatic alternative?
Yes. Like Chromatic, Framecheck captures your Storybook stories in the cloud, compares them with an approved baseline and reports on GitHub pull requests. Framecheck Starter is £84 a month for 35,000 snapshots, then 50p per 1,000; Chromatic Starter is $179 a month for 35,000 snapshots, then $8 per 1,000 (Chromatic’s published prices, checked 4 October 2026). Chromatic also has features Framecheck does not, such as GitLab and Bitbucket support and Playwright and Cypress tests; the comparison page lists both sides.
About this comparison
Chromatic, Percy, BrowserStack, Happo and Argos are trademarks of their owners. Chromatic prices as published on chromatic.com on 4 October 2026, other services’ on 16 October 2026; check their sites for current pricing. Framecheck is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.