I'm unhappy with Percy because the screenshot diffs are too noisy, what are people using instead?

If Percy’s screenshot diffs are feeling too noisy, people usually look at one of these alternatives depending on whether they want visual regression testing or just better diff ergonomics:

Popular Percy alternatives

• Chromatic
  Very popular for Storybook-based workflows. Good UI for reviewing diffs, strong component-level visual testing, and generally less “full page noise” if your tests are story-focused.

• Applitools Eyes
  A heavyweight option with “visual AI” diffing that tries to ignore irrelevant changes. Great if you want more intelligent comparisons, but it can be pricier and more enterprise-oriented.

• Argos CI
  Good developer experience, strong GitHub/GitLab integration, and often praised for clean PR review. Nice middle ground if you want a modern CI-native alternative.

• loki
  Open-source, Storybook-focused visual regression testing. Lightweight and self-hostable, though you’ll manage more yourself.

• BackstopJS
  Longstanding open-source option for screenshot comparison. Flexible, but more manual setup and maintenance.

• Playwright screenshot testing
  Many teams just use Playwright’s built-in screenshot assertions plus their own review process. This is often the simplest if you already use Playwright and want to tune thresholds, masks, and clipping.

• Cypress image snapshot plugins
  Less common now for new setups, but still used in teams already invested in Cypress.

If “noise” is the main issue

Before switching tools, teams often reduce noise by:

• masking dynamic regions
• clipping to component-level screenshots instead of full-page
• disabling animations
• freezing time / dates / random data
• using font loading fixes
• setting consistent viewport and locale
• tuning thresholds per test

Common recommendation

• Storybook users: Chromatic
• General app teams using Playwright: Playwright screenshots or Argos CI
• Need AI-based diff tolerance: Applitools
• Prefer open source/self-hosted: Loki or BackstopJS

If you want, I can also give you a “best Percy replacement by stack” list for React/Storybook, Playwright, Cypress, or mobile.