Greatest PDF editors 2025: Premium, funds, and free choices

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PDF information are ubiquitous on this cross-platform world, making it doable to view and share paperwork throughout a variety of gadgets. Whereas merely viewing or commenting on a PDF may be achieved with free software program, there are occasions while you would possibly want to have interaction with a PDF doc extra extensively, similar to making edits, reorganizing a file, or working with others to make modifications. That’s the place a a full-featured PDF editor is available in.

The most effective PDF editors permits you to edit, create, alter, and convert PDF information identical to you'll with every other textual content doc. Adobe Acrobat is essentially the most well-known possibility for most individuals. Its fame is actually deserved given its glorious function set and total utility. However it’s additionally fairly costly.

Fortunately, there’s an entire vary of respectable and even nice third-party PDF editors that present inexpensive options to Adobe’s premier product.

PROMOTION

EaseUS PDF Editor – Edit, Convert, Compress & Shield PDFs

Combine PDF maker, PDF editor, PDF converter, and PDF reader in a single full pack with all of the fundamentals you want. The clear interface simplifies your PDF work to edit, convert, remark, annotate, merge, cut up, background, web page, watermark, signal PDFs, or fill varieties. Your PDF workloads are down by batch processing effectively.

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Our picks under cowl the gamut of PDF modifying wants and budgets.

Why you need to belief us: At PCWorld, we’ve been testing PC {hardware} and software program for over 40 years. Our analysis course of is at all times hands-on and thorough, taking into consideration real-world utilization wants. We don’t ever suggest one thing we wouldn’t be comfy utilizing ourselves. To study extra about our standards for PDF editors scroll to the underside of this text.

Adobe Acrobat Professional – Greatest PDF editor total

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Simply navigable tabbed interface

Complete PDF modifying options

Streamlined sharing function makes it simpler to fill paperwork and get signatures Cons

Wealthy function set may be overwhelming for brand new customers

Value When Reviewed: $19.90/mo I $239.88/yr

Adobe Acrobat Professional stays the business normal for good cause. Its wealthy mixture of creation, modifying, reviewing, and safety features are mimicked by the most effective various choices, however we really feel Acrobat nonetheless does it finest. Its latest interface redesign makes it a lot simpler to navigate by way of its sturdy toolset than the nested menus of yore, and its cloud subscription possibility places its superior options inside attain of extra people and small companies. (See the way it compares to the Adobe Acrobat Normal.)

Although lots of its options can be found in different, cheaper PDF editors, Acrobat remains to be the editor in opposition to which all others are judged. And, as of this 12 months, it’s additionally the primary PDF editor that we all know of to include AI into the function combine. See our article on “5 methods Adobe Acrobat’s AI Assistant offers you a productiveness edge.”

Learn our full Acrobat Professional DC assessment

Foxit PDF Editor 13 – Greatest PDF editor runner-up

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Multi-platform

Enterprise-ready capabilities

AI integration helps with doc modifying Cons

May be costly relying on product license

Value When Reviewed: PDF Editor: $129.99/yr or $10.99/mo; PDF Editor+: $159.99/yr or $13.99/mo

Foxit PDF Editor hits all the proper notes for a premium PDF editor and may even tackle the formidable Adobe Acrobat. It’s filled with options which can be positive to please energy customers—all of the requisite content material modifying instruments; assessment and markup options; type fill and signing assist; and permissions and password safety.

The Foxit PDF Editor+ plan for companies ($159.99 per 12 months vs. $129.99 for people) provides eSign, AI-assisted Sensible redaction, and a lift to 150GB of cloud storage, over the 20GB for the usual plan.

Foxit helps tons of file codecs, and including hyperlinks, photographs, and information to a PDF is trouble-free.

Certainly, ease-of-use is considered one of Foxit’s nice strengths. This system makes use of a Microsoft Workplace-style ribbon interface which teams duties in a well-recognized and intuitive interface, making for a seamless integration together with your workflow. It additionally gives ChatGPT integration so you may simply get assist together with your paperwork from an AI assistant.

Sure, it’s priced on the upper facet for a PDF editor, however with all it has going for it, Foxit PDF Editor greater than earns its preserve. Plus, you may attempt it out at no cost for seven days to see if you happen to prefer it earlier than making a dedication. In the event you’re on the lookout for an Acrobat substitute, you gained’t discover many higher.

Learn our full Foxit PDF Editor assessment

EaseUS PDF Editor – Greatest low-cost PDF editor

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Full set of modifying instruments

Annotation choices allow simple collaboration

Easy interface Cons

Home windows solely

Wants subscription to take away utilization limits

Value When Reviewed: Free I $29.95/mo I $49.95/yr I $79.95/lifetime

EaseUS PDF Editor won't have the identify recognition of a number of the different editors on this checklist, but it surely’s greater than able to holding its personal within the crowded PDF editor market. It gives all the important instruments for managing PDF information with none of the flowery or hard-to-understand options. It permits customers to leap proper in to their toolset and get straight to modifying.

Whereas EaseUS’s options are nice, they're additionally fairly normal fare amongst PDF editors. What makes it stand out among the many pack is its inexpensive worth—$29.95 a month, $49.95 yearly, or $79.95 for a lifetime license. It’s an awesome worth for individuals who usually edit PDFs and don’t need to pay out the nostril.

EaseUS additionally affords a totally purposeful free model (with embedded watermarks in your edited paperwork) so customers can take it for a spin to see if it meets their wants earlier than they decide to paying any cash.

Learn our full EaseUS PDF Editor assessment

PDF Sweet – Greatest free PDF editor

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Many superior options

OCR functionality

Very simple to make use of Cons

No Mac assist

Free trial solely affords fundamental options

Value When Reviewed: Free

PDF Sweet is the uncommon free PDF editor that provides a variety of the options you’d usually should pay for. We’re speaking scanning, a number of file-conversion choices, and OCR performance. A whopping 44 instruments in all. That is what makes PDF Sweet stand out among the many multitude of lesser free PDF editors.

After all, being free, there are compromises. On this case, the interface is somewhat disjointed, with the device icons missing any discernible organizing precept. However when you get acquainted with the structure, you’re off and working.

There’s additionally the very fact of being restricted to 1 PDF activity per hour with the free model. This can be a non-issue in case your wants are modest and include the occasional PDF modifying activity. If you need unfettered entry, you must shell out $6 per thirty days, or $48 per 12 months.

Learn our full PDF Sweet assessment

PDF Skilled – Greatest PDF editor for Mac

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Syncs throughout Mac, iPhone, and iPad

Complete modifying and annotation instruments

Easy, intuitive interface Cons

Requires annual fee

Lifetime license permits use on Mac solely

Value When Reviewed: Free 7-day trial, then $79.99 yearly

PDF Skilled is a wonderful editor that matches seamlessly into the Apple ecosystem, making it our choose for Macs, iPads, and iPhone customers.

Whereas macOS does embrace a PDF editor in its Preview app, iOS gadgets don’t have a local PDF editor and PDF Skilled fills that hole properly. It has a clear and intuitive interface and affords a plethora of easy-to-use modifying choices similar to web page administration, changing scanned information into editable paperwork, and conversion to different file codecs, amongst different issues. The pricing plan can also be significantly cheaper than a lot of the different prime picks, that means this can be a no-brainer for Apple customers.

Learn our full PDF Skilled (iOS) assessment

Apple Preview PDF editor – Greatest free PDF editor for Mac

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Full set of PDF markup instruments

Helps type filling

PDFs may be protected with passwords, encryption, and permission controls Cons

Restricted native sharing choices

Solely out there to Mac customers

Value When Reviewed: Constructed into macOS

Mac customers needn’t look past the macOS for his or her PDF modifying wants, since there's a full set of PDF markup instruments already out there at their disposal in Apple Preview. It has the chops to deal with most private and enterprise PDF modifying wants, together with encryption, password safety, and permissions for information.

Apple Preview’s PDF options and capabilities are spectacular and ought to be all you want for most typical modifying duties. The downside, after all, is that solely Mac customers can make the most of them.

Learn our full Apple Preview PDF editor assessment

pdfFiller – Greatest on-line PDF editor

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Intuitive web-based interface

Strong safety choices

A number of business-ready capabilities Cons

Enterprise options gained’t be wanted by some customers

Requires annual dedication to get finest worth

Value When Reviewed: Fundamental: $8 per thirty days; Plus: $12 per thirty days; Premium: $15 per thirty days. These costs require an annual dedication. Costs begin at $20 a month with no dedication.

Greatest Costs Right now:

pdfFiller month-to-month (on annual contract)

$8

pdfFiller is a browser-based PDF editor that enables you do to only about every thing PDF-related—modifying, securing, sharing, creating, and storing PDF information—all from its intuitive and easy net interface. Its design is just like a desktop app, with the toolbar throughout the highest, and doc thumbnails alongside the facet, so it’s very simple to pick the web page you need to work on and carry out the specified operate, be it including, deleting, or copying/pasting textual content; altering font model, dimension, and coloration; and so forth. An ordinary set of markup instruments can also be out there. It has a surprisingly deep set of options for each private and enterprise use. As an example the Premium plan affords a formidable authorized doc library, in addition to SignNow assist.

Whereas extremely versatile, not all of pdfFiller’s superior options will swimsuit everybody. Luckily, there are three subscription tiers, which supplies customers a solution to meet their modifying wants with out paying further for pointless options: Fundamental for $8/mo; Plus for $12/mo; Premium for $15/mo with an annual dedication. Month-to-month choices are additionally out there, however at the next value, after all.

Learn our full pdfFiller assessment

Different PDF editor opinions

Swifdoo PDF for Home windows: This full-featured, low-priced Acrobat various ought to serve most customers nicely, with most every thing you’d want for modifying PDFs.

MobiPDF: Price range patrons will discover quite a bit to love about PDF Additional. It affords good basic-to-intermediate PDF performance that can please each informal {and professional} customers, for a fraction of the price of pinnacle program Adobe Acrobat Professional.

PDF24 Creator: This can be a succesful free editor that turns out to be useful for informal use, however if you happen to want a program for extra common modifying duties, PDF24 Creator has annoyances that can hinder its helpfulness.

PDF-XChange Editor: One other full-featured PDF editor that can fulfill most modifying wants for an inexpensive worth. It additionally affords a decent free model, if you happen to can settle for its watermarks.

Kofax Energy PDF 5: This can be a shut various to Adobe Acrobat Professional with important and superior modifying instruments and many assist assets, making it appropriate for outdated palms and people new to PDF modifying.

A phrase about on-line PDF editors

Why spend a bit of change on a desktop editor when free on-line PDF editors abound? The easy reply is since you get what you pay for. Typically, free on-line editors will allow you to add textual content and feedback, merge and cut up paperwork, and convert information to and from PDF. With uncommon exception, nonetheless, they gained’t allow you to edit current textual content and lots of have file-size and page-volume restrictions. And a variety of them will watermark your edited doc. For these causes, net PDF editors are finest reserved for easy, quick modifying jobs. Name in these huge canines for something extra demanding.

What to search for in a PDF editor

PDF editors are available in a wide range of flavors, providing various function units—from fundamental performance to power-user instruments. It’s essential to know what options finest match your workflow earlier than you decide to a PDF editor.

Create, convert, and export PDFs

Probably the most elementary operate of a PDF editor is to make PDFs, both from scratch, scanned laborious copies, or by changing digital paperwork. A very good PDF editor ought to be capable to remodel a wide range of file varieties—from Microsoft Workplace codecs to photographs to HTML—and accomplish that seamlessly, preserving the unique formatting. It also needs to embrace OCR expertise to make the PDF textual content searchable and editable. Likewise, PDF editor should be capable to export PDFs into different editable codecs similar to Microsoft Phrase and PowerPoint, HTML, or plain textual content, sustaining the unique information hyperlinks, photographs, and different components.

Content material modifying

One other little bit of magic that PDF editors unlock is the flexibility to switch textual content; insert, resize, and transfer photographs; and reorganize pages within the PDF. A very good one will carry out these duties as simply as in a textual content doc or slide deck, permitting in-line modifying, dragging-and dropping graphics, and including or eradicating hyperlinks.

Evaluate and annotate

A very good PDF editor also needs to allow you to or anybody else utilizing it add feedback and different annotations to PDF information throughout assessment. It ought to have instruments to mark up each textual content paperwork and graphic-heavy information like webpages. Frequent choices embrace sticky notes, callout containers, highlighting, freehand drawing instruments, and stamps with messages like “authorised,” “revised,” and “confidential.”

Safety

All companies take care of paperwork containing delicate information. Search for a PDF editor that features safety features that enable entry for approved eyes solely. Good choices will normally provide a number of ranges of safety, together with password safety, permissions setting, and content material redaction, which “blacks out” chosen textual content and pictures. Most PDF editors may also provide a number of methods to electronically signal paperwork.

Cellular assist

Whereas deep PDF modifying is finest achieved on a desktop, it’s good to have the ability to assessment and annotate information while you’re out and about. Whereas PDFs can usually be reviewed in any PDF reader or editor, no matter which one they had been created in, take into account on the lookout for an editor that has a devoted cellular app, is optimized for cellular gadgets, or permits cloud entry to options by way of a cellular browser.

One of many nice issues a couple of PDF is that it may be learn and edited in any PDF program no matter which one it was created in. So past the options outlined right here, let your private preferences information you in making your determination.

FAQ 1. What's the distinction between a PDF doc and a PDF type?

Whereas there are a selection of various kinds of PDF file codecs, all of them fall underneath the umbrella time period of PDF paperwork. A PDF type is a sort of PDF doc that has editable type fields a person can fill out. Usually, elements of the doc are static and may’t be modified in a PDF type, similar to questions in a survey or directions about filling out the shape. In a PDF type, the content material fields a person fills out are open to modifying and may provide a listing of doable reply choices or may be written in freely.

2. Are PDF paperwork and Phrase information totally different?

Sure. They're two totally totally different doc codecs. Whilst you can export from one file format to a different, they aren't the identical. Phrase file codecs are normally used for phrase processing, modifying, and making modifications to textual content. PDF paperwork alternatively, are most frequently utilized for viewing, sharing, and printing. Moreover, Phrase information are learn and write and comprise some model of the “.doc” file format. Whereas PDF information are usually read-only and comprise the “.pdf” file format.

3. Are you able to defend PDF paperwork from being edited by different individuals?

Sure. When you have a PDF doc that you simply don’t need anybody else to edit, you may defend the file. You are able to do this by opening the file in Acrobat, as an illustration, and clicking Instruments > Shield. Then you've got a couple of choices as as to if you need to merely prohibit modifying with a password, or if you wish to encrypt the file for additional security. When you select the way you need to defend the PDF doc, you may set a password and save.

4. Are you able to merge PDFs with a free PDF editor?

As a matter of reality, many free PDF editors help you merge two or extra PDFs into one doc. Such is the case with our prime free choose PDF Sweet. Open up the PDF editor utility or web site in your browser and seek for the Merge possibility. It'll then ask you so as to add the information of all PDFs you want to merge. As soon as the information have been added, prepare the web page order and alignment earlier than continuing with the merge. Afterwards, your whole beforehand PDF information shall be merged into one new PDF doc.

5. Does Google have a free PDF editor?

Sure and no. Google doesn’t present a chosen free PDF editor itself, however there are third-party Chrome extensions that you should use to assist get the job achieved. Alternatively, you may make use of Google Drive to edit a PDF doc. Merely add the doc onto your Google Drive after which choose the file and right-click and choose Open with > Google Docs. The file shall be opened as an editable Google Docs textual content doc. Then simply make your edits and while you’re completed click on File > Obtain >PDF Doc to revert it again to a PDF file.

This technique is a fast and simple solution to edit a easy PDF doc, however watch out as Google Docs can run into formatting points in case your unique doc has advanced visible formatting similar to tables and graphs. On this case, it's best to make use of a chosen free or premium PDF editor.