How we compare – including where we fall short
A fair, side-by-side look at popular PDF editors. We show the areas where others are ahead too, because a comparison you can't trust is useless.
Why people switch
Actually free
No subscription, trial, watermark or per-day task limit. Every feature, for everyone.
Private by design
Files are processed on your device. Nothing to upload means nothing to leak, and no waiting for uploads and downloads.
Nothing to install
Open a web page on Windows, macOS, Linux or ChromeOS. No admin rights, no Docker, no updates to manage.
Works offline
After your first visit it keeps working with no internet, on a plane or in a secure network.
Redaction that really redacts
Marked content is burned out of the page, not just covered by a box that can be copied from.
Text edits leave no trace
When you edit a line, the original words are removed from the file, not just painted over.
One tool instead of four
Edit, annotate, sign, fill and create forms, OCR, redact, organize, merge, split, compress, encrypt and convert.
Standard, portable output
Saved files open correctly in Acrobat, Preview, Chrome, Edge and any other viewer. Comments are real PDF comments.
Easy to self-host
It's a folder of static files. Companies can host it on an intranet in minutes, with no database and no backend.
Comfortable to use
Dark mode, keyboard shortcuts, pen pressure, a searchable how-to guide, and undo for everything.
Feature comparison
| Feature | This editor | Acrobat | Foxit | PDF-XChange | PDF Expert | UPDF | PDFgear | Smallpdf | Stirling | Preview |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price for all features | Free | ~$20/mo | ~$130/yr | ~$62 once | ~$80/yr | ~$50/yr | Free | ~$10/mo | Free* | Free |
| No account needed | ✓ | ✕ | ◐ | ✓ | ◐ | ✕ | ✓ | ◐ | ✓ | ✓ |
| No upsell prompts or watermark | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ✕ | ◐ | ◐ | ✓ | ✕ | ◐ | ✓ |
| Files never leave your device | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| No install (runs in a browser) | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✓ | ◐ | ✓ |
| Windows + Mac + Linux | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | Windows | Apple | ◐ | ◐ | ✓ | ✓ | Mac |
| Works offline | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Edit existing text | ◐ ¹ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ✕ |
| Annotate, comment, draw | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ✓ |
| Fill forms | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ✓ |
| Create form fields | ◐ ² | ✓ | ✓ | $ | ◐ | ✓ | ◐ | ✕ | ◐ | ✕ |
| True redaction | ✓ ³ | ✓ | ✓ | $ | $ | ✓ | ◐ | $ | ✓ | ◐ |
| OCR (scanned documents) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | $ | $ | ✓ | $ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Merge, split, reorder, rotate | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ |
| Compress | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ |
| Password protection (AES-256) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Watermark, page numbers, Bates | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ | ✕ |
| Visual signatures | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Certificate digital signatures | ✕ ⁴ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | $ | ✓ | ✕ |
| PDF ↔ Word / Excel / PowerPoint | ✕ ⁵ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| AI assistant / chat with PDF | ✕ ⁶ | $ | $ | ✕ | ✓ | $ | ✓ | ✓ | ◐ | ✕ |
| Cloud sync & real-time collaboration | ✕ ⁷ | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ | ◐ | ◐ | ✕ | ◐ | ✕ | ◐ |
| Batch processing / automation | ✕ ⁸ | ✓ | ◐ | ◐ | ✕ | ◐ | ◐ | ◐ | ✓ | ✕ |
Best-effort summary from vendor websites and public reviews, September 2026. Plans, prices and features change often and may differ by platform or region, so check the vendor's site before deciding. *Stirling-PDF is free to self-host; some features are in a paid enterprise tier. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we'll correct it. See the research notes.
Where we fall short – and why
These are the current limitations of this editor. Each one comes from a real technical constraint, not a paywall, and some will be improved.
¹ Edited and added text uses three standard fonts
New or edited text is set in Helvetica, Times or Courier, whichever best matches the original style (bold/italic, size and colour are matched). PDFs usually embed only the letters they use, so the original font often can't type new letters. Characters outside Western European alphabets (e.g. Hindi, Chinese, Arabic) in new text currently show as “?”. Existing text in any language displays, searches and prints normally.
² Form creation covers text fields, checkboxes and dropdowns
Radio groups, list boxes, buttons, calculated fields and form JavaScript can be filled but not yet created. When you merge several files that contain forms, we recommend flattening, because PDF forms from different files can't always be combined.
³ Redacted pages become images
To guarantee that nothing under a redaction box survives (text, vector graphics, images, hidden layers), pages with redactions are rebuilt as images. As a result, text on those pages is no longer selectable, and the file gets a little larger. Run OCR afterwards to make the text searchable again. Pages without redactions are untouched.
⁴ No certificate-based (PAdES) digital signatures yet
You can draw, type or upload a signature, which is fine for most everyday paperwork. A cryptographic signature needs a certificate issued to you, often on a smart card or from a trust service, and browsers can't access those. Loading a .p12/.pfx certificate file is planned.
⁵ No conversion to or from Word, Excel or PowerPoint
Good Office conversion needs a full office suite (like LibreOffice) running on a server, and that would mean uploading your file. We won't do that. You can export text, Markdown, HTML or images instead.
⁶ No AI assistant – on purpose
“Chat with your PDF” features send your document to an AI service in the cloud. That breaks the core promise, so we don't offer it. If on-device AI becomes practical in browsers, we may add it as a strictly local, opt-in feature.
⁷ No cloud storage, sync or live collaboration – on purpose
Those require storing your files on a server. Instead, save the PDF and share it however you already do (email, your own cloud drive). Sticky notes are standard PDF comments, so colleagues can read and reply to them in any PDF app.
⁸ No batch processing or automation pipelines
You work on one document at a time (you can merge many files into it). Scripted bulk jobs across hundreds of files are better served by tools like Stirling-PDF or qpdf on your own machine.
Other things to know
- Very large files (hundreds of MB, thousands of pages) are limited by your browser's memory and may be slow on older computers.
- Markup is flattened into the page when saving, so it looks identical everywhere, but other apps can't move or edit your highlights and drawings afterwards. Sticky notes and form fields stay editable.
- Text inside some embedded graphics (form XObjects, common in InDesign exports) is covered rather than removed when you edit it.
- OCR languages other than English need a one-time download from a public CDN, and you're asked first.
- Designed for desktop and tablet screens. It works on phones, but a small screen is cramped for editing.
- Not yet supported: PDF/A archiving, comparing two documents, accessibility tagging, and editing bookmarks.
Ready to try it? No account, nothing to install, and your file never leaves your computer. Open the editor