While nothing beats a full-featured PDF editor like Adobe’s Acrobat Pro DC, typically you don’t want all of the bells and whistles. When you simply need to edit just a few traces of textual content, add or reposition a picture, or make some evaluation notes, a free PDF editor often is the strategy to go.

Free PDF editors supply just a few benefits over their paid companions. First and most clearly, they don’t price something. If you don’t work frequently with PDF information, a premium editor in all probability gained’t be well worth the funding and a free editor can get the job finished on the events you could make some fast adjustments to doc. Second, free PDF editors typically work in your browser so, not like paid PDF editors, there aren’t any platform- or device-compatibility points to fret about. (The exceptions are free trial variations of paid editors, which have to be downloaded to a tool.) Finally, as a result of free on-line PDF editors are used on-the-fly, they often have a lot less complicated, more-intuitive interfaces and instruments than paid editors do.

Of course, you possibly can’t anticipate a free product to have all the delicate options of a paid one. Most will allow you to edit PDF information by including and modifying textual content and pictures and annotating with shapes, freehand drawings, and notes. Fonts and font sizes, colours, and form choices will nearly assuredly be extra restricted than what you’d discover in a paid editor, although. Free editors may also allow you to create PDFs and convert them to different file codecs. This might be all you want for infrequent work with PDFs.

You could discover options like type filling, e-signatures, and content material redaction in some free editors. But capabilities like password safety and bates numbering are nearly unparalleled. Frankly, in the event you dive deep sufficient into PDFs to make use of any of those options, you’re in all probability higher served by one of many desktop editors in our best paid PDF editors buying guide.

1. PDF Candy – Best free PDF editor general

Pros

• Many superior options
• OCR functionality
• Very simple to make use of

Cons

• Lacks a single interface, which some customers could not like
• Free model limits you to at least one job per hour

PDF Candy is the uncommon free PDF editor that gives numerous the options you’d sometimes need to pay for. We’re speaking scanning, a number of file-conversion choices, and OCR performance. While the free model has entry to the expansive toolset of the paid model, you’re restricted to at least one PDF job per hour. For unfettered entry, you could shell out $6 month.

2. Apple Preview PDF editor – Best free PDF editor for Mac customers

Pros

• Full set of PDF markup instruments
• Supports type filling
• PDFs may be protected with passwords, encryption, and permission controls

Cons

• Limited native sharing choices
• Only obtainable to Mac customers

Mac customers have a wonderful PDF editor constructed proper into their working system. Although its ostensibly a photograph viewer, macOS’s Preview app is rife with PDF-editing capabilities together with instruments for including textual content and shapes, redacting content material, making freehand drawings, inserting sticky notes, and capturing your signature utilizing your trackpad, digital camera, or iPhone.

3. Sejda PDF editor – Most versatile free PDF editor

Pros

• Online and desktop variations obtainable
• Performs dozens of PDF duties
• No frills interface is simple to make use of

Cons

• There are each day utilization limits with no subscription
• Limited font choices

Offered as each an internet software and a desktop editor, Sejda is able to performing dozens of duties together with modifying, type creation and filling, Bates stamping, file encryption, and extra. If the each day utilization limits are too restrictive for you, you possibly can improve to the reasonably priced paid model.

Read our full
Sejda PDF editor review

What to search for in a free PDF editor

• Content modifying: As its identify signifies, a PDF editor’s main perform is to allow you to edit a doc. That consists of the flexibility so as to add and modify textual content; insert, resize, and transfer pictures; and reorganize pages within the PDF. Most free PDF editors will allow you to carry out these duties, although they might impose each day limits on what number of you possibly can carry out or what number of paperwork you possibly can edit.
• Create, convert, and export PDFs: A typical want for a PDF editor is to create PDF information from scanned onerous copies or by changing digital paperwork. A great free PDF editor will be capable of convert widespread file codecs equivalent to Word, JPG, and HTML to a PDF and protect the unique formatting. It must also be capable of export PDFs into different editable codecs equivalent to Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, HTML, or plain textual content, sustaining the unique information hyperlinks, pictures, and different components.
• Review and annotate: Most free PDF editors permit you to add feedback and different annotations to PDF information throughout evaluation. Typical annotation instruments embrace sticky notes, shapes, and drawing markup choices.
• Signatures: Often all you want a PDF editor for is to signal a doc. This was once a premium characteristic solely obtainable on paid desktop editors, however extra free PDF editors are permitting customers to create and add digital signatures to paperwork.