Our Top Recommendations for the Best PDF Editors

Let’s start with my top 3 recommendations for the best PDF editors that I tested out for this list. Take a look at them below.

Overview of the Best PDF Editors in 2026

Now, I understand that it can be confusing to sort through different options. That is why I have made this overview table to help you quickly sort through the best PDF editors in 2026. I have mentioned their best use case, limitations, and pricing.

Best PDF Editors for Editing, Annotating, and Converting Compared

Here are the best free and paid PDF editors you can download. Bear in mind, this is not a ranked list, and you can pretty much settle for any that suits your needs.

Foxit PhantomPDF – Best Overall PDF Editor

If versatility is at the top of your priority list, Foxit PhantomPDF is the best PDF editor for your needs. PhantomPDF is easy to maneuver, allowing you to create and edit docs at will. Plus, it also comes with handy tools to let you keep all of your PDFs organized so that there is no clutter. It also lets you convert docs into PDFs, which is a big deal if you don’t want to compromise on quality. As someone who has to deal with PDFs more often than not, especially in professional environments, PhantomPDF looks good enough to provide an intuitive collaboration so that the entire team can work together on a project. Moreover, it also allows easy sharing and integration with ECMs and cloud storage, which can be quite helpful for businesses. Supported Platforms: Windows and macOS Pricing: Free, $129.99/year

Wondershare PDFelement

If I were to pick an all-in-one PDF editor that can meet the demands of both pro and casual users, I would suggest going for Wondershare PDFelement. What gives it an edge over its counterparts is the flexibility. For all being packed with high-end tools, it doesn’t require a learning curve, unlike many other rivals. In terms of editing PDF documents, Wondershare probably has the most advanced OCR technology that turns scans into fully editable documents in more than 25 languages. Another feature that made me consider it as the best PDF editor is the ability to convert PDFs into many other file types like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML, image, and more. This tool also ensures their layouts remain intact. And just in case you want to safeguard your files, you can choose to use the password-protection feature to encrypt your documents before sharing. Supported Platforms: Windows and macOS Pricing: Free trial, $79.99/annually

Best Premium PDF Editor for Professionals

If you have to deal with PDFs on a daily basis, tackle multiple files and require more advanced tools and collaborative options, then Nitro PDF and Adobe Online are great options for professionals.

Nitro PDF – Best Paid PDF Editor for Professionals

Nitro PDF is a premium PDF editor meant mainly for professionals. Among all the paid PDF editors, it’s one of the most affordable out there. It offers all the basic and advanced PDF editing features to improve your workflow. You can convert PDF files, create new PDF documents, and edit existing ones with markup and annotation tools. It also allows you to fill out PDF forms and digitally sign and certify documents. There is a password protection feature onboard, and the tool can be integrated with online cloud solutions as well. Not to mention, you can create tables, edit them, and extract text from PDF files using its powerful OCR engine. All in all, I would say Nitro PDF is an affordable PDF editor, and you should consider it for its premium features. Supported Platforms: Windows and macOSPricing: Paid plan starts at $17.70/month

Adobe Online PDF Editor

As we all know, Adobe created the PDF file format and is one of the companies that provides the best PDF editing solutions out there. Adobe now offers a web portal where you can freely edit PDF files, including converting Word to PDF files, JPG to PDF, PDF compression, and more. You also get editing tools for adding text, reordering pages, combining multiple PDF files, and more. In case you want Adobe’s powerful desktop app for advanced features like OCR, redaction, font matching, and more, go for Adobe Acrobat Pro, which is a paid tool. Yes, it’s way more expensive than many other offerings. It also warrants a steep learning curve that can put off any general user. However, if pro-level PDF editing is what you are after, overlooking Acrobat Reader isn’t the right way to go. The app is good at viewing, printing, and commenting on PDF files without compromising on quality. What’s more, it is connected to Adobe Document Cloud, so that you can work across computers and mobile devices seamlessly. Supported Platforms: Web, Windows, macOS, Android, and iOSPricing: Free, Adobe Acrobat Pro starts at $12.99/month 

Best Cheap PDF Editor

Maybe you don’t want to pay the premium pricing for a PDF editor, yet don’t want to compromise on the features. In that case, Xodo PDF is one of the cheaper options you can try out.

Xodo PDF – Best Lightweight PDF Editor

If you are a Windows user and looking for a free PDF editor that follows the Windows 11 UI, I would highly recommend checking out Xodo PDF. It’s an excellent PDF reader and editor and offers a ton of features for free. Some features are locked behind a paywall, and you have to get the Pro version for that, but a majority of them are freely available. You can annotate, add text, shape, highlight texts, redact parts of the PDF, add signatures, images, and more. The app is available on the Microsoft Store, so you can easily install it on your PC. However, if you want to quickly edit PDF files on the web, you can do so as well. To sum up, Xodo PDF is a fantastic, lightweight PDF editor, and Windows users should definitely give it a try. Supported Platforms: Web, Windows, Android, and iOSPricing: Free, Pro version starts at $4 per month

Best Free PDF Editor

If you want a completely free PDF editing solution, then LibreOffice and PDF XChange are some of the best options you can check out.

LibreOffice Draw – Best Free PDF Editor Software

If you are looking for an entirely free PDF editor that offers a desktop app and brings a complete set of PDF editing tools in tow, then you don’t need to look beyond LibreOffice Draw. As most of you would know, LibreOffice is a free and open-source alternative to Microsoft Office, and it has a powerful suite of apps, no matter if you are dealing with spreadsheets, Word documents, or PDF files. Specifically, the LibreOffice Draw application lets you edit PDF files, including annotation, document signing, password protection, and more. There is also a built-in OCR tool to quickly extract text from images, edit it, and export it as PDF files. Apart from that, it has a huge library of fonts, so editing PDFs or filling PDF forms won’t be a problem. The only con of this tool is that you need to install the whole suite of LibreOffice to access the Draw application. But the feature set is vast, and everything is available for free, which makes this application a worthy contender on this list. So, to sum everything up, if you want a powerful offline PDF editor app for free, LibreOffice Draw tops the list. Supported Platforms: Windows, macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon), and Linux Pricing: Free

PDF-XChange Editor

PDF-XChange Editor has long been hailed as the best free PDF editor as it offers many premium features for free. For example, you get an offline desktop app with support for local fonts, layers, text selection, Macro functionality, and other such advanced features. If you choose to pay for its premium version, you also get a built-in OCR engine to extract text from images in PDF files. Moreover, this PDF editor app lets you create and edit fillable forms, add dynamic stamps, etc. Under the free version, you can correct the text with precision editing, remove weblinks, sign documents, and merge multiple documents, among other things. The best part is that the company also offers a dedicated ARM app for Windows 10/ 11. So if you want a free desktop app for editing PDFs without many limitations, PDF-XChange Editor is one of the best apps out there. Supported Platforms: Windows (x86 and ARM)Pricing: Free, One-time fee of $56

Best Online PDF Editor

Casual users who are looking for online PDF editors can check out Smallpdf and Sejda. Lets take a closer look at both of these tools.

Smallpdf – Best Free PDF Editor for Online Use

We mentioned SmallPDF in our best free PDF editors list. While it’s not an entirely free PDF editor, it lets you edit two documents per day for free, and I think for casual users, it’s a great PDF editor. I say so because both its offline desktop app and website are user-friendly, and the UI design is neat. I have also used the desktop app Smallpdf in the past, and it has worked without throwing any hiccups. No sign-up requirements, and no badgering with premium plans, so nothing annoying. Simply download the app and get on with your work. I edited a huge 5000-page PDF with Smallpdf, and it managed to handle the task with ease. Not even once did I feel the app was freezing or that some features were lacking. From editing tools to merging, deletion, annotation, and signing, everything is available. If you don’t want to use its offline app, you can very well use the website to quickly edit PDF files on the go. It offers more than 21 PDF tools for free in its web app. If you like the service, you can go for the paid version that only costs US$9 per month and removes all the limitations. If you compare the pricing with other premium PDF editors, Smallpdf is a much cheaper option. Overall, despite not being completely free, Smallpdf is an excellent free PDF editor for users who edit PDFs once in a while. Supported Platforms: Web, Windows, Android, and iOS Pricing: Free 2 edits/day, Paid plan starts at $9 per month after a 15-day free trial

Sejda

Well, I have saved this one for the folks who are on the lookout for a free PDF editor without needing to break the bank. Yeah, you heard it right! Sejda is a web-based app that works fine for very basic PDF editing. Despite being an online PDF editor, it’s got some really useful annotation tools to let you strike out, underline, highlight, and even draw in documents. Furthermore, you can also include your digital signature and use shapes to give an impressive look to your document. The quick undo button, it ensures you can get rid of unwanted changes without any pain. That said, there are some restrictions with Sejda if you are using the free version on the website or its desktop app. You can only process 3 tasks per day, and the document size should not be more than 50MB, and the number of pages should be below 200. I think it’s a fair limitation since you are getting an excellent PDF editor for free. So if you want to edit lightweight PDF docs for free, you can take advantage of Sejda. Supported Platforms: Web, Windows, macOS, and LinuxPricing: Free (3 edits/day), Paid plan at $7.50/month (Web), $63/year (Desktop)

PDFescape – Online PDF Editor with Best Feature Set

Yet another web-based free PDF editor that has caught my attention is PDFescape, and I must say that I have come out impressed with what this web-based tool has to offer. It comes with a variety of features, including PDF editing, form filling, page arrangement, printing, saving, and form publishing. While the freemium version is ad-supported and comes with basic features, the premium variant ($2.99/ month) comes without ads and also offers high-end tools. I like its simple layout, which feels familiar, and it also converts documents into PDFs without any hiccups and noticeable lag. In terms of annotation, PDFescape can hold the fort with features like a sticky note, inserting, striking out, etc. Supported Platforms: Web, Windows, and macOS Pricing: Free, Pro starts from $2.99/month

How to Choose the Right PDF Editor for You?

Let’s address the elephant in the room first. The choice of your PDF editor boils down to two pivotal aspects: Professional and Personal needs. Though other essential factors like proficiency, ease of use, and affordability also have major roles to play.

Key Features to Consider

If efficiency and top-of-the-line features matter, and you are skilled enough to get the most out of the advanced editing features, you should pick a full-fledged PDF editor. That’s as straightforward as it sounds. But in case you have to deal with PDFs only once in a blue moon, say for adding your name and signing, then opt for a lightweight or online PDF editor available for free online. Most of them come with all the basic tools to let you convert and annotate PDF files easily.

Free vs. Paid: What You Really Get

Another aspect to consider is whether you should use a free PDF editor or a paid one. Free options typically include basic options, like simple form filling, a few annotations, watermarks, no E-signing, and no batch editing tools. Meanwhile, paid editors unlock the full feature set for you to use. However, you must ask whether you need to use all the tools in the arsenal.

Desktop (Local) vs. Online PDF Editors

Both desktop and online editors serve their own purpose, but typically, desktop PDF editors are more feature-rich and run much smoother, plus it is easy to perform batch editing on desktop editors. Meanwhile, online PDF editors offer the flexibility to use on any machine. Since it is a website, you can visit it from any system that is connected to the internet.

What PDF Editor Should You Choose and Why?

With a variety of options available, hopefully, you have found the right software that fits your needs. Do share your thoughts on the apps that look most promising. Also, let us know about any notable PDF editing apps that might be missing from the roundup. If all you need is a basic PDF editing experience, Microsoft Edge‘s built-in PDF editor should be sufficient. Do let us know your thoughts about this list in the comments below. Name Email ID

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