Best Free Pdf Editor Of 2025 We Tested Out These Completely Free To

Leo Migdal

-Dec 7, 2025, 6:42 AM

best free pdf editor of 2025 we tested out these completely free to

These are our top free picks for editing documents When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. We tested out the best free PDF editors for designing and modifying documents completely free of charge. These apps and software have no subscriptions, no licenses, no one-off fees, but come with all the tools you need to create, edit, sign, and share documents. After exploring the offerings for each tool, PDF24 Creator is easily the best free option around right now.

Having tested out all the best PDF editors, this Windows app comes with all the same tools and serves as one of the best Adobe Acrobat alternatives you can get without paying anything. Alternatives here also include the browser-based PDF Candy, SmallPDF, which is ideal for use on mobile devices, and the business-focused DocHub. If you work with PDF files regularly then a PDF editor is an indispensable tool. Whether it’s part of your job, you manage PDF files for your own personal use, or you just need to complete a one-off editing task, a top editor program is an essential piece of... Full-featured editors such as Adobe’s Acrobat Pro DC might provide all of the bells and whistles, but a free PDF editor can still offer most of the important tools of a paid service for... Plus, many free PDF editors are browser based, which means you don’t need to worry about about platform- or device-compatibility issues.

Of course, free products won’t come with every feature of their premium counterparts. So, if you find that you need more advanced tools such as password protection, Bates numbering, or e-signatures, then you’re probably better served by a premium PDF editor. Why you should trust PCWorld for PDF editor reviews and buying advice: At PCWorld, we’ve been testing PC hardware and software for decades. Our evaluation process is thorough, always hands-on and focused on real-world usage needs. We won’t ever recommend something we wouldn’t be comfortable using ourselves. EaseUS Black Friday Offer: EaseUS PDF Editor – Edit, Convert, Compress & Protect PDFs

Free Professional PDF Editor Tool for Windows Free and Seamless PDF Editing for Mac Users Your job or life may involve lots of PDF files. You might have to edit the text, images, pages, or security, or add additional info in a PDF. Such tasks require PDF editing software. More often than not, you resort to the known software for this purpose.

However, most features in them aren’t free. We’ve downloaded and tried a bunch of PDF apps and online services, and finally settled on the 6 options. Check out the best free PDF editors that also excel in functionality. If you want the best PDF editor, you must like the free JOPDF, which is reliable, user-friendly, and lightweight. The software places special emphasis on speed and ease of use, even when handling large files. It packs all the essential editing features, even those in the premium programs.

The best free PDF editor for Mac and Windows saves time, money, and effort for small businesses and students who need both basic and powerful features. If you need the best free PDF editor for simple modifications, LibreOffice Draw is a good overall pick. As its name suggests, it is not a dedicated PDF program but an Office suite component. It is open-source and lets you open PDFs as editable versions, with recognized object and text layers. The software won’t offer what professional editors have, but it’s worth praise for its straightforward editing ability. The Portable Document Format (or PDF) is what most people use to share information because it can show text, images, and even sound and video on any platform.

Most PDFs are for reading only, but that doesn't mean you can't or shouldn't modify them. For example, you might want to correct a typo without recreating a whole file, or add or remove text and images. Whatever the job, you need a PDF editor. PCMag has been reviewing document editing software for several decades, so you can trust that all the apps here are up to the task. Our Editors' Choice winners are ABBYY FineReader for its OCR tools and Adobe Acrobat Pro for its business features, but we also include far more affordable options that handle the basics competently. Below the list, we outline everything you need to know before choosing the best PDF editor for your needs.

ABBYY FineReader's deep feature set, convenient editing tools, and smooth, modern interface make it the premier productivity app for professional OCR and PDF work. Adobe Acrobat Pro, from the company that created the PDF format, is a document editing and management powerhouse. A subscription isn't cheap, but if Acrobat Pro does what you need, it's an obvious choice. ABBYY FineReader ($99 per year for the Standard version, $165 per year for the Corporate version) combines a well-designed set of standard PDF management features with class-leading OCR technology for converting scanned images into... A spacious, lucid interface lets you create or edit PDFs, as well as convert them into other formats, all in a few mouse clicks. The advanced OCR editor has a fast, keyboard-friendly interface for fixing the unavoidable OCR errors that you get with scanned documents, and its image editor tool makes short work of adjustments to single or...

FineReader doesn’t have Adobe’s cloud-based support for gathering responses or payments, but it offers a built-in “hot folder” feature that automatically converts documents you add there into PDFs. (Adobe’s comparable feature is separate from Acrobat and more difficult to set up.) ABBYY FineReader also includes a convenient screen-scraping application that grabs any text on your screen. The Corporate version has a unique tool for comparing two documents in different formats, unlike Acrobat, which compares only PDF documents. If you’ve ever tried to edit a PDF and hit a paywall, you know how frustrating it can be. Whether you’re updating a contract, rearranging pages, adding your signature, or converting files, a good free PDF editor can make a world of difference. After testing countless options, I finally found the best solutions that truly deliver on features and ease of use.

We’ve rounded up the top 5 PDF editor apps available for free in 2025, including a powerful newcomer — Indigo PDF — that’s quickly gaining popularity for its professional-grade tools. All of these apps are completely free to use, with no hidden charges or subscriptions, and offer versatile features for both casual and professional users. Modern workflows demand flexibility, and the best free pdf editors make it easy to edit and manage pdfs across all your devices. Whether you’re working from a desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone, having access to your favorite pdf editing tools is essential. Many free pdf editors now offer browser-based platforms, so you can edit pdfs directly from your web browser—no downloads required. This is perfect for quick edits on the go, whether you’re using an Android phone, iPhone, or any other mobile device.

For more advanced tools and features, desktop versions like Adobe Acrobat provide a comprehensive suite of pdf editing options, from detailed annotations to batch processing. With mobile support and seamless syncing, you can start editing a document on your computer and finish it on your phone, ensuring you never miss a beat. No matter where you are, today’s free pdf editors give you the power to handle editing tasks efficiently and securely, right from your browser or device of choice. PDFs have become the universal format for sharing documents, whether it’s assignments, invoices, contracts, or eBooks. But editing a PDF isn’t always simple—most tools lock essential features behind a paywall. This is why many users search for the best free PDF editor that lets them make changes without restrictions.

A good editor should allow you to edit text and images in PDFs, annotate files, and fill forms. It should let you sign documents and even merge, split, or compress PDFs. While plenty of tools claim to be free, many leave watermarks or limit usage unless you pay for a subscription. That’s where this guide comes in. Here, we’ve reviewed the top completely free PDF editors across Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and online platforms. While PDF (Portable Document Format) is a great document format for file sharing across various platforms, it is equally frustrating and expensive to edit PDF files.

Adobe’s Acrobat PDF editor and many third-party services offer advanced features but at a steep cost. Thus, to help you find entirely free tools that bring a variety of PDF editing features, I tried a bunch of software and curated a list of the best free PDF editors. I have also included some popular free online PDF editors here. First and foremost, you should look for a free PDF editor that allows you to edit texts, not just annotation. There are many PDF editors that offer basic annotation, but don’t support text editing. Next, you should pick a PDF editor that runs offline on your computer.

While there are many online PDF editors with strong privacy protections, it’s your discretion to decide whether you want to upload your private documents to the cloud. Apart from that, pick a PDF editor that lets you organize pages, split them, merge multiple PDFs, convert PDFs to DOCX, PPT, JPG/PNG, and more. On top of that, if the PDF editor supports OCR extraction, it would be icing on the cake. Finally, choose a PDF editor that offers unlimited processing without any restrictions. In my search for a true Adobe Acrobat alternative that’s entirely free and offers advanced features, I have spent countless hours on the internet to find the best free PDF editor. I finally found PDFgear, which checks all the boxes.

It runs offline, has tons of PDF editing features, and is completely free to use. There are over 100 PDF editors in the world. The question is: How do you know which PDF editors are worth checking out? I tested more than 30 PDF tools and spent +200 hours to find the best PDF editors in 2025. And I will not lie; it was overwhelming sometimes to go through all the features, pricing, and information available on the internet one by one. But my list of the best PDF editors is finally completed.

In this article, I guide you through the best PDF editors you can find currently on the market. By sharing this list of the best PDF editors, I hope I can help you save time and money as well. When putting together my best PDF editors list, I considered features, versatility, my experience, and user interface. While I can not summarize all my findings in this table, this will help you get an overview of the key information for each PDF editor. Here are the top 9 PDF editors that stood out the most to me in 2025: The best PDF editors let you handle portable documents like a pro

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. The best PDF editors let you do even more with PDF files, from marking them up to making changes to the text and images they include. Even though PDF files may appear to be finalized, they can be edited and changed in the same way you can alter a text document. You just need the right software to do so. The best PDF editors allow you to open almost any PDF file and from here, you can edit, alter, annotate, sign or convert it into other popular file formats like Microsoft Word’s Doc and...

Best Free Pdf Editor Of 2025 We Tested Out These Completely Free To

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