5 Free PDF Editors That Can Replace Adobe

The high price and the predatory system that punishes you for early termination of the subscription are the main reasons for the anger of users. Software bugs are also on the list, but no program can escape them. In this regard, I would even say that Adobe has an advantage. Since it has so many more users than all other similar programs, a solution is found faster online.

But we're not here to bash Adobe. Adobe Acrobat Reader is one of their programs that is almost always installed by default on computers. The only annoying thing is that the free version is really only for opening and basic viewing of PDF documents. If you want to edit them, you'll have to pay.

So we scoured the web and found some interesting free alternatives.

PDF-XChange Editor has quite a few advanced tools

We first noticed PDF-XChange Editor because it listed tools that only Adobe subscribers can use as free, such as optical character recognition (OCR), markup tools, the ability to insert and edit images, etc. All basic functions are covered, but more experienced users can also play around with the aforementioned tools.

First of all, you can click on any text and adjust, change, or remove it with a variety of editing tools. With OCR, you can turn any scanned document (even an image) into editable text, which is impossible with most other programs (including Adobe Reader).

It is also very system-friendly, as it does not use many resources. A mobile version is also available.

PDF Editor

Sejda is an interesting program because you don't even need to install it on your computer. It works through a browser. In addition to this convenience, it is surprisingly robust with tools such as editing and formatting text, adding comments, and merging different PDF documents. The interface is also surprisingly transparent and user-friendly. At the top, you will notice a toolbar through which you can access all the most used functions.

The free version has daily task and file size limits, but this shouldn't be a problem if you don't need to edit more than a handful of files per day.

PDFescape

PDFescape claims to be the first “free online PDF editor.” Whether that’s true or not, we don’t know, but it’s a solid and free PDF editor. There’s also a desktop version available, but it’s more limited and will also regularly prompt you to sign up for a monthly subscription. So stick with the web version, which has a similar set of tools to Sejda.

PDFescape has everything you need to edit documents, including text editing, inserting images, inserting shapes, annotations, and even a drawing tool.

PDFgear

PDFgear is an editor that has everything you can think of, including editing text, adding notes, merging files, inserting links, inserting images, and even converting PDF documents.

If you're not a fan of AI integration, then you might not like its AI assistant PDFgear Copilot. But you might find it useful when you need quick summaries or when searching for specific information in a document.

Eyepiece

Okular is developed in the KDE desktop environment, which is why it is popular among Linux users, and there are also versions for Windows and macOS. In addition to basic functions, Okular also offers text and image output. You can also add digital signatures.

Okular supports a wide range of formats, including DjVu, ePub, CHM, and XPS. Since it is an open source application, there are no ads, hidden limitations, or annoying pop-ups.

If you are not satisfied with the Adobe Acrobat Reader editor and would like to try something new, you will definitely find a good alternative among the ones mentioned.