Free PDF Editors — The 10 Best Tools, Desktop and Online
Search for a free PDF editor and you get “best of” lists where half the tools are trials, and websites such as iLovePDF with hidden limits. We read the main comparison pages on the web — TechRadar, Toolradar, Zapier, PCWorld, Beebom, Coda One, Contabo, SoftwareTestingHelp, AlternativeTo and AddictiveTips — and in October 2026 we checked every tool ourselves: licence, platforms and what the free use really allows.
Engineers handle PDFs daily: merging a drawing set for a submission, compressing a heavy report for email, running OCR on a scan of an old drawing, marking up comments and signing a form. Some tools are installed programs, others are websites. The key difference is privacy: an online tool uploads your drawings, reports and contracts to another company’s server, even if they are deleted after an hour or two. So for each tool we list advantages and disadvantages, and above all what the licence limits and where your files go.
Comparison table: the top 10
| Tool | Desktop / online | Licence in plain words | Platforms | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDF24 | Desktop + online | Completely free, companies included, no task limits | Windows, browser | Everyday PDF jobs |
| PDFgear | Desktop + online | Free for any use at present, closed source | Windows, macOS, browser | Editing existing text |
| Stirling-PDF | Desktop + office server | Open-source core, commercial use allowed | Windows, macOS, Linux, browser | A shared PDF toolkit for the whole office |
| BentoPDF | Online, processed locally | Open source, no limits | Browser | Confidential files with nothing to install |
| PDF-XChange Editor | Desktop | Many tools free; the rest add a watermark | Windows | Marking up and measuring drawings |
| PDFsam Basic | Desktop | Open source, commercial use allowed | Windows, macOS, Linux | Merging and splitting large sets |
| iLovePDF | Online | Free with per-tool limits | Browser | Quick jobs with nothing to install |
| Sejda PDF | Online + desktop | 3 tasks an hour online, 3 a day on desktop | Windows, macOS, Linux, browser | A one-off text fix |
| OCRmyPDF | Desktop (command line) | Open source, commercial use allowed | Windows, macOS, Linux | Batch OCR of scans |
| Okular | Desktop | Open source, commercial use allowed | Linux, Windows | Annotations and digital signatures |
The top 10
1. PDF24 Creator / PDF24 Tools
PDF24 Creator is a Windows program with a virtual PDF printer and dozens of tools that run on your computer without internet, and PDF24 Tools offers the same tools online. You merge and split files, compress a drawing set for email, run OCR on scans, compare two versions and convert to and from Office.
Advantages: completely free, companies included, with no sign-up, no watermark and no limit on the number of tasks. With Creator, files never leave your PC.
Disadvantages: Creator is Windows only, and the interface looks dated. The website is ad-funded, and files are uploaded to servers in the EU and deleted within an hour.
2. PDFgear
A full PDF editor for Windows and macOS, with mobile apps and online tools. You edit existing text and images, add comments, highlights and stamps, fill and sign forms, run OCR in more than 30 languages, convert to Word, Excel and PowerPoint, and merge, split and compress.
Advantages: free for any use at present, business included, with no sign-up, no ads and no watermark. One of the few free tools that genuinely edits existing text.
Disadvantages: closed source. Some advanced conversions and the AI chat with a document go through cloud servers, and the online tools upload files; core work in the desktop program is done locally. The vendor has said some advanced cloud and AI features may become paid in future, with no timeline.
3. Stirling-PDF
Dozens of tools in one interface: merge, split, reorder pages, compress, OCR, redact, compare, sign, convert and no-code chains of actions, with a REST API for nearly every tool. Install it on a PC, or run it on an office server (for example with Docker) and use it from the browser, so files stay on the internal network.
Advantages: an open-source core under the MIT licence, free on desktop and self-hosted, commercial use included.
Disadvantages: a server install needs technical skill and a fair amount of memory. On the vendor’s hosted cloud, files are processed on its servers and the free plan is credit-based (1,000 credits a month). SSO and user management are paid.
4. BentoPDF
100+ browser tools that process files on your own computer (WebAssembly), not on a server: merge, split, compress, reorder and rotate pages, convert, add page numbers and watermarks, and password-protect. Sensitive drawings and tender documents never leave your machine.
Advantages: open source (AGPL-3.0), with no sign-up, no file limits and no watermark, commercial use included. It can also be self-hosted on an internal server.
Disadvantages: performance depends on your computer and browser, and very large files can be slow. It is a young project. Two exceptions to local processing: the timestamp tool contacts a TSA server, and modules load from an external CDN.
5. PDF-XChange Editor
A fast Windows editor with hundreds of tools. In free mode you mark up and comment on drawings, measure scaled distances and areas, fill forms, add stamps and search text.
Advantages: about 70% of the tools (257 of 402) are free without restriction, and the free version may be used commercially.
Disadvantages: Windows only. It is not a completely free editor: using a tool marked as licensed (paid), such as some editing and page tools, adds a watermark to the saved file.
6. PDFsam Basic
A simple page tool: merge files, split by pages or bookmarks, rotate, extract pages and interleave two files.
Advantages: open source (AGPLv3), free for any use, everything runs locally with no upload, and it runs on Windows, macOS and Linux.
Disadvantages: whole-page operations only — no text editing and no OCR. The company also sells paid products, so make sure you pick the Basic edition.
7. iLovePDF
The website most people know: merge, split, compress, rotate and reorder pages, convert to and from Office, OCR, repair damaged files, redact, compare versions, sign and number pages.
Advantages: a simple interface, many tools and no sign-up. Files are encrypted and deleted within two hours.
Disadvantages: not free without limits: the Basic plan caps each tool — for example merge up to 25 files and 100 MB, compress 2 files, and Office conversions and OCR one file up to 15 MB — and also limits overall processing. Editing existing text, PDF/A and OCR within conversions, and the desktop and mobile apps are reserved for Premium.
8. Sejda PDF
One of the few free tools that edits existing text, and it also adds text, images and links, fills and signs forms, merges, splits, compresses, crops, converts and runs OCR. Available online and for Windows, macOS and Linux.
Advantages: good for fixing a mistake in a document you only received as a PDF. The desktop program processes files locally without uploading them; on the web they are deleted automatically after two hours.
Disadvantages: strict free limits: on the web up to 3 tasks per hour, documents up to 200 pages and 50 MB, one file per task, OCR up to 10 pages and images up to 5 MB; on desktop 3 tasks per day.
9. OCRmyPDF
A command-line tool that runs OCR on a scanned PDF and places the recognised text beneath the image, so you can search and copy without changing how the page looks. It produces PDF/A for archiving, deskews and rotates pages and compresses images.
Advantages: open source (MPL-2.0), free for any use. It is built on Tesseract with more than 100 languages and uses all CPU cores to batch-process whole folders.
Disadvantages: no graphical interface. On Windows you must install Tesseract and Ghostscript first, which is less convenient than on Linux or macOS.
10. Okular
An open-source viewer for PDF, EPUB, DjVu and images that adds notes, highlights, underlines and free text. It verifies digital signatures, detects changes made after signing and can sign too.
Advantages: free for any use (GPL-2.0), the best free choice on Linux according to Beebom, and available on Windows through the Microsoft Store.
Disadvantages: it does not edit existing text or reorganise pages, and has no OCR or conversion. On macOS there are only experimental builds.
More free PDF tools worth knowing
One more website: Adobe’s online tools give one transaction every 30 days in the premium tools (convert, compress, edit, OCR, merge) with a free Adobe ID.
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Adobe Inc.
The standard PDF reader: view, comment, fill forms and sign; the advanced Acrobat online tools are limited to about one use per month.
Get it from the vendorReaders: SumatraPDF opens heavy drawings instantly. Foxit PDF Reader and Adobe Acrobat Reader add comments, form filling and signing, but do not edit text or images.
SumatraPDF
Krzysztof Kowalczyk
A tiny, very fast PDF reader for Windows — opens heavy drawings instantly, and reads ePub and DjVu too.
Get it from the vendor
Foxit PDF Reader
Foxit Software
Fast free PDF reader with comments, form filling and signing — a lighter alternative to Acrobat Reader, without text editing.
Get it from the vendorPage tools and editing: PDF Arranger reorders, rotates and crops pages by drag and drop. PDF4QT adds comparison, redaction, compression and signing (Windows and Linux).
PDF Arranger
PDF Arranger project
Merge, split, rotate, crop and reorder PDF pages by drag and drop — for assembling calc packages, submittals and drawing sets.
Get it from the vendor
PDF4QT
Jakub Melka
An open PDF editor and viewer — annotations, page organising, signing, redaction, plus a tool to compare document versions.
Get it from the vendorCommand line: qpdf repairs damaged files, removes and adds encryption, and merges and splits without touching the content. PDFtk merges, splits, stamps and fills forms from FDF data. Ghostscript compresses heavy scans and converts to PDF/A.
qpdf
qpdf project (Jay Berkenbilt)
Command-line tool to repair, encrypt and decrypt, merge and split PDFs and inspect file structure — without changing the content.
Get it from the vendor
PDFtk
PDF Labs
Classic PDF toolkit: merge, split, rotate, stamp and fill forms from the command line, plus a simple free Windows GUI.
Get it from the vendor
Ghostscript
Artifex Software
The engine behind many PDF tools: compress, convert to PDF/A, rasterise and repair PDFs from the command line.
Get it from the vendorPrint to PDF: CutePDF Writer installs a virtual printer, so any old program that can print produces a PDF; it needs a converter such as Ghostscript installed alongside.
CutePDF Writer
Acro Software Inc.
Lightweight virtual PDF printer for Windows: print from any program to get a PDF file, including on Windows Server.
Get it from the vendorScanning and OCR: NAPS2 scans straight from the scanner with built-in OCR in more than 100 languages. gImageReader is a graphical front end for Tesseract that produces searchable PDFs.
NAPS2
Ben Olden-Cooligan
Scan documents straight to searchable PDF with built-in OCR — delivery notes, minutes and marked-up drawings from site.
Get it from the vendor
gImageReader
gImageReader project
Graphical OCR built on Tesseract — turn scanned pages and PDFs into text or a searchable PDF.
Get it from the vendorComparison and handwriting: diff-pdf shows visually what changed between two revisions of a drawing (it compares appearance, not text). Xournal++ lets you write and mark up a PDF with a pen or mouse.
diff-pdf
Vaclav Slavik
Visual comparison of two PDF versions — see at once what changed between revisions of a drawing or report.
Get it from the vendor
Xournal++
Xournal++ team
Handwriting and PDF annotation with a stylus — markups on drawings, lecture notes and problem solving.
Get it from the vendorOutdated and misleading advice you will find online
- Foxit PhantomPDF — a product name replaced by Foxit PDF Editor, which is paid. Only Foxit PDF Reader is free.
- Xodo — the desktop program is a short trial, and the free online plan allows one action per day.
- “Free editors” that are trials — PDFelement, Nitro, pdfFiller, PDF Expert and Acrobat Pro, recommended by SoftwareTestingHelp and others, offer only a trial.
- “iLovePDF edits PDFs for free” — you can add text, images and shapes, but editing existing content needs a subscription.
- “Sejda: 3 tasks per day” — this mixes up the products: the website allows 3 tasks per hour, the desktop program 3 per day.
- “Adobe’s online tools are free” — only partly: without signing in most tools allow one transaction, and with a free account the premium tools allow one transaction every 30 days.
Which tool to choose, by task
Merging and splitting drawing sets: PDFsam Basic or PDF Arranger on the desktop; PDF24 for everything else.
Compressing a heavy report for email: PDF24 (no limits), BentoPDF in the browser, or Ghostscript on the command line.
Editing existing text: PDFgear on the desktop; Sejda for a one-off fix, within its three-task limit.
Filling forms and signing: Okular, Foxit PDF Reader or PDFgear; for marking up and measuring drawings, PDF-XChange Editor.
OCR on scans: OCRmyPDF for large batches, NAPS2 when you scan yourself, PDF24 Creator or PDFgear when you want a graphical interface.
Confidential files — client drawings, tender documents, contracts: use only tools that work on your computer (PDF24 Creator, PDFgear, PDFsam Basic, Sejda Desktop) or in the browser without uploading (BentoPDF). An office that wants a shared tool can run Stirling-PDF on an internal server.
Sources
- TechRadar — Best free PDF editor of 2026
- Toolradar — Best Free PDF Editors in 2026
- Zapier — The 7 best PDF editor apps in 2026
- PCWorld — Best PDF editors: Premium, budget, and free options
- Beebom — 8 Best Free PDF Editors in 2026
- Coda One — 6 Best Free PDF Tools in 2026
- Contabo — BentoPDF vs Stirling PDF
- SoftwareTestingHelp — The 11 Best Free PDF Editor Tools in 2026
- AlternativeTo — iLovePDF alternatives
- AddictiveTips — 12 Best Free PDF Editors
All the tools in one place: free office and PDF software.