By skyforbes 
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.
Every app in this round-up has been extensively tested to explore how the tools and workflows compare with paid-for alternatives. But most importantly, we’ve checked that each one has a free-to-use option with no hidden charges.
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Best free PDF editor overall
PDF24 Creator is our pick for best free PDF editor overall. This is free Windows-only software designed to help you work with PDFs. You can do most of what other paid-for software allows you to do, which is fantastic, especially if you’re on a budget. Yes, as you’d likely expect, the very advanced features from some of those paid apps aren’t present, but those only comprise a tiny portion of what you need to do with PDFs.
You’ll find the interface is very minimalist, and it can be a pain having different layouts for different tools, but if you use the software regularly, you’ll quickly get used to its quirks.
The biggest drawback is the fact it’s Windows only, although there is a workaround for that too: click here to access all the tools online, from any device, even an Android or iOS phone, except of course, you’ll have to upload your files to work on them, and you need a constant internet connection.
Read our full PDF24 Creator review.
Best free PDF editor online
PDF Candy is ideal if you want a free online PDF editor and a way to edit PDF files in your browser. In our tests, it proved an excellent online and desktop tool (Windows only for the latter), that allows you to work with PDF files in a variety of ways. The interface is impeccably designed, making use of all available tools a breeze, and there’s a lot you can do with it, from converting files to and from PDFs, to editing PDFs, including altering their existing content, to being able to sign and fill in forms, password protect documents, and more.
It says it’s free, but that’s only true to a certain extent: you can use all available tools, but are limited to one task per hour. Which may be great if you’re the slowest worker, but far from ideal for the rest of us. Still it’s a good way to entice you to pay to lift all restrictions. Your options are currently $6 monthly, $4 per month on a yearly contract, or $99 for a perpetual licence.
Read our full PDF Candy review.
Best free PDF editor for Android and iPhone
SmallPDF is both an online service and a downloadable app (for Windows, iOS and Android – sorry, Mac users). As with other such services, you can access it with a subscription, whose cost depends on whether you’re an individual or a business. ‘Personal’ will cost you the equivalent of $9 a month on a yearly contract, or $12 on a month-by-month basis. ‘Team’ is for two to one hundred people, and will cost $7 or $10 respectively per account. Choosing ‘Business’ gets you a bespoke price. There’s also a limited free plan, and a 7-day free trial.
The tools available allow you to perform anything you need to a PDF, from splitting and merging files, to signing and redacting documents, and even editing the original content of a PDF. The interface is easy to work with, although it can be a pain switching between tools when you need to perform multiple actions on a single document.
There are restrictions, as you’ll find in many of the best free PDF editors. Chiefly, you’re locked to two tasks per day – so a fully free tool like PDF24 Creator or Canva might be a better choice for more consistent use. Alongside a web PDF editor and Windows desktop app, users can also install the PDF editor on Android and iOS phones.
Read our full Smallpdf review.
Best free PDF editor for signatures
If you’re looking for a free PDF editor with signing capabilities, DocHub is worth considering. When we went hands-on with the software, we described it as “a true gem, delivering comprehensive functionality without burdening users with unnecessary expenses.”
The free plan has limits, but it’s relatively generous if you’re only a casual user. You’re allowed 2,000 documents, five eSignatures, three sign requests, and three email attachments per day. The pro plan, which costs $10 per user per month, lifts these restrictions for unlimited document editing. Subscribing also adds a handful of features and tools, like a wide font library and the ability to add drop-down menus to PDFs.
During our time with DocHub, we found it intuitive and easy to navigate, with a good line in security for businesses. You’ll find an excellent page manager, where you can rearrange, label, rotate, add, or delete pages – just right click for all the options. And field creation was equally wide-ranging, letting you add extras like text boxes and legally binding signatures. Sharing and collaboration tools, ensuring you get documents signed by others, are also plentiful.
But it’s not as feature-filled as dedicated PDF editors, and on the free plan, you’ll only have access to three basic fonts – Courier New, Times New Roman, Helvetica. But for getting your documents signed, it’s absolutely up to job.
Read our full DocHub review.
Best free PDF editor for designers
Canva PDF Editor is one of those online services that allow you to open any PDF document and work on them. What sets this one apart from the others is the number of tools available which are available for free. The most impressive of which is the ability to alter a document’s existing content: you can move pretty much anything around, edit the text, change the style, font, colour, replace an image, delete a section, it’s all up for grabs.
Canva PDF Editor also comes with a slew of templates and elements you can insert into your document.
Like with most free PDF editor tools, there are limitations. Some can be alleviated by getting a subscription which will unlock certain premium features, but other, more advanced tools will still be lacking. If you’re looking for a way to sign a document, track it as you send it to recipients, or perform OCR on it, then sadly, you’ll need to look elsewhere.
Read our full Canva PDF Editor review.
Best free PDF editor for minor edits
As its name suggests I Love PDF is designed to help you work with PDF files or convert other documents to and from that format, and it does this with aplomb. Most of the tools can be used for free – you don’t even need to create an account in order to start exploring its features. These include merging or splitting a PDF, annotating a file, signing a document, and so much more.
Premium tools are restricted behind a subscription wall ($48 per year, ie, $4 per month), and include the ability to edit a PDF’s existing content – which is ideal if you need to make some small changes to a document, like fixing a typo, rewriting a paragraph, changing an image, that sort of thing.
Paying customers also have the option of downloading software to work offline (for Windows, Macs, Androids, and iOS users). These who stick with the free option can only work through their web browser.
Read our full I Love PDF review.
Best free PDF editor for data security
Sejda is a good free PDF editor online. With it, you’ll find a large selection of tools which will allow you to make alterations to PDF documents, from the basics, such as reordering or deleting pages, to filling in and signing files, and redacting sensitive data. And you can do it all for free – within limits. For instance, you can only perform three tasks a day.
If you want to remove all restrictions, you need to subscribe to the service. One week will cost you $5, a recurring monthly contract will set you back $7.50, and for a recurring yearly one, that’s $63.
Sejda is very easy to use, and the online version even comes with detailed instructions on how to use each tool, which is great for newcomers. Sadly, although it’s rare to see a free service that allows you to edit a PDF’s existing content, there are some limitations in the way this service allows this, which can restrict your editing capabilities, especially if you have a lot of changes to make.
Read our full Sejda review.
Best free PDF editor for Mac
Apple’s Preview app is free, and as you’d imagine, only available on Apple devices like the MacBook. It’s designed to let you preview many different image formats, but its most interesting feature is its ability to view, interact with, and manipulate PDFs.
After testing our choice for best free PDF editor for Mac, we concluded that Apple’s product was a remarkably powerful editor, allowing you to perform what could be considered advanced content manipulation and note taking tools.
The basics are seamless: open a file, scroll through the pages, search for specific words, print the whole document, or just parts of it, fill in specific fields, add notes, it’s all there, and you can’t really ask for an easier-to-use PDF reader.
But Preview goes one better: you can manipulate PDFs files to a certain extent. There’s no text editing, but you can reorder pages, rotate them, and even delete them.
On the downside, despite being one of the best free PDF editors on the market, it lacks OCR tools. But most other functions should cater for most users. For custom PDF creation, you have the option of copying and pasting pages into new documents – as long as those original PDFs allow you to copy their pages.
Read our full Apple Preview review.
We tested the best PDF merger tools.
Best free PDF editor FAQs
What is a PDF editor?
A PDF editor lets you assemble a Portable Document Format (PDF) file from scratch, as well as amend the content of existing PDF files. The format was released by Adobe in 1993 as a way to standardize documents viewed across different platforms, devices, and screens. Most PDF editors come with the ability to convert, or batch convert, common file types such as Microsoft Office’s Word, PowerPoint, and Excel to and from the PDF format. You’ll also find more advanced tools like optical character recognition (OCR) software.
Are the best free PDF editors good?
Whether or not a free PDF editor is best for you will largely depend on how you’ll use it, and where. While there are some free PDF desktop apps that work offline, they don’t always feature multi-platform and mobile support. Many others are only available online in your browser. You’ll find some have extra features, complete with the best PDF merger tools and best PDF compressors for most home and office uses. But others are bereft of anything but the basics. So, it can be hit-and-miss. Free PDF editors can also impose usage limits, such as the amount of files you can import, or export, per day. As such, they’re often better for light users, or to get a taste for the tool. After testing out paid-for editors, we wanted to take a look at the good and the bad of the best free PDF editors to see what’s there and what’s not and whether a free PDF editor is a good alternative to a paid app.
Should I use a free PDF editor?
Free PDF editors are popular and good for general use, though they lack the advantages and features of paid versions.
Many free tools impose limits that can only be unlocked with a lifetime license or subscription. If you open and editor a lot of PDF documents, you’ll need to be selective choosing the best free PDF editor. This is one of the main reasons why we loved PDF24 Creator and if you’re a heavy PDF user, this is the one we recommend.
Most free PDF editing software, however, is fine for occasional or semi-regular use. If you don’t need a lot of features and fancy tools, there’s plenty of options out there.
Where businesses may hesitate in choosing a free PDF editor over a paid app is data security. It’s worth being aware of some of the reasons why organizations often tend to go premium in our guide 5 reasons why you should avoid free PDF editors
How do I edit a PDF for free?
All PDF editors are designed differently – although tools and layouts follow a similar pattern. We’ve covered several ways to alter documents in the most popular paid-for and free PDF editors with our guide How to edit a PDF.
We’ve also highlighted the best method in Sedja PDF editor in our guide How to edit a PDF for free.
Is there a completely free PDF editor?
PDF24 Creator is a completely free PDF editor. It’s free of charge, free of spyware, and it’s our pick for best free PDF editor overall. But there are loads of top free PDF editing software depending on your needs and device/platform – many also include paid-for upgrades for premium features.
Does Windows 10 have a free PDF editor?
Windows 10 and 11 don’t include a built-in free PDF editor. You’ll need to download a third-party app to create and edit any PDF files. However, like most browsers, Microsoft’s Edge browser features one of the best free PDF readers. It’s a little basic, but ideal for quickly viewing, commenting, and highlighting documents online.
How to choose the best free PDF editor for you
Trying to decide which free PDF editor is best for you? Free PDF software tends to be less feature-filled than premium counterparts like out Editor’s Picks. But there are a few features to look out for.
Document editing
Make sure you can edit documents. We’ve tested plenty of the best PDF readers Windows and the best PDF readers for Mac, and while some let you modify a document, they don’t offer full editing capabilities. You don’t want editing software that won’t let you design a document from scratch.
Collaboration tools
PDFs are essential in digitally minded organization – so check your free PDF editor has tools for sharing, commenting, leaving notes, and making annotations to documents.
eSignatures
With uses from HR to sales, digital signatures are fast becoming business-critical. Some of the top-rated free tools include the best eSign software for collecting and securely storing legally binding signed documents.
Converter
A really good free PDF editor will include conversion tools, letting you change a filetype from or to an editable PDF document. We’ve hand-tested everything from the best Word to PDF converters to the best PDF to AutoCAD converters, and we know how useful this feature is for all kinds of workflows.
Cloud storage
Reducing and saving storage space is one of the big benefits to PDF documents, so it’s worth checking whether the best cloud storage is integrated into the platform. This will mean you can easily and securely access and share documents from connected devices.
Optical character recognition
Optical character recognition (OCR) may be a nice-to-have for some users, but it will be essential for anyone with too many paper files unsecured and taking up space. When a free PDF editor has the best OCR software equipped, it can scan and convert paper documents into digital documents, making them easy to securely store.
How we test the best free PDF editors
We’ve tested a host of PDF apps, including the best PDF readers for Android and the best PDF to PowerPoint converters. We take the same user-centric approach to all our testing, reviewing, and rating. We’ve looking for seamless user experiences, clear signposting, documentation, and support. We’re also looking for toolkits that match the workflows of intended users.
To test for the best free PDF editors, we first set up an account with the relevant software platform, whether as a download or as an online service.
We then tested the service using a handful of PDF files to see how the PDF editor could handle editing not just text, but also images, as well as tables imported from Microsoft Excel.
The aim was to push each software platform to see whether it could simply and easily not just edit a range of content types but also do so faithfully and consistently without introducing formatting issues or similar problems.
Read more on how we test, rate, and review products on TechRadar.
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