Best free PDF reader (June 2023)

The best free PDF reader apps are perfect for viewing documents, collaborating online, and making changes to your PDF files without any subscription charges or one-off fees. 

Using your browser is the easiest way to read a PDF online, but options are usually limited. To do more with your documents, both online and offline, it’s worth investing time in the best PDF editors, the best free PDF editors, or dedicated PDF reader software. 

PDF readers are the ideal solution for casual users looking for easy-to-use apps and platforms. Better still, the very best free PDF readers come equipped with plenty of tools for power-users. So, look out for features like free PDF to Word converters that put you in control of your documents. 

With plenty of options out there, it can be a challenge identifying which free PDF reader is best for you. To help you find the right tool for your work, we’ve tested out a range of options, exploring everything from performance with large files to cross-platform compatibility and integrated cloud storage.  

Best free PDF reader overall

Operating system: Windows, macOS

Multi-platform support

Handles large PDFs with ease

Tab view for multiple documents

Relatively large

Regular 'upgrade to Pro' ads

Some tools paywalled

Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is a free PDF reader software for Windows and Mac (with Android and iOS PDF reader apps available, too). And it's our top choice for best free PDF reader overall - although we found features one massive downside.

The top PDF viewer is designed with two purposes in mind: the first is to enable you to read and interact with PDF files (including adding annotations and even signing a document). 

The second is to convince you to upgrade to the paid version of the software (which, you’ve guessed it, has many more features, including the ability to create and edit PDF files).

If it wasn’t for the latter, Acrobat Reader would be a decent addition to your software library. It’s simple, easy to use, and comes with all the basic features you need to interact with PDF files. In our review, we reckoned that “Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is one of the best free PDF readers for anyone looking to view documents and manipulate them in some way.”

Sadly, the adware side of things is pretty much everywhere: you get ‘try now’ buttons, you’re offered to use powerful tools but later are asked to pony up some cash in order to actually use them, there’s even a ‘7-day trial’ button. If you can overlook this, it’s a great tool, but there are less obtrusive ones out there.

Read our full Adobe Acrobat Reader DC review

Best free PDF reader for wide platform support

Operating system: Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Citrix

Allows you to create PDFs

Safe mode disables Javascript

Lightweight download

Some features require extensions

Foxit PDF Reader is more than just a free PDF reader – you can also create PDFs from scratch using this software. Integration with Microsoft Office allows you to easily turn documents you’re working on into PDFs. Or, you can scan a document or image and turn it into a PDF using Foxit Reader. The only thing that’s lacking in the free version is support for optical character recognition in scanned documents.

The software can be a little intimidating at first, but it’s relatively straightforward to navigate. That’s thanks to the fact that it uses the same ribbon-style menu as Microsoft Office. Tools for editing, signing, highlighting, and commenting are fairly easy to access. You can also merge or split PDFs by downloading free add-ons for the software. 

Another advantage to Foxit PDF Reader is that it offers security. There’s a Safe Reading mode that allows you to automatically disable Javascript embedded in downloaded PDFs.

Note that with the software's latest update, Foxit seems to have removed its PDF virtual printer driver, meaning you can no longer use the software to create PDFs.

Read our full Foxit PDF Reader review

Best free PDF reader that's fast and lightweight

Operating system: Windows, macOS, Linux

Small download size 

Loads extremely quickly

Can convert file types

Slim PDF is the best free PDF reader if you’re looking for something incredibly lightweight. The software download is really small, so is the perfect choice if you’re limited by hard drive space. Plus, that means that it’s able to open and load your documents faster than most of its competitors.

In our review, we called it "a sleek, minimalist PDF reader that only takes up a couple of megabytes on your hard drive." The downside to this small size is that Slim PDF is pretty basic. You can search and rotate documents, but that’s about it. There are no tools for signing, filling, commenting, or highlighting, let alone multiple reading modes. While there is a menu option to convert a PDF to a Word document, doing this requires another software download. On the other hand, if your needs are similarly simple, the free PDF reader might just be the solution for you.

As a result, Slim PDF is truly just a PDF reader. It does a good job at this, though, leaving out the toolbars that can distract you from what you’re reading. If you frequently need to print PDFs, Slim PDF is one of the fastest and most simple options available.

Read our full Slim PDF review

Best free PDF reader that's feature-rich and packed with tools

Operating system: Windows, macOS

Touchscreen mode 

Plenty of annotation tools

Simple ribbon-style menu

No document signing or filling

The Nitro PDF Reader is another powerful free PDF reader in the vein of Foxit Reader and Adobe Acrobat DC. What makes this tool different is that it has a touchscreen mode that’s perfect if you’re working on a tablet. Touchscreen mode is especially nice for reading e-books, since you can flick the pages rather than scroll or click on a button.

While you can’t fill and sign PDFs with Nitro Reader, the software does a nice job of enabling collaboration. You can annotate documents with underlining and strikethroughs in addition to highlighting. Comments are also supported, and they appear like sticky notes that are easy to spot as you read through a document. Helpfully, the software also allows you to convert between PDF and other document formats.

The software has a ribbon-style menu that will be familiar to Microsoft Office users. The menu is pretty easy to navigate since there aren’t all that many options available in Nitro Reader. Overall, we found the app to be a remarkably powerful free PDF reader that's packed with handy features you'll use time after time, all presented in a clear, adaptable interface.

Read our full Nitro PDF Reader review

Perfect if you need a free PDF reader with built-in OCR

Operating system: Windows

Optical character recognition

Text editing

Splits and extracts pages

Watermarks documents

PC-only

Rather than just being a free PDF reader, PDF-XChange Editor is also a free PDF editing program for Windows. The interface is a little more complex than some others but gives you easy access to plenty of helpful features. 

For most users, the main reason to use PDF-XChange Editor is the fact that it comes with inbuilt Optical Character Recognition (OCR). This means that if your original PDF document is a photocopy, PDF-XChange will still recognize the text and allow you to edit it. Also, PDF-XChange Editor lets you reformat text, and even convert it into fonts that aren’t already loaded on your computer. 

You can use this platform to merge or split individual PDF files. The only serious downside of this powerful editor is that, if you haven’t signed up to the Pro version, a small 'Created with PDF-XChange Editor' watermark will be added at the bottom of any PDF files that you export. 

During our tests, we ultimately felt that while nothing stood out as incredible, there was also nothing that stood out as frustrating or annoying either. Under the right circumstances, it's a great product that has the ability to be your one and only PDF editor without any compromise.

Read our full PDF-XChange Editor review

Best free PDF reader for viewing only

Operating system: Web, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android

Cross-platform with apps for online, on Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android

Customer support is responsive

Plenty of editing tools

No sign-up to read PDFs

Full toolkit  requires subscription

Advanced tools may prove steeper learning curve than most

pdfFiller serves up a very simple free PDF reader experience. If your needs are basic, it’s quick and easy to upload your document and read it via your browser, or through the Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS apps. Not only is the PDF viewing process free, you won’t even need to sign up to read files. 

However, the platform is actually a full PDF editor, with plenty of additional features for document creation and editing like fillable forms, data redaction tools, online collaboration, digital signatures, and PDF converters. After a thorough review process, we ultimately felt that the platform is “a very versatile PDF document management system” for both personal and business use. 

When it comes to a straight PDF viewer, pdfFiller’s free service feels hobbled by the inability to do anything beyond reading files. You can tweak documents, but they’ll remain locked on your dashboard and unavailable as a PDF file. To really get the most from the service - and, to be fair, it offers a fair amount - you’ll need to subscribe to one of three monthly/annual subscription plans. Enterprise licensing is available, too, for teams of ten or more. 

Read our full pdfFiller review 

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

When deciding which PDF reader is best to download and use, first consider which parts of your PDF file you need to change. If you’re just trying to add information to a form digitally, you’ll only need a basic editor that supports text insertion.

However, if you need to change the content of a PDF substantially, you’ll require a more powerful PDF software program that can make modifications to text or images already stored in the file. In some cases, especially if you want to change almost all the content of your file, it may be better to use a fully functioning PDF Editor or even the best PDF to Word converter instead.

A PDF reader is a program used to open, view, and print PDF (Portable Document Format) files. First introduced in the 1990s, PDF files are an excellent way to distribute documents containing text, images, and various other media types.

Many modern browsers can read PDF files, but the best free PDF readers still have their place. These dedicated programs give users more ways to interact with the file and offer greater control over how the document appears on the screen.

PDF files were designed to appear and function the same on any piece of hardware, so you'll find PDF readers for Android and other mobile devices too.

Deciding between a PDF editor and a PDF reader comes down to how you'll use the software. PDF readers are primarily designed to view documents - although many include online collaboration tools like commenting, highlighting, and annotating content. Altering a PDF file is often limited to small edits and manipulation. A PDF editor lets you design and create documents from scratch and make large changes. They almost always include powerful tools for power-users, like built-in OCR software and digital signature tools. 

If you keep your computer secure and download PDF software from the official source, you should be well-protected. But, as with many free tools, there are always risks. We've outlined five common reasons why free PDF editors may not be right for your organization - and the issues can be similar with free PDF readers. We've also looked at the main differences between paid-for vs free PDF editors. 

The best free PDF readers feature plenty of tools for viewing and sharing PDF files - however, they're often slightly more limited compared to paid-for counterparts. In many cases, they offer a taste of how the software works, with upgrades and subscriptions that add more tools. If you're only reading PDFs on your computer or mobile device, a browser will likely meet your needs. If you're frequently in and out of documents, making minor edits, and sharing files, a full PDF reader will likely suit you best. 

We test the best free PDF readers against the factors that users care about - from the interface and experience to performance and platform availability.

We also assess each tool against its use-case. Some want a lightweight reader, others need one packed with plenty of other PDF utilities for professional use - so we look at how well the free PDF readers deliver for their intended audience. 

We also ensure that free means free - no hidden charges. Any subscriptions, lifetime licenses, and upgrade fees must be clearly signposted. 

As part of our overall testing process, we've also reviewed and rated free and premium platform-specific PDF readers.

+ Best PDF readers for Windows+ Best PDF readers for Mac+ Best PDF readers for Android

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Best PDF compressor (2023)

The best PDF compressors reduce file sizes for archiving or sharing - without documents losing any quality and resolution in the process.

PDF documents tend to be relatively small. They’re designed for sharing across multiple devices and users, after all. But once images and graphics are added, file sizes can grow, taking up too much physical and cloud storage space and making them too big to email. The best way to share these larger files is by compressing them, making them small enough to store and share easily. 

If you need to share or store files, the best PDF editors and best free PDF editors often include efficient PDF compression tools. To make your documents more manageable, we’ve tested the best PDF compressors online, on mobile, and on desktop. As part of our review process, we’ve explored PDF reducer speeds, platform availability, and pricing, with paid-for and free PDF compressors to suit all users and budgets.  

Best PDF compressor overall

Operating system: Windows, macOS

Plan: Subscription

Full suite of PDF tools included

Best-in-class compression software

Versatile and easy to use

Subscription-only

Features focused on professional use

Adobe Acrobat is our top choice for best PDF compressor overall. But then, perhaps it is not surprising that the inventors of the PDF would have one of the best PDF compressor software. 

When we dived into the tool, we were delighted to find a fully-featured PDF editor. Awarding it a rare 5 stars, "sometimes," we wrote in our review, "the best solution on the market has its reputation for a reason." It might be overwhelming (or even overkill) for casual users, but overall, we found Acrobat DC a top choice for serious users needing lots of advanced features. 

Going beyond simple file compression, Adobe Acrobat features several optimization tools that enable you to control the quality and file size of your PDF compression. A blurry and unreadable PDF is of no use to anyone. With Adobe Acrobat, you can be confident you’ll end up with a high-quality compressed file every time.

This isn't a budget PDF compressor - like most Adobe products, it requires a monthly or annual subscription to gain access to best-in-class tools. Businesses can purchase Adobe Acrobat Standard for Windows devices only, or Adobe Acrobat Pro for Windows and macOS.

For more details, see our guide How to try Adobe Acrobat for free or with Creative Cloud

Read our full Adobe Acrobat review

Best PDF compressor online

Operating system: Web, Windows, Android, iOS

Plan: Free, Subscription

Subscription includes full suite of PDF tools

Offline PDF compression

Several options for PDF compression

Free version available

Subscription unlocks extra features

UI can feel disjointed

SmallPDF is one of the most popular PDF compressors available, and justifiably so. More than merely a compressing tool, SmallPDF provides a suite of PDF tools that will surpass most businesses’ needs. 

While reviewing the software, we found it's "great for converting PDFs or for using one tool at a time. However, if you have a lot of different kinds of edits that require different tools, SmallPDF starts to show its weaknesses."

Although a 14-day free trial is offered, users will need to pay for a pro subscription if they want to continue using it. With a pro subscription, you will have access not only to online PDF compression, conversion, and merging, but also features such as e-signing, page rotation, and encryption. Premium customers can also download and use SmallPDF's offline PDF compression software. Offline software makes it even more straightforward to compress PDFs. 

We also like that SmallPDF provides numerous resources for businesses, explaining how the technology works and how you can make the most of it. For businesses, there could be few better choices for PDF compression than SmallPDF.

Read our full SmallPDF review

Best free PDF compressor

Operating system: Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android

Plan: Free, Subscription

Both free and paid products available

Premium subscription includes offline PDF compression

Freemium pricing model may not suit medium or large businesses

Web-based PDF compression is slow

Soda PDF is a high-quality, reliable PDF compressor that is free to use. It also offers a paid desktop application for businesses wanting a premium PDF compression solution. 

We were big fans of the tool when we reviewed it, calling it "a versatile, well-designed, online PDF editor with numerous tools to hand to make all the changes you need making to a document, from minor typos to pretty much starting from scratch."

The free online tool is easy to use and integrates with cloud storage platforms Google Drive and Dropbox for easy uploading. Compressed files retain most of their original quality and are easy to email or upload. If you’re looking for a free PDF compressor, it’s hard to go past Soda PDF. 

Although the online tool is useful and may serve many businesses’ needs without any need to purchase a subscription, we recommend the Soda PDF Business plan. Soda PDF’s premium product includes a full suite of PDF management tools, such as intelligent PDF compression, file encryption, and file format conversion.

Read our full Soda PDF review

Best PDF compressor for beginners

Operating system: Windows, macOS, iOS, Android

Plan: Subscription, Perpetual License

Both online tools and desktop application

Full suite of powerful PDF management tools

No monthly subscriptions, only annual

PDFelement Standard doesn’t include PDF compression

PDFelement is another powerful and reliable toolbox for all things PDF. It has an easy to use interface and offers a wide range of features, including uncommon features such as optical character recognition (OCR) conversion and optimization. However, when it comes to PDF compression, we’re a little disappointed. 

Although Wondershare’s PDF compressor works perfectly, it is only available with PDFelement Pro (the more expensive of Wondershare’s two PDF management products).

We would recommend PDFelement to businesses looking to invest in an integrated PDF management solution, as it’s one of the best. But if you’re only compressing PDF files on the odd occasion, then we’d recommend considering one of the cheaper or free PDF compressors. There are also no monthly subscription plans — you'll either have to pay for an annual plan or a bi-annual plan.

Read our full PDFelement review

5. PDF Compressor

Best PDF compressor for security

Operating system: Web

Plan: Free

Free

Available online as a web application

All uploads deleted after one hour

No optimization features

Processing can be slow

File size limits

PDF Compressor is one of the best free online PDF compressors. There’s no software to download, so you can use the platform directly from your web browser. It might not be the most attractive website, but having used the tool for years, we can confidently say it does what it says it does: compress PDFs. 

Although there are no options for optimizing compressed PDFs, we’ve found that compressed PDFs are still of a high quality. However, we’d make sure to check large documents before sending them. It’s also worth mentioning that PDF Compressor converts documents to and from PDF format, which can be a helpful additional feature for businesses. 

The company also claims to delete all uploads and conversations after an hour - a nice touch if you're concerned about your data falling into the wrong hands. 

There’s not much else to say about PDF Compressor. It’s free and it works The only real stopper to the workflow is the platform's file size limits, which we encountered with the 1.5GB document we tried.

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Before you choose the best PDF compressor, you’ll want to understand what your requirements are. If all you want is simple PDF compression, then a PDF compressor with a simple interface will be great. But your options will be quite different if you need advanced tools, like PDF editing and file converting. 

If you don’t need PDF compression often, then a free online tool would be a smart choice, rather than purchasing an entire app dedicated to compressing. Similarly, if you compress many PDFs regularly and want them to retain their quality, opting for paid software will be wiser.

If you're wondering 'Can PDF files be compressed?', the answer is yes. And the process is relatively straightforward when using any of the best PDF compressors in our round-up. 

A PDF compressor reduces the size of a PDF file so that it's easier to share and store. The best PDF compressors will compress files efficiently without lowering their quality too much. If you have a lot of files to store or share, or your PDFs contain images that demand their original resolution, PDF compressor software is ideal. 

Many of the best options offer PDF compression across desktop, iOS and Android apps, and online. Free PDF compressors tend to only offer PDF compression online. So, with the right tool to fit your workflow, you can reduce PDF file sizes wherever you're working. 

Most PDF editors - certainly the paid-for software - offer file compression tools for reducing PDF document sizes. However, it's worth considering whether you need all the additional features these provide, such as some of the best eSign software, OCR software, and the like. If you're constantly in and out of PDFs and creating or making changes to documents, then they're absolutely essential. 

To find the best PDF compressor, we evaluated many applications. We looked at basic aspects, like online or local availability, interface simplicity, and whether the software was free or paid. 

We analyzed the compression file limit, speed, and quality to identify which apps were compressing well without lowering the file quality excessively. We also considered the apps' additional PDF tools and compared their pricing models. 

For the paid applications, we checked if they were offering free trials and how comprehensive the trials were. We also assessed how much value for money premium PDF compressors offered. 

Beyond that, we also explored the overall design and user experience of each tool, checking how accessible and easy it is to use and whether navigation is intuitive.

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Ashampoo PDF Free: Edit, Create, and Manage PDF files on Windows 10

We recently talked about Ashampoo Burning Studio, which is still available for free, and now its time to talk about their professional but free PDF software, which is also available for free. PDF is actively used throughout the world, and one of the toughest parts is editing it. Not any more. Ashampoo PDF offers professional-grade software with features that can suffice the need for most of the consumers. I would strongly suggest downloading this right away if you do not have any PDF editor on your computer. Let’s talk about Ashampoo PDF Free.

Before I start, once you download the software, it will be activated using your Ashampoo account. You can use your email id to create one if you don’t have one. Your Ashampoo account will have the record of all Ashampoo products you have downloaded along with the activation keys. You can also download all the activation keys in PDF format.

Reading PDF is not a problem anymore. Most modern browsers support it out of the box. What is tough is editing it, deleting or adding pages, filling forms, and so on. 

These features are most useful for those who need to edit PDF documents now, and then, but even if you need to do it sometime, make sure you have this on the computer. Since this is the primary focus of the software, let’s talk about it first.

Any PDF file you open will be available to edit instantly. So if you are using this as a PDF reader as well, make sure to switch to View mode ( Edit > Work Mode > Viewing). Once you are through, switch to Editing mode.

When you click anywhere or drag on the PDF file, it will create a text box where you can write your text. You can change fonts, text size, alignment, line spacing, and even use a highlighter. You can increase or decrease the text box size as well.

When editing files, you have the option to “Revert to Saved.” If you are not sure if this is the editing you wanted as a final result, you can use it to go back to the last saved state.

The tool can also be used as a markup tool. If you mostly approve and point out the already created PDF tool, then use this. The markup tool offers. You can add comments, draw rectangles, circles, polygons, scribble to draw as you wish, line tools. Your name will be used, so if anybody else opens the PDF file, the person will be able to read all the comments.

If you want to add, remove, or extract pages from a PDF file, the tool offers those features as well. Open a PDF file, and then click on the Pages menu, and you have all those options. You can choose to add PDF after a particular page, first page, or last page. Once you are done with adding and remove pages, you can reorder them to what fits best.

Since the software is almost offering a versioning feature, you can choose the level of security for the document. Once you select the security level (Acrobat 3 to Acrobat 7), go ahead and set up password protection for the document. Along with this, you can add username, choose the level of editing, control print quality, copying extracting content, unlocking locked objects, and so on.

Download Ashampoo PDF Free from the official website.