The 13 Best Free PDF Editors (May 2023)

Use these PDF editors and online tools to change your PDF files absolutely free

Looking for a truly free PDF editor that lets you not only edit and add text but also change images, add your own graphics, sign your name, fill out forms, and more? You came to the right place: We've researched these types of apps to come up with a list of exactly what you're looking for.

Some of these are online editors that work in your web browser, so all you have to do is upload your PDF to the website, make the changes you want, and then save it back to your computer. That's ​the quick way—but do bear in mind that, typically, a web-based editor isn't as fully featured as its desktop counterpart, plus the file is exposed to the internet (which might be of concern if it contains sensitive content).

Because not all of these editors support the same features, and some are restricted in what you can do, remember that you can process the same PDF in more than one tool. For example, use one to edit the PDF text (if that's supported), and then put the same PDF through a different editor to do something supported in that program (e.g., to edit a form, update an image, or remove a page).

If you don't need to change the contents of the file but instead just need to change it to another format (such as .docx for Microsoft Word or .epub for an eBook), see our list of free document converters for help. On the other hand, if you have a file you created yourself that you want to save as a PDF file, learn how to print to PDF.

If you already own a modern version of Microsoft Word (2021, 2019, 2016, etc.), then skip all the suggested programs below: you have a great PDF editor at your disposal right now. Just open the PDF as you would any Word document, give the program a few minutes to convert the PDF, and then edit away. This also works in WPS Office and Google Docs.

Featured Link: How to Change a PDF to a Word Document

Don't want to work in Word? Then check out our list of favorites to find an option that better suits you.

Sejda PDF Editor is one of the very few PDF editors that actually lets you edit pre-existing text in the PDF without adding a watermark. Most editors only let you edit the text you add yourself, or they support text editing but then throw watermarks all over the place.

Plus, this tool can run entirely in your web browser, so it's easy to get going without having to download any programs. You can get the desktop version if you'd rather use it that way.

There are some differences between the online and desktop versions that you should know about. For example, the desktop edition supports more font types and doesn't let you add PDFs by URL or from online storage services as the online editor does (which supports Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive).

Another neat feature is the web integration tool that lets PDF publishers provide a link for their users that they can simply click to automatically open the file in this editor.

All uploaded files are automatically deleted from Sejda after two hours.

This tool works no matter which operating system you use. Sejda PDF Desktop runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Featured Link: EXTERNAL: Visit Sejda.com

You can use the online or desktop version to convert PDF to Word, and vice versa.

PDFgear is a full toolkit for doing pretty much anything you could want to do with a PDF.

Beyond basic PDF viewing and full text editing are options to add a signature, convert the file to other formats, extract text, annotate and insert your own watermark, rotate and delete pages, add a password, compress the PDF, and more. You can even present the PDF as a slideshow if you want to.

Something we really like is the Extract Text tool. It lets you highlight any part of the page to pull out text into an easily usable text box so you can copy that content. This is great for lists and other situations where selecting PDF text is usually difficult.

This program runs on Windows and macOS.

Featured Link: EXTERNAL: Download PDFgear

Featured Link: How to Use Canva

Canva is a very capable website for creating unique, high-quality designs. While you could create a project from scratch or a template, another way you can use its editing tools is on a PDF.

Unlike most free tools, Canva lets you fully edit text. Click into any text area to change what the text says and to adjust the font type, size, and color. You can also add hyperlinks to text and other objects, and special fonts are available to easily type out your signature.

Of course, because this is a full graphic design platform, it has a wealth of other tools so you can also edit images, add shapes, edit and build PDF pages, include charts, etc. If you have most of your media on another site like Google Photos or Dropbox, you can connect to those services to easily copy files into your PDF.

PDFs can't exceed 15 MB or 15 pages. When you're done, you can save back to PDF or choose from various image and video formats.

Featured Link: EXTERNAL: Visit Canva

PDF-XChange Editor offers some great tools, but not all of them are free to use. If you use a non-free feature, the PDF will save with a watermark on every page.

If you stick to just the free features, however, you can still do some editing to the file and save it back to your computer.

You can load PDFs from your computer, a URL, SharePoint, Google Drive, and Dropbox. You can save the edited PDF back to your computer or to any of those cloud storage services.

There are lots of features, so it might seem overwhelming at first. All the options and tools are simple to understand, however, and they're categorized into their own sections for easier management.

One nice feature is the ability to highlight all the form fields so that you can easily spot where you need to fill in. This is really helpful if you're editing a PDF with lots of forms, such as an application.

Many of the features are free (like editing the text), but some are not. If you use a feature that's not covered by the free version (you're told which ones aren't free when you use them), the saved PDF file will have a watermark attached to the corner of every page. There's a comprehensive list of all the free features on the download page.

Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7 users can install PDF-XChange Editor. You can download it in portable mode to use on a flash drive or as a regular installer.

Download PDF-XChange Editor

Inkscape is an extremely popular free image viewer and editor, but it also includes PDF editing functions that most dedicated PDF editors support only in their paid editions.

This is a very capable image editing program. If you're not already familiar with programs like GIMP, Adobe Photoshop, and other image editors, however, it's probably a bit advanced for you.

In the context of PDF editing, though, you should consider this software only if you want to delete or edit the images or text in the PDF. We suggest you use a different tool in this list to edit PDF forms or add shapes, and then plug that PDF into Inkscape if you need to actually edit the preexisting text.

You can install it on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Related: How to Make Text Adjustments in Inkscape

Download Inkscape

TinyWow is an amazing service with loads of free PDF tools, one of which is this editor.

All the functions you need are available here: Edit text, add text, highlight and blackout items, include shapes and checkmarks, import the date and time, upload images, and add your signature. You can also rotate, delete, and add new pages to your document.

Files can be uploaded from your device or your Google Drive account. All edited documents can be saved back to a .pdf file.

Featured Link: EXTERNAL: Visit TinyWow

FormSwift's Free PDF Editor is a very simple online option that you can start using without even making a user account (although, you'll need one when you save).

It's as simple as uploading your PDF file to the website and using the menus at the top of the page to quickly perform some basic PDF editing functions before downloading it back to your computer.

For example, you can add circles, checkmarks, and "x" icons over any text; easily type, draw, or sign on the file; and insert your own images.

When you're done editing, you can download the file as a PDF file, print it directly to your printer, or save as a .docx document.

The .pdf-to-.docx conversion didn't work for every PDF that we tried, but in those that did convert successfully, the images were formatted nicely and the text was fully editable.

FormSwift's Convert Images to PDF page lets you quickly edit or sign PDFs from your phone by taking a picture of a document. You can then share or download the PDF when you're done. It's not perfect: Most things done through a web app are spotty. It does work, however, with a little patience.

You can upload Word documents and images to FormSwift, too, if you need to edit those instead of a PDF. 

All operating systems can use this since it works online.

Featured Link: EXTERNAL: Visit FormSwift

Draw is LibreOffice's flowchart and diagram program, but it also lets you open and edit PDFs. Use the File > Open menu to select the PDF you want to edit, and then zoom up to the text to select and change whatever you want.

One of the neat things about editing PDFs with this program is that it's made for creating and manipulating objects, so you can just as easily edit non-text things, too, like images, headings, colors, etc.

When you're ready to save, don't use the typical save option; go instead to File > Export As to find the PDF option.

It works with Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Download LibreOffice

SimplePDF is a website with several PDF editing tools built specifically for editing and filling out PDF forms.

While you can't edit existing text like some of the competition, it does support adding text, as well as checkboxes, signatures, and pictures. This might be enough for you, depending on what you need from a PDF editor.

A few reasons we like this website so much are that it's not cluttered with ads, you can import a PDF from Dropbox or Google Drive, and saving your PDF is fast and easy without a watermark or user account necessary.

If there are multiple PDFs you want to merge into one document, SimplePDF can do that, too. You can also rearrange the pages, rotate them, and delete individual pages.

See the SimplePDF Pricing page if you need more features like unlimited submissions, custom subdomain support, email notifications, and more.

Featured Link: EXTERNAL: Visit SimplePDF

PDFescape has quite a lot of features. It's free as long as the document doesn't exceed 100 pages or 10 MB.

You can't truly change text or edit images for free using this editor, but you can add your own text, images, links, form fields, etc. 

The text tool is very customizable so that you can pick your own size, font type, color, alignment, and apply effects such as bolding, underlining, and italics.

You also can draw on the PDF, add sticky notes, strikethrough text, put white space over anything you want to disappear, and insert lines, checkmarks, arrows, ovals, circles, rectangles, and comments.

PDFescape lets you delete individual pages from the PDF, rotate pages, crop out parts of a page, reorganize the order of the pages, and add more pages from other PDFs.

You can upload your own PDF file, paste the URL to an online PDF, and make your own PDF from scratch. 

When finished editing, you can download the PDF to your computer without ever having to make a user account. You need one only if you want to save your progress online without downloading the PDF.

The online version works in all operating systems. There's also an offline editor that runs on Windows, but it isn't free.

Featured Link: EXTERNAL: Visit PDFescape.com

One of the quickest ways to add images, text, shapes, or your signature to a PDF is with Smallpdf.

This website allows you to upload a PDF, make changes to it, and then save it back to your computer, all without needing to make a user account or pay for any anti-watermarking features.

You can open files from your computer or your Dropbox or Google Drive account.

Importing shapes is possible if you want a rectangle, square, circle, arrow, or line. You can change the object's main color and line color, as well as the thickness of its edge.

Text size can be small, regular, medium, large, or extra large, but you can't change the font type, just the color.

When finished editing the PDF, you can decide where you want it saved; to your device or your Dropbox account. You can also generate a share link that anyone can use to download the PDF. Something else you can do is run the document through Smallpdf's PDF splitter tool if you want to extract the pages.

After editing one document, you'll have to wait several hours to keep using the site, or upgrade/pay.

This site works with all operating systems that support a modern web browser.

Featured Link: EXTERNAL: Visit Smallpdf.com

This website is incredibly simple, which is good or bad, depending on what you're wanting it to do.

We add this PDF editor to our list because it lets you easily sign your name on any PDF. There aren't any extra features that get in the way, it doesn't put a watermark on your document, and it's just overall very easy to use if you just need a quick way to add your signature to a PDF.

If you want to, you can also include your written name and a date.

Featured Link: EXTERNAL: Visit JustSignPDF.com

PDFelement is free, but with a major limitation: It places a watermark on every page of the document. That being said, the watermark is behind everything, so you can still see the content, and it's important to realize that it supports some truly great PDF editing features.

This program would be a truly free PDF editor if it weren't for the fact that the free edition will not save without first putting a watermark on every single page of the PDF.

Depending on what you'll use the PDF for, however, the features it supports might be enough for you to consider living with the watermarks.

When you're done editing, you can save back to PDF or any of the several other supported formats, including Word and other MS Office formats. To export or save, you have to have a Wondershare account.

Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS are supported.

Download For:

Android

iOS

Mac

Windows

PDF BOB is a free online PDF editor that requires no user account. Just upload your file, make the changes you need to, and then export it to PDF again to finish up.

There are several tools here, like a text option that lets you select a custom color and font type, an image picker, a colored pencil/marker, and a few shape tools.

It uses OCR to identify the text, so things like the strikeout and underline tool look great, and all you have to do is double-click the word you want to apply it to.

You can also use this website to delete pages from the PDF and add new ones to it. When you save, there's even a password option to secure the document.

When you're done editing, export to the PDF format or, if you log in, JPG and PNG. Files can be saved back to your computer or imported directly into Google Drive or Dropbox.

Although PDF BOB doesn't let you edit the PDF text, you can convert the PDF to a Word format to do so in a word processor.

Featured Link: EXTERNAL: Visit PDF BOB

How do I edit a PDF on Chromebook?

To edit a PDF on Chromebook, use a third-party app like Sejda, DocFly, or Soda PDF Online. Most Chromebooks do not come with a PDF editor app by default.

How do I edit PDFs on iPhone or iPad?

To edit PDFs on an iPhone or iPad, go to Files, open a PDF, then swipe from the left edge of the screen to open the thumbnail view. Press and hold a page to open the edit menu.

How do I make a PDF file?

To make a PDF file in Word, go to File > Save as > PDF. On Google Docs, go to File > Download > PDF Document (.pdf). On Mac Pages, go to File > Print > Save as PDF.

How do I combine PDF files?

To combine PDF files, use the Soda PDF Online merge tool. Select Choose File, choose a PDF > Open. Repeat for the second PDF and select Merge.

Best free PDF editors 2023: Our top picks

PDF editors are an indispensable tool for those who frequently work with PDF files. 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 software. 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 no additional charge.

Plus, free PDF editors are typically browser based, meaning you won’t need to worry about platform- or device-compatibility issues.

Of course, free products won’t come with every feature of their paid 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 one of the best premium PDF editors.

PDF Candy – Best free PDF editor overall

Pros

Cons

Price When Reviewed: Free

PDF Candy is the rare free PDF editor that offers a lot of the features you’d typically have to pay for. We’re talking scanning, multiple file-conversion options, and OCR functionality. While the free version has access to the expansive toolset of the paid version, you’re limited to one PDF task per hour. For unfettered access, you need to shell out $6 month.

Apple Preview PDF editor – Best free PDF editor for Mac users

Pros

Cons

Price When Reviewed: Built into macOS

Mac users have an excellent PDF editor built right into their operating system. Although its ostensibly a photo viewer, macOS’s Preview app is rife with PDF-editing capabilities including tools for adding text and shapes, redacting content, making freehand drawings, inserting sticky notes, and capturing your signature using your trackpad, camera, or iPhone.

Sejda PDF editor – Most versatile free PDF editor

Pros

Cons

Price When Reviewed: Free (Premium $7.50 p/m)

Offered as both an online tool and a desktop editor, Sejda is capable of performing dozens of tasks including editing, form creation and filling, Bates stamping, file encryption, and more. If the daily usage limits are too restrictive for you, you can upgrade to the affordable paid version.

While there are a number of different types of PDF file formats, they all fall under the umbrella term of PDF documents. A PDF form is a type of PDF document that has editable form fields a user can fill out. Typically, parts of the document are static and can’t be changed in a PDF form. These usually include questions and instructions for those who end up filling out the form later on. In a PDF form, the content fields a user fills out are typically open to editing and can offer a list of possible answer options or can be written in freely.

Yes. They are two entirely different document formats. While you can export from one file format to another, they are not the same. Word file formats are usually used for word processing, editing, and making changes to text. PDF documents on the other hand, are most often utilized for viewing, sharing, and printing documents. Additionally, Word files can be read and/or written to and contain some version of the “.doc” file format. Whereas PDF files are typically read-only and contain the “.pdf” file format.

Yes. If you have a PDF document that you do not want anyone else to be able to edit, you can protect the file. You can do this by opening the file in Acrobat, clicking Tools > Protect. Then you have a few options as to whether you want to just restrict editing with a password, or if you want to encrypt the file for further safety. Once you choose how you want to protect the PDF document, you can set a password and save.

Yes, many free PDF editors such as our top pick PDF Candy, allow you to merge two or more PDFs into one. As most free PDF editors are browser-based, you will just need to open up the PDF editor application or website in your browser and click the “Merge” option. It will then ask you to add the files of all PDFs you wish to merge. Once the files have been added, just make sure that they are in the correct position and alignment you want before proceeding with the merge. Afterwards, all of your previously PDF files will be merged together into one new PDF document.

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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