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 editors in 2023

The best PDF editors enable you to get even more done with PDF files but the real question is which PDF editor is best suited to your needs and workflow. 

Despite their finalized appearance, Portable Document Format files can be changed in the same way you alter a text document – you just need the right software. The best PDF editors let you open up almost any PDF file so that you can edit, alter, annotate, sign or convert it to other popular file formats including Microsoft Word. 

If you regularly work with PDF files as part of your job or in your free time then one of the best PDF editors will make things even easier for you. We’ve tested more than a half-dozen different options and these are the best ones for altering text, changing images and annotating PDF files. On a tight budget, these are the best free PDF editors.

1. Acrobat Pro DC

Best PDF editor for Windows

Cost: $240/year

Developer: Adobe

Compatibility: macOS, Windows

Category: PDF editor

Full-featured PDF editing and annotation tool

Excellent OCR

You'd expect Adobe Acrobat Pro DC to be great because it comes from Adobe, the birthplace of the portable document format. To some extent, this full-service PDF-editing application meets that expectation.

Acrobat Pro DC offers a complete set of PDF-editing tools, and it even lets you edit scanned documents. Acrobat DC's OCR engine can convert scanned documents to text, which you can then search through and change. 

But Acrobat doesn't allow you to convert an entire document the moment you open it. Instead, the app waits for you to begin using the Pro DC's edit tools, recognizing and converting the pages as you select them for editing. Changing text in an OCR'd document was simple and the results look great.

It's also easy to edit images and text in documents you haven't scanned. I was able to make changes to everything with zero issues.

What I don't like about Acrobat Pro DC is the interface. It feels like a half-realized demo of what the app could be. Editing tools surround your document, and the UI feels disorganized, offering few options for customization. 

Since it's designed to work on both Macs and PCs, Acrobat Pro DC looks like it belongs in neither environment. This doesn't make this program bad at what it's supposed to do; it just makes you feel like you're working outside your chosen OS.

2. PDF Candy

Best free PDF editor

Cost: Free

Developer: Icecream Apps

Compatibility: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, Safari

Category: OCR, PDF editing, file conversion

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OCR capabilities

Extensive features for converting, creating files

Solid layout tools for PDFs

Limited text editing features

Our pick for the best free PDF editor is PDF Candy, because it offers something many free options do not — an OCR feature for scanning text. You can't edit OCR'd text in this web-based PDF editor, but you are able to upload PDF files and extract text and create a text document, RTF file, or Word document in both .doc and .docx formats.

You can choose from 44 tools to create or convert PDF files. It's also easy to rearrange pages within a document, add watermarks, protect PDF files with passcodes, edit metadata within a PDF file, split or add pages to documents, and extract images. Actual text editing is pretty limited, the trade-off you make to enjoy a fairly feature-rich free PDF editor.

Once you've made your edits in PDF Candy, you can download the edited document or upload a new document to work on. PDF Candy keeps all of your documents in a queue so you can download them all at once after you've finished making changes to them.

3. PDFescape

Best PDF-annotation tool

Cost: Free; $36/year for premium account

Developer: Avanquest

Compatibility: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, Safari

Category: PDF annotation

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Free online PDF editing

No registration required

Web-based annotation tools are easy to understand and use

Extremely limited font options when you add text

Desktop version requires a subscription

PDFescape is a basic, web-based PDF-editing and -annotation program you can use for free to work on PDF documents that are smaller than either 10MB or 100 pages, whichever is greater. (PDFescape used to limit you to 50 pages, so the higher limit is a welcome change.) If you need to edit larger files, you can upgrade to a premium account for $36 a year. There's also an "ultimate" plan for $72 per year.

Accessible through any modern web browser, PDFescape offers no OCR capabilities like PDF Candy does. But PDFescape's annotation tools are easy to use. You'll find a pretty solid set of standard annotation tools that can easily add, highlight and strike through text; insert notes; and otherwise mark up the pages of your PDF file. Using the web app's insert tools, you can also add new images and text to a document, white-out text, and add web links and form fields.

PDFescape does have some major limitations in adding new text. Because there are no OCR capabilities, you can't make changes to existing text; you're limited to adding new text to an existing document. Additionally, the app has very limited font options, as it doesn't use any of your computer's fonts. So you're limited to Arial, Courier New, Times New Roman, Verdana and a Signature font for signing documents.

4. Apple Preview

Built-in PDF annotation for macOS

Cost: Free with macOS

Developer: Apple

Compatibility: macOS

Category: PDF annotation

Excellent annotation tools

Easy-to-use signature capture

Markup features are often available in other apps

Locating annotation tools not obvious

Mac only

Apple's Preview app is built-in to macOS and offers a minimalist but valuable set of tools for marking up any PDF file. You won't find full-on PDF editing here. But if you need a basic set of tools for highlighting or redacting text, making notes, or adding comments to a document, you won't likely need much more than what's already available on your Mac.

Preview's markup tools are hidden when you first open a PDF document. To see them, you'll have to look for the small pencil icon that appears near the Spotlight search bar at the top of your PDF document's toolbar. Clicking this reveals a small set of tools you can use to select text and add objects, text or notes to your document.

The app's standout feature is a signature tool you can use to store a signature you create using your trackpad or scan using your Mac's camera. You can then easily add that signature to a document by clicking Preview's Signature tool. Simple and easy to use once you set it up, Preview's signing feature will prove its usefulness every time a digital document requires your John Hancock.

You can access all of Preview's editing tools without opening Preview, as long as you're running macOS 10.14 Mojave or later. Just use QuickLook to view a PDF, then click on the Markup button in that mode.

5. PDF Expert

PDF editor with the cleanest interface

Cost: $80 one-time license purchase

Developer: Readdle

Compatibility: macOS

Category: PDF editor

Clean, easy-to-use interface

AI-powered Enhance feature

Editing tools appear when you need them and hide when you don't

Difficulties with larger files

Mac-only

Readdle's macOS-only PDF Expert is a popular PDF-editing tool that allows you to make changes to text in existing PDF documents by removing and replacing images, updating text, and adding text of your own. PDF Expert lacks OCR capabilities, so if you want to edit text in scanned documents, you'll need to look beyond this program.

Of all the apps I tested, PDF Expert has the cleanest interface and therefore was the most pleasant to use. Two tabs appear at the top of the screen: Annotate and Edit. Clicking one of them gives you an appropriate selection of tools to perform either annotation or editing tasks.

PDF Expert's editing tools are flawless. Click text in your PDF, and tools for editing text will slide out so you can make changes. Select an image, and tools for changing the image appear. You can move selected text anywhere on the page you want or remove it altogether.

PDF Expert struggles with large documents; otherwise, this would have been my top pick for Mac. However, every time I attempted to open my nearly 450-page test file, PDF Expert hung. Until this program behaves more dependably, look elsewhere if you tend to work with larger documents. There's also a Windows version in development and you can sign up to get notified when it's ready.

6. PDFelement Pro

PDF editor with some quirks

Cost: $130/year

Developer: Wondershare

Compatibility: macOS, Windows, iOS, Android

Category: PDF editor

Opened and recognized text in every document

1 GB of cloud storage included

Lifetime license available

Bizarre text-editing behavior

Wondershare's PDFelement Pro is a full-featured PDF editor with an OCR engine for recognizing scanned text and a standard set of tools. With those, you can fill in forms, annotate documents, create and add signatures, and edit images within a document.

PDFelement had no problem opening anything I threw at it, including scanned documents, large files and image-heavy PDFs. Once documents are open, PDFelement Pro offers a fairly simple interface, with a set of tools on the left side of your document that are easy to figure out. Just select a tool, and you can go to work making changes to a file.

Editing images, adding signatures and using annotations in the application all worked as planned, but I did experience some odd behaviors when I was editing or adding text using PDFelement Pro. In particular, when I was editing existing text in a document, the application wanted to make the text bold and would not allow me to change the content back to regular text. Also, when I added new text boxes, my own text did not display normally; the program always added a space after I typed an apostrophe. And the program constantly played my Mac's system beep as I typed. That's both annoying and not optimal.

7. Sejda PDF Desktop Pro

A PDF editor with too many limitations

Cost: $63/year

Developer: Sejda

Compatibility: macOS, Windows

Category: PDF annotation

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Can edit text, though on a limited basis

Can add images and annotate your documents

Paid weekly pass available

Very limited features

Paragraphs are treated as individual lines of text

Cannot remove or edit existing images

Sejda is a web-based PDF-editing application that works on any OS that has a modern web browser. A desktop version converts that web interface into something that runs on your computer. 

You can use a free version of Sejda, but it limits the number of daily tasks you can perform and the size of the documents you can access. 

To get the most out of the program, you can buy an annual license for both the web and desktop versions for $63. You can also buy a weekly pass for both versions for $8 if you've got a one-time project that requires Sejda.

Sejda has no OCR engine, so you can't use this app to edit PDF files created from scanned documents. You can edit only PDF files that already have selectable text.

To edit your PDF file, you upload it to the Sejda website and then use the toolbar at the top of the page to choose your tools. You'll find tools for editing text, adding links, adding form fields and images, and signing or annotating your document. All of Sejda's tools are rudimentary at best. 

The app breaks every line of text in your document into a single text entry, so you can't edit entire paragraphs of text. When you do edit existing text, remnants of the previous text often get left behind in the document. Sejda will let you add new images to a document, but you can't use the app to edit or remove existing images.

Sejda isn't a great app, but it works in a pinch when you need to make a quick change to an existing PDF document and you have no other tools at hand.

The first question you should ask yourself when choosing a PDF editor is what you plan to do with it. If it’s just to mark up documents and add digital signatures, PDF annotation software will better suit your needs.

As there are many well-featured PDF annotation programs that are available for free, you can save yourself some money. For instance, as we mentioned, Mac users can save even more time since the Preview app that ships with Apple’s computers includes markup and signature tools.

It also doesn’t cost much, or even anything at all, to create a PDF. You can do so from a Word document or a web page, and also convert a PDF to a Word doc or a JPEG.

However, if you’re in the market for a full-fledged PDF editor that lets you manipulate text and create documents, consider what kinds of features you’ll need for PDF editing. Applications with good OCR capabilities will likely cost more but if you don’t need OCR, you may be able to make do with a free PDF editor.

While PDF editors are great for making changes or notes to documents, they’re not necessary if you simply want to view and read a PDF. For that, check out our list of the best PDF readers you can download. 

We looked at both PDF editors and applications used for making annotations in PDFs. Every PDF editor can also annotate documents but dedicated PDF-annotation tools aren’t actually designed to make changes to any of the original content in a PDF document.

While testing each of these applications, we used a few different types of documents including large, text-heavy files, documents with a mix of formatted images and text and simple documents with text and images inserted into the document in a linear fashion. We tested features like text recognition (when supported) and we tried making changes to text, replacing and adding images and adding annotations.

For more on our testing procedures, check out this guide on how Tom’s Guide tests, reviews and rates products. 

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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.