For a number of years, we have worked hard to improve the quality of our website into one of the best rated sites for PDF editing. This includes a very friendly interface with our team that is always available and ready to help you with any questions that could come up along the way. Best Free Pdf Editors Online are the top picks of our website when it comes to balance between ease of use and functionality.
pdf files are a very good way to transport and store your information. This files are very popular in the market because of their ability to work and compatibility with almost all the softwares. Some pdf editors online and pdf editors for pc are offering a lot of useful features and format compatibility but some are not giving you full access to files especially for educational purposes.
If you’re looking for the best free pdf editors online, then you’ve found the right place. We’ve picked out free online editors that you can use and they are all available to download at the bottom of this page.
Finding a non-expensive pdf editing program to make your life easier doesn’t have to involve reading through a bunch of poorly written reviews on the internet. The constant bickering about how different file extensions work, which ones are trustworthy and which ones aren’t, doesn’t help if you’re looking for something to edit your pdf files in the first place. So, I’m going to save you some time and give you the best pdf editing app reviews out there.
When Would You Need to Edit PDFs for Free?
As the world becomes more digitally transformed, it’s inevitable that you will come across PDF documents in the course of a normal day – invoices, contracts, eBooks, bank statements, credit card statements, tax forms, insurance forms… these are just some of the examples of the widespread use of PDF. Here are several use cases where you’re not a regular PDF user but still need a robust and free PDF tool to deal with the task at hand:
- Filling out interactive PDF forms
- Signing a document and sharing it online
- Making annotations on a project document to provide feedback
- Marking up a file for corrections
- Adding or deleting texts and images for proofreading.
For the above common PDF usage scenarios, it will be easily realized by using a PDF editor, such as Wondershare PDFelement – PDF Editor, an all-in-one PDF Solution, making you can edit pdf files with ease. For example, it helps you add, delete texts, images, watermarks, background, forms, and so on. It’s compatible with Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android systems, and you can try it for free. Also, if you want to use an online PDF editor, here are some options for you below. You can choose the right PDF editor based on your need.
PDFelement
What We Like
- Lets you edit the PDF’s text directly.
- Supports adding images, links, and custom watermarks.
- The background of the PDF pages can be edited.
- Headers and footers can be included in the PDF.
- Supports combining several PDFs into one.
- PDF pages can be cropped.
- Can insert, extract, delete, and rotate PDF pages.
- Editing embedded forms is easy.
- Can password-protect the PDF.
What We Don’t Like
- Free version places a watermark on the PDF.
- Requires large OCR feature download.
- Must log in to save the document.
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.
Foxit Phantom PDF Software to Edit PDFs
This is another PDF text editor capable of editing your PDF files in Windows systems. Apart from the editing feature, Phantom PDF can also perform other functions, including merging and splitting PDFs, annotating and sharing PDF files, creating PDF forms, and converting PDFs to other file formats. What’s more, you can also add encryption to PDFs, redact PDFs, and sign PDFs.
Pros
- Provides a trial of 14 days to customers to try it out.
- With the OCR function, users can work with scanned PDFs.
Cons
- The trial version has limited features.
- The user interface of this PDF text editor isn’t as easy to use.
Price: It comes in three versions: standard, business, and education. The standard version is $159 in a one-time payment.
System Support: It supports all Windows systems as well.
AbleWord PDF Editor
This PDF reader and writer may not be as well-known as software, but it still made it on our list of the best free PDF editor tools for windows. It is also a word processor, which means that you can edit files easily like you would with a word document. AbleWord supports reformat images, add or edit headers and footers, and tables, among other useful functions. It also includes spell check and other functions.
Pros
- It is easy to use and also free.
- It also supports some Microsoft Word features.
Cons
- It has limited features.
- Its output is not as good as some other top PDF editors.
Price: This is a free PDF editor. Just install and use it.
System Support: It can be used to edit PDF on Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows XP.
Nuance Power PDF Program to Edit PDF
The Nuance Power PDF editor for Windows can convert, annotate, edit and add encryption on your PDF documents. As another best PDF editor software, this PDF editor also boasts unique features such as voice note recognition technology. This makes it possible to add notes to your PDF files by simply speaking them instead of typing them out.
Pros
- Offers the ability to edit, convert and perform many other functions.
- Comes with voice note recognition technology.
Cons
- More expensive in comparison to other PDF editing alternatives.
- The UI is not user-friendly as some other PDF editors.
Price: The price for Nuance Editor is a bit on the high side, likely due to the voice note recognition technology. The cost starts at $149.
System Support: It is compatible with all Windows platforms.
Ashampoo® PDF Pro 2
Best for editing, converting, merging, and creating PDFs.
Ashampoo® PDF Pro 2 Pricing: It is available for $29.99. It is a one-time payment. For home use, it can be used on 3 systems but for commercial use, it requires one license per installation. Its free trial is available to download.
Ashampoo PDF Pro 2 is an all-in-one solution for managing and editing PDF documents. It has functionalities to create, edit, protect, convert, and merge the PDF. You can encrypt the document if required.
It has functionalities for splitting up the PDFs into smaller documents and you can give a custom number of pages. It supports Windows 10, 8, and 7 platforms.
Features:
- Ashampoo PDF Pro 2 has functionalities for comparing two PDFs side by side.
- Its snapshot function will let you capture the perfect screenshot of PDFs.
- It provides a new & simplified text formatting dialog.
- It contains the auto-repair feature.
- Its toolbar will show the recently used page operations.
Verdict: Ashampoo® PDF Pro 2 will help you to create the right size documents for any device. It provides backward compatibility by supporting PDF 1.4. With its new menu structure, it is easier to use.
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC
Best for: Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is the overall best solution for creating detailed PDFs and Forms.
Price: Adobe offers a free trial for Acrobat Pro DC. It offers two pricing plans for individuals, Acrobat Standard DC (For Windows only: $12.99 per month) and Acrobat Pro DC: (For Windows & Mac: $14.99 per month). For businesses, there are two plans Acrobat DC for teams ($16.14 per seat per month) and Acrobat DC for enterprise (Get a quote).
Adobe Acrobat Pro DC can be used on any device. It can convert PDFs to MS Office formats. Acrobat Pro DC can edit, create, export, organize and combine files on mobile devices. In a few simple and easy steps, you can share PDFs and gather comments.
Features:
- Adobe Acrobat Pro DC has functionalities for creating and editing PDFs.
- It has features for converting, sharing, and signing PDFs.
- Mobile App has functionalities to annotate, sign, and share PDFs.
Verdict: Adobe Acrobat Pro DC will let you digitally track the progress and automatically archive the signed document. As per reviews, it has a complex interface.
Foxit PhantomPDF
Best for its capability to edit PDFs everywhere.
Price: Foxit PhantomPDF offers two pricing plans, PhantomPDF Business 9 ($159) and PhantomPDF Standard 9 ($129). A free trial is available for 14 days.
PhantomPDF has powerful editor capabilities. You can change the page layout by rearranging text boxes, resizing textbooks, etc. It will allow you to add stamps, watermarks, headers, footers, bates numbers, etc. You can crop, delete, add, swap, flatten, and rotate PDF pages.
Features:
- PhantomPDF provides features and functionalities for organizing and manipulating your PDF.
- You can merge PDF documents together or split PDF apart.
- It supports dragging-and-dropping pages within a document or from one document to another.
- You can make use of popular storage sharing products.
Verdict: Foxit PhantomPDF is an RPA-Ready PDF editor. It can be integrated with leading Content Management Systems.
Nitro Pro
Best for providing ease of use, fast speed, and high-quality OCR.
Price: Nitro is available in three pricing plans, Basic ($128 per user), Team (Get a quote), and Enterprise (Get a quote).
Nitro provides the platform to edit, convert, create, and design PDF files. You will be able to sign and share documents on the go with the help of Nitro Cloud. Its interface is similar to Microsoft Office so there will short learning curve.
Features:
- Nitro has functionalities for creating PDF from any printable format and for converting PDFs to Doc, XLS, and PPT.
- It has features for sharing and eSignature.
- This tool will provide advanced security.
- It provides features for building & filling forms, reviewing & annotating, and organizing pages.
- It provides features for sharing and storing PDF documents.
Verdict: Nitro is designed to help businesses by modernizing the daily document process. It makes 100% digital document workflows. It has a rich feature set and an intuitive interface.
Which Type of Free PDF Editor is Best for You?
Choosing a PDF editor is definitely not a job for the faint-hearted, and it’s because there are so many online and offline tools available for PDFs that it’s impossible to try them all. In general, HiPDF is one of the top recommendations for a free PDF editor online, but its sister product from Wondershare is an equally powerful contender in the desktop PDF editor category. If you want to narrow it down for a more robust user experience, then a free PDF editor for desktops is the category you want to pursue, and Wondershare PDFelement Pro is exactly what you’re looking for.
The Best PDF Editor for Windows – PDFelement
As one of the top-rated PDF applications available today for Mac and Windows, PDFelement is an award-winning product from one of the most prolific software development companies in the realm of productivity and creativity tools. The current version of PDFelement Pro is the result of several years of experience with earlier iterations and continual development through research, customer feedback, and other important channels. Here are some of the things that set it apart from the crowd of PDF editors on the market today.
- Attractive and intuitive interface that brings minimalistic design to a whole new level
- Clear and crisp labeling, iconography, page layouts, etc.
- Easy navigation despite being feature-rich
- Features include file conversion, editing, annotations, e-signatures, password security, forms management, OCR, page and file organizing, file size optimization, viewing, printing, sharing, batch processes, etc.
- Fast app launch and document open times
- Handles heavy workflows like a breeze
- Hundreds of free templates (Windows PDFelement Pro users)
- Integrated with Wondershare Document Cloud for PDF storage and bulk e-signature service
What types of content in PDF you can edit using PDFelement?
- Text – add, edit, and delete text, change the text font, color, align, line space, etc.
- Image – rotate, extract, replace, overturn the image, change its position and size.
- Link – add, edit, or remove the hyperlink and its appearances, such as color, type, highlight style, line style, and line thickness.
- Watermark – add watermark, edit its position, the proportion of pages, color, opacity, etc., or remove the watermark.
- Background – add and edit the background color and image or remove the background.
- Header and Footer – add or delete the page number, header and footer, edit their font,c color, position, style, page range, and so on.
- Bates numbering – add, edit, and delete text, change the text font, color, align, line space, etc. add and edit bates numbering, including the font, size, style, position, etc.
Conclusion
PDF is one of the best file formats which can be used to retain or share data across a number of platforms. You can use PDF document whether you want to edit it or view it, as long as your operating system supports the latest version of PDF standard.
Pdf editors have been becoming popular in recent years. The reason is that they are easy-to-use and can be accessed at the comfort of your home office, school or college. Instead of purchasing a software, you might want to try free pdf editors online first. There are very limited options for free pdf editing softwares. However, there are many websites that offer free pdf editors for free.