PDF tools / Compare
PDFgear vs UPDF
Both do 1 of the same PDF tools task. Below is what each says about its own limits and pricing, and how each ranks on signals we can measure or quote.
Disclosure: agathox makes some of the tools listed here. They are labelled and scored by the same method as every other tool.
A
PDFgear
Free PDF apps for desktop and mobile plus online tools, by PDF GEAR TECH PTE. LTD. (Singapore).
Signals score: 3.6 / 5 · not a hands-on test
Visit www.pdfgear.comB
UPDF
Create, edit, annotate, convert, translate, and sign PDFs with UPDF. Use AI to understand documents faster and work seamlessly across Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and the web.
Signals score: 3.9 / 5 · not a hands-on test
Visit updf.comPricing, limits and privacy
- Free tier
- A: Says it is free to use. The online editor is limited to 50 MB; the desktop app has no file-size limit. No daily caps are stated.
- B: Free version adds a trial watermark when saving. Free limits listed: 1 GB cloud storage with 10 MB per file, 2 file conversions per day, 5 OCR uses, batch processing of 2 files, AI assistant with 5 PDFs and 100 questions. The page contradicts itself on some limits.
- Paid plan
- A: No paid plan is listed. It says some advanced features may become paid in future, with no date set.
- B: UPDF Pro is a yearly auto-renewing plan or a one-time lifetime purchase, covering 4 devices. AI Assistant is yearly, quarterly or monthly. 30-day money-back guarantee. Prices for these plans are Not stated in the page text I could read.
- Signup
- A: Not required.
- B: Not stated. A pop-up says to sign in to get free access to some features, but it is unclear whether an account is needed for every use.
- Watermark
- A: Says it adds no watermark to merged PDFs or exported files.
- B: Yes. The free version adds a trial watermark when saving edited, annotated, protected or organized documents.
- Where files go
- A: Merge runs on your device in the browser. Some advanced conversions may be processed on Amazon cloud servers and deleted immediately afterwards. AI features send content to Microsoft Azure OpenAI only after you consent. The desktop app works offline.
- B: UPDF Cloud and AI features upload documents to UPDF Cloud, stored in data centers in the user's region. AI-processed content is said not to be used to train general-purpose AI models. Personal data is kept while the account is active. No retention period is given for uploaded documents. The policy does not say whether desktop editing is local only.
From each tool's own pages, checked 2026-10-31 (PDFgear) and 2026-11-01 (UPDF). Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them. Sources are listed on each tool's page.
Compare on a task
Neither tool has been hands-on tested on these tasks yet, and we do not guess. Open a task to see both ranked with every other tool.
- Only PDFgear: Merge PDF, Split PDF, Compress PDF, Sign PDF, Word to PDF, PDF to Word, PDF to JPG
- Only UPDF: OCR PDF
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