PDF tools / Edit PDF21 tools
Best tools to edit a PDF
Add text, images and whiteout boxes to existing pages. Facts come from each tool's own pages, and every score says where it comes from. How we rank
- Tools
- 21
- Researched
- 19
- Free option
- 12
- Only listed
- 2
Made by agathox · free, no sign-up, runs in your browser
Need Edit PDF right now? Try ours.
We build this tool, so it is labelled. It is scored with the same tests as the rest, and this box never changes the ranking below.
Ranked by signals we can measure or quote: website health, the facts each tool's own pages state, and community discussion. Nothing here has been hands-on tested yet, so this is not a quality test. How the signals rank works
Quick answer
- No signup needed: agathox PDF tools, PDF24 Tools, Sejda PDF, PDFgear
- Files stay on your device: agathox PDF tools
Based on what each tool's own pages say. A tool is left out when its pages say it varies or do not say. Details are listed under each tool.
Want two of these head to head? Compare tools side by side.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- Free to use. No paid plan and no limits on how many files you process.
- Paid plan
- There is no paid plan.
- Signup
- No account or sign-up is needed.
- Watermark
- Nothing is added to your files.
- Where files go
- Runs in your browser, so files are not uploaded. HTML to PDF asks our server only to fetch the web page you enter.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-10. Sources: Privacy page. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- No free plan for the editor is described. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial, and every subscription includes 300 free AI credits per month. Foxit PDF Reader is listed as free but not described.
- Paid plan
- PDF Editor $129.99/user/year; PDF Editor+ $159.99/user/year; perpetual Foxit PDF Editor 14 $209.99 one-time per user; AI Assistant add-on $49.99/year for 2,000 credits per month; volume licensing is custom. Billing can be annual, annual billed monthly, or monthly (from $10.99). Prices are subject to local taxes.
- Signup
- Not stated clearly. The trial needs no credit card. A Foxit account is needed for the education discount.
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- Per the privacy policy, files uploaded to Foxit cloud services are deleted after processing unless you choose to store them, and output files are typically deleted within one day. Azure OCR data is deleted within 24 hours. Servers are in the US, Germany, Canada, Australia and Japan. Processing by the desktop editor is not described.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-01. Sources: Pricing, Privacy policy. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- No ongoing free tier described. A 14-day free trial with no credit card covers PDF editing and eSign, with the page saying no features locked. Free online conversion tools are mentioned without limits.
- Paid plan
- Prices not shown on the fetched page. Nitro PDF Standard is per user per month billed annually; Plus is contact sales; Classic is a one-time payment for a three-year term (Windows only). Tax is added at checkout.
- Signup
- Trial starts through a signup page. Not stated for the free online tools.
- Watermark
- The page says the trial has no watermarks. Not stated for other cases.
- Where files go
- Not stated. The terms page points to the privacy policy and data processing agreement for data handling.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-01. Sources: Pricing, Terms of service. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Details and sources
Editing existing text is a paid feature.
- Free tier
- Limited access to basic features of 21 tools, with up to 2 conversions a day. The same limit applies with or without a free account. File-size and page limits are not stated.
- Paid plan
- Pro adds unlimited use of all tools, OCR, batch conversion, no ads and the desktop and mobile apps. The price is not shown on the official pages we could read.
- Signup
- Not required for most tools. Sign needs a free account.
- Watermark
- Says it adds no watermark, even on the free plan.
- Where files go
- Cloud-based: files are uploaded and deleted automatically after one hour for most tools. Its servers are in Ireland.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-10-31. Sources: Support, Pricing, Merge PDF. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- No free tier listed. A 7-day free trial with no payment required is offered.
- Paid plan
- In USD for one standalone license: Standard (Windows) $99/year, $267/3 years or $16/month; Corporate (Windows) $165/year, $446/3 years or $24/month; Mac $69/year or $186/3 years (no monthly option). The page does not say whether prices vary by country.
- Signup
- Product registration is required. Website purchases are managed through an ABBYY Checkout account tied to the purchase email.
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- The privacy policy says ABBYY processes data uploaded to its cloud products, with no storage location named. Document contents of on-premise products stay with the customer. The FineReader PDF Mobile app processes on the device by default. No retention period for uploaded documents is given. The desktop FineReader PDF product is not specifically described.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-01. Sources: Pricing, Privacy. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- Says all tools are free without restrictions and that there are no artificial limits. File-size limits are not stated.
- Paid plan
- No paid plan found. It says the service is funded by advertising.
- Signup
- No registration required.
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- Files are uploaded to PDF24's servers in EU data centres and usually deleted within one hour. The free PDF24 Creator desktop app works offline.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-10-31. Sources: Home, FAQ, Privacy policy. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- Not stated.
- Paid plan
- Not stated.
- Signup
- Not stated.
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- Users upload their PDF files online to use the PDFescape Online editor. The page says: “Go to PDFescape Online PDF Editor. . Upload your PDF files online. . Now you can add text, shapes or photos, your signature, or even edit and download PDFs to your needs with the tools.”
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-04. Sources: Home. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Read automatically by a program, not by a person. Each fact quotes the sentence it came from, and a fact is shown only if that sentence is on the page. Where a page did not say, it reads “Not stated.”
Details and sources
The free editor does not edit existing body text; that needs a paid plan. Signing in is required to download.
- Free tier
- Free tools with limits per tool, for example merge up to 100 files and 1,500 pages, split up to 1 GB and 1,500 pages, Word to PDF up to 100 MB, compress up to 2 GB with limited use. PDF to Word has a daily limit whose number is not stated.
- Paid plan
- Acrobat Standard from US$14.99 a month on an annual plan billed monthly, US$179.88 a year prepaid, or US$24.99 month to month.
- Signup
- Depends on the tool. Merge and compress say no signup; split, OCR and edit ask you to sign in to download; Fill & Sign requires it.
- Watermark
- Merge and PDF to JPG say no watermark. Not stated for the other tools.
- Where files go
- Files are uploaded to Adobe's cloud servers and deleted unless you sign in and save them. No retention time is stated.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-10-31. Sources: Online tools, Merge PDF, Pricing, PDF to Word. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- The pricing page recommends testing the free version before buying, but does not list its features or limits.
- Paid plan
- Perpetual licences in USD. Single user: Editor $62, Editor Plus $79, Printer Standard $58, PDF-Tools $89, PDF-XChange PRO $131. 3-user pack: Editor $168, Editor Plus $214. Maintenance is optional. Larger packs exist.
- Signup
- Not stated.
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- Not stated. The privacy policy does not say whether documents are uploaded or processed locally, or how long files are kept. It says AI features send data to a designated AI model.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-01. Sources: Pricing, Privacy policy. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Yes. The free version adds a trial watermark when saving edited, annotated, protected or organized documents.
- Where files go
- 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 the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-01. Sources: Pricing, Privacy policy. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- Free plan at $0: basic PDF editing, basic eSignatures, annotation of up to 3 docs, plus mobile and desktop apps. The limit is 3 docs per month; a doc counts once you share, download, print or sync it.
- Paid plan
- In USD: Starter from $9/month (10 docs per month); Pro $19/month per team (200 docs per month team-wide); Business $99/month per team; Enterprise is custom. All plans have a 7-day free trial. The page does not explain annual versus monthly billing and does not mention country-based pricing.
- Signup
- Not stated directly. The Free plan and trials link to a sign-up page.
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- Per the privacy policy, all Lumin servers are in the United States. Files are processed for tasks like OCR and compression, including with OpenAI and Google Gemini integrations. File copies are kept only if you upload, convert or share them. Account deletion removes files within 30 days of request, though another section says immediately.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-01. Sources: Pricing, Privacy policy. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- Not stated. The pricing page links to a free download but describes no free features or limits. The terms say that on installation you get a free license with limits on some features.
- Paid plan
- Yearly plan 7,200 rupees billed annually (iPhone, iPad, Mac). Lifetime plan 14,900 rupees one-time, Mac only. 30-day money-back guarantee. Prices are in Indian rupees; the page does not name a country. The education discount is shown as 30% off in the form and 50% off in the confirmation message.
- Signup
- Partly. The terms say you may need to register a personal cross-platform account, by email or Google or Apple sign-in. Not stated for the listed tasks.
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- Not stated. The terms say user content is processed securely and give no location or retention period. Users are told to keep their own backups.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-01. Sources: Pricing, Terms. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- Free for documents up to 50 pages or 50 MB, and 3 tasks an hour. Some tools are tighter: one file per task, 20 pages per conversion, 10 pages per OCR task.
- Paid plan
- A 7-day pass for $5 (one-time) and a yearly plan for $63 that includes Sejda Desktop. Paid removes the page and hourly limits and allows files up to 500 MB. We could not verify the monthly price.
- Signup
- No signup required.
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- Web tools upload files to Sejda's servers and delete them automatically after 2 hours, with encryption in transit and at rest. Sejda Desktop processes files on your computer.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-10-31. Sources: Merge PDF, Pricing, Privacy, Security. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- A free plan with limited document processing. The exact free limits are not stated on the pricing page; the terms say it may apply reasonable technical limits on file size and processing.
- Paid plan
- Premium: unlimited document processing, no ads, priority support. Prices vary by country; the page we read showed 242 INR a month billed yearly or 500 INR billed monthly. Check the current price where you live.
- Signup
- Not stated.
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- Files are uploaded to iLovePDF's servers and deleted automatically within 2 hours of processing.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-10-31. Sources: Pricing, FAQ, Terms. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Details and sources
- Free tier
- pdfFiller offers a free 30-day trial. The page says: “Free 30-day trial.”
- Paid plan
- Not stated.
- Signup
- Users must register an account to work on PDFs. The page says: “Register your account and start working on PDFs in minutes on any device.”
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- Not stated.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-04. Sources: Home. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Read automatically by a program, not by a person. Each fact quotes the sentence it came from, and a fact is shown only if that sentence is on the page. Where a page did not say, it reads “Not stated.”
- 17UnclearSignup unclearFile handling unclearHealth 3.8
Details and sources
- Free tier
- Not stated.
- Paid plan
- Not stated.
- Signup
- The interface includes a Sign In and Account Center option. The page says: “Sign In Account Center Sign out.”
- Watermark
- PDFelement allows users to add personalized watermarks to their documents. The page says: “PDFelement empowers you to directly edit text within PDFs, offers support for adding images, links, and personalized watermarks, enables seamless PDF merging, and provide additional functionalities for enhanced document control.”
- Where files go
- Not stated.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-04. Sources: Home. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Read automatically by a program, not by a person. Each fact quotes the sentence it came from, and a fact is shown only if that sentence is on the page. Where a page did not say, it reads “Not stated.”
Details and sources
- Free tier
- DocHub offers free access to premium tools without any time limits or hidden costs. The page says: “DocHub offers free access to premium tools without any time limits or hidden costs.”
- Paid plan
- Not stated.
- Signup
- Users must sign up to use DocHub. The page says: “BE READY TO GET MORE DocHub makes it easy to edit, sign, and share documents. Try, it`s free Sign up.”
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- DocHub ensures the security of your data with 256-bit SSL encryption, OAuth 2.0 authentication, and encrypted storage. The page says: “DocHub ensures the security of your data with 256-bit SSL encryption, OAuth 2.0 authentication, and encrypted storage.”
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-08. Sources: Home. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Read automatically by a program, not by a person. Each fact quotes the sentence it came from, and a fact is shown only if that sentence is on the page. Where a page did not say, it reads “Not stated.”
Details and sources
- Free tier
- Not stated.
- Paid plan
- Not stated.
- Signup
- Not stated.
- Watermark
- Not stated.
- Where files go
- Not stated for user files. The privacy policy covers only personal data from the website, with no retention period for files or documents.
From the tool's own pages, checked 2026-11-01. Sources: Privacy policy. Prices and limits change; check the tool before you rely on them.
Answers come from each tool's own pages (“Unclear” means they do not say). Tick “Compare” on two to four tools to read them side by side.
Also listed (2, not yet tested)
Each of these answered when we visited its site. We have not tested them or recorded facts, so they are in alphabetical order, not ranked.
- CamScanner Premium Membership StoreOpen
Convert PDF to Word, Excel, PPT, or JPG—and back—with CamScanner Premium. Higher monthly conversion limits for everyday document work.
- Jotform PDF EditorOpen
Jotform PDF Editor is listed for: edit pdf.
Other PDF tools rankings
Know a tool that should be here? Submit it.
Something wrong or out of date on this page? Tell us and we will fix it.