Alternatives to PDFgear
Free full PDF editor with AI
PDFgear ranks #5 of 13 in PDF tools, with an Alt Score of 82. It is proprietary, free and available on Windows, macOS, iOS and Web. 10 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.
Anyone who needs to view, edit, or convert PDFs without paying for software — students, professionals, and small businesses looking for a free alternative to Adobe Acrobat.
A free PDF toolset covering editing (text, images, forms, signatures), annotation, and file organization (merge, split, page management). It converts PDFs to and from Word, Excel, PPT, TXT, and JPG, includes OCR for scanned documents in 30+ languages, and offers ChatGPT-powered summarization and Q&A over document content.
Available as free desktop apps for Windows and Mac, mobile apps for iOS and Android, and a browser-based tool, with no account registration required. Users open or upload a PDF, apply the desired editing, conversion, or AI feature, then export or save the result.
Why people leave PDFgear
Dashed reasons are sourced facts; the rest are opinions. Vendors can dispute.
Sign in to add a reason — new reasons go through moderation before appearing.
Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
Feature comparison
Rows come from the PDF tools checklist (14 rows). Human-verified cells only. ? means the value has not been verified.
| PDF tools checklist | PDFgear | Foxit PDF Editor | Nitro PDF | UPDF | PDF-XChange | Adobe Acrobat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | ||||||
| Starts at | ||||||
| License | ||||||
| Platforms | ||||||
| Edit text & images | ||||||
| Annotate & comment | ||||||
| Fill & sign forms | ||||||
| OCR | ||||||
| Merge / split / compress | ||||||
| Redaction | ||||||
| Batch processing | ||||||
| One-time purchase option | ||||||
| Runs offline | ||||||
| Self-hostable |
Every fact and feature listed for PDFgear is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
-
License Proprietary verified 2026-07-11
PDFgear when purchased or downloaded through the Services, is licensed to You for use only under the terms of this License Agreement. The Licensor reserves all rights not expressly granted to You.
https://www.pdfgear.com/end-user-license-agreement/ -
Pricing model Free verified 2026-07-11
Read, edit, convert, merge, and sign PDF files for completely free and without signing up.
https://www.pdfgear.com/pdfgear-for-windows/ -
Platforms Windows, macOS, iOS, Web verified 2026-07-11
PDFgear app is available on Windows 10, Windows 11, and macOS, and iOS. There is also a web-based version that works on any operating system with a modern web browser.
https://www.pdfgear.com/pdf-editor-reader/ -
Status active verified 2026-07-11
Version 2.1.15 April 8, 2026
https://www.pdfgear.com/whats-new/ -
Edit text & images Yes verified 2026-07-11
Editing PDF is as easy as editing Microsoft Word.
https://www.pdfgear.com/all-features/ -
Annotate & comment Yes verified 2026-07-11
customizable comments and annotations
https://www.pdfgear.com/all-features/ -
Fill & sign forms Yes verified 2026-07-11
You can easily sign a PDF file by typing, drawing, or uploading an image of your signature.
https://www.pdfgear.com/pdfgear-for-mac/ -
OCR Yes verified 2026-07-11
PDFgear Desktop OCR is completely free to use
https://www.pdfgear.com/ocr-pdf/ -
Merge / split / compress Yes verified 2026-07-11
Combine multiple PDF documents, images, or Microsoft Word documents into one multi-page PDF without losing quality.
https://www.pdfgear.com/pdf-combiner/ -
Redaction Yes verified 2026-07-11
It performs true redaction, permanently deleting text or images from the file instead of just covering them with a black box.
https://www.pdfgear.com/pdf-editor-reader/how-to-redact-a-pdf.htm -
Batch processing Yes verified 2026-07-11
with the native support for batch conversions, PDFgear allows you to convert multiple PDF files at one go, with custom page range settings.
https://www.pdfgear.com/pdf-converter/ -
One-time purchase option No verified 2026-07-11
PDFgear for Mac is completely free. It comes without any ads, product promotions, or any forced software upgrades
https://www.pdfgear.com/pdfgear-for-mac/ -
Runs offline Yes verified 2026-07-11
ensures data security by processing files locally without storing any user data
https://www.pdfgear.com/pdfgear-for-windows/ -
Self-hostable No verified 2026-07-11
You may not share or make the Licensed Application available to third parties (unless to the degree allowed by the Usage Rules, and with PDF GEAR TECH PTE. LTD.'s prior written consent), sell, rent, l
https://www.pdfgear.com/end-user-license-agreement/
FAQ
Yes. Smallpdf, iLovePDF and PDFsam have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.
Stirling PDF, PDFsam and Sumatra PDF — every license claim links its source.