Alternatives to UPDF
Modern cross-platform PDF editor with AI
UPDF ranks #2 of 13 in PDF tools, with an Alt Score of 91. It is proprietary, sold by subscription and available on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. 10 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.
Individuals, students, and professionals (including legal, finance, and healthcare use cases) who need a lower-cost alternative to Adobe Acrobat for editing and managing PDFs.
A desktop, mobile, and web PDF editor for editing text/images/links, annotating, organizing pages (merge, split, rotate, crop), converting to/from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and OCR. It also includes built-in AI tools for summarizing, translating, and chatting with PDF content, plus security features like encryption, redaction, and e-signatures.
Open or upload a PDF into UPDF, edit or annotate it (or use the AI tools to summarize/query it), then export or share the result in the desired format.
Where UPDF stands out
Verified capabilities most alternatives don't have.
Why people leave UPDF
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 | UPDF | Foxit PDF Editor | Nitro PDF | PDF-XChange | Adobe Acrobat | PDF Expert |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 UPDF is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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License Proprietary verified 2026-07-11
Copyright © 2026 Superace. All rights reserved.
https://updf.com/company/about-us/ -
Pricing model Subscription verified 2026-07-11
Auto renew, billed yearly. Cancel anytime.
https://updf.com/pricing/ -
Platforms Windows, macOS, iOS, Android verified 2026-07-11
2 desktops (either 1 Windows and 1 Mac, 2 Windows, or 2 Macs) and 2 mobile devices (1 iOS and 1 Android, 2 iOS, or 2 Android).
https://updf.com/pricing/ -
Status active verified 2026-07-11
Copyright © 2026 Superace. All rights reserved.
https://updf.com/company/about-us/ -
Edit text & images Yes verified 2026-07-11
Allowing smoothly changing, adding, or deleting text, images, and links, UPDF can meet all your requirements to edit PDF document!
https://updf.com/edit-pdfs/ -
Annotate & comment Yes verified 2026-07-11
Use UPDF's wide array of annotating functions to mark up your PDFs.
https://updf.com/annotate-pdfs/ -
Fill & sign forms Yes verified 2026-07-11
Effortlessly fill out PDF forms with intelligent field recognition. Streamline data input, highlight existing fields, and seamlessly import/export data in .fdf format for efficient form completion.
https://updf.com/fill-and-sign-pdf/ -
OCR Yes verified 2026-07-11
OCR recognizes PDFs in 38 languages to easily convert scanned PDFs, paper docs, and images into searchable and editable PDFs.
https://updf.com/ocr-pdfs/ -
Merge / split / compress Yes verified 2026-07-11
With UPDF, you can merge different PDF files into one PDF, merge two PDF files by inserting from file, interleaving inserting, and batch insert.
https://updf.com/merge-and-split/merge-pdf/ -
Redaction Yes verified 2026-07-11
It now supports the Redact PDF feature, with which users can conveniently manage to redact all the pages, a few pages, or their selected text.
https://updf.com/protect-pdf/what-is-redact-pdf-and-how-to-redact-pdf/ -
Batch processing Yes verified 2026-07-11
UPDF offers powerful batch PDF features — including batch OCR, compress, convert, create, combine, encrypt, and more — designed to eliminate manual, repetitive tasks and boost your productivity.
https://updf.com/batch-pdfs/ -
One-time purchase option Yes verified 2026-07-11
Pay once, use forever.
https://updf.com/pricing/ -
Runs offline Yes verified 2026-07-11
Unlike online tools, UPDF is a desktop software for Mac and Windows, so you don't need to upload any file to the Internet.
https://updf.com/updf-faqs/ -
Self-hostable No verified 2026-07-11
Distributed storage splits data across multiple physical servers by syncing all statistics to prevent data loss.
https://updf.com/updf-cloud/
FAQ
Yes. PDFgear, Smallpdf and iLovePDF 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.