20 PDF Editors for Windows and Mac

Free or paid, PDF editors have their unique benefits and disadvantages. To save your precious time, we have identified a list of the top 20 PDF editors for Windows and Mac, so you can know which one is the most appropriate one for your machine before downloading any software.

Part1: Top 5 PDF editors for Windows

There are a number of PDF text editors available to Windows, but you can find the best one quickly based on our reviews below.

Top 1: Foxit PhantomPDF

Pros

• 1. Offer a robust set of feature and capabilities, such as creating, editing or converting PDFs.
• 2. Include advanced text and object editing tools to change existing content or add new content.
• 3. Incorporate OCR technology to edit and work on scanned PDFs.
• 4. Work with Google Drive, Box, Dropbox and OneDrive for sharing PDFs.

Cons

• 1. Foxit PhantomPDF editor for Windows offers a free-trial, but you have to pay for the premium plans if you want to get full features.

Top 2: PDF Complete Office/Corporate Edition

Pros

• 1. Include a wealth of features to manipulate PDF documents simply.
• 2. Create PDF files from a variety of file types, including images.
• 3. Add, organize, split or delete pages when working with existing PDFs.
• 4. Modify existing text and change images and other objects.
• 5. Set and reset passwords and permissions to secure sensitive documents.

Cons

• 1. The PDF editor software costs $59.95 and is unaffordable for some people

Top 3: Qoppa PDF Studio Pro

Pros

• 1. Pack a number of PDF editing features, like add texts, signature, watermarks or images.
• 2. View, manage and merge pages in the PDF files simply.
• 3. Encrypt your PDF files with your password to protect private information.
• 4. Convert PDFs to Word documents or images without losing quality.
• 5. Compress PDF file size with the Optimize tool when exporting the document.

Cons

• 1. It lacks some important features, such as perform OCR to get the content from scanned PDFs.

Top 4: PDF Architect Professional

Pros

• 1. Offer a free download and three paid packages to meet different needs.
• 2. Employ an Office-style ribbon interface and organizes tools in tabs.
• 3. Create PDF documents from scanned documents or over 300 file formats.
• 4. Include a variety of text and paint editing tools.
• 5. Protect the entire PDF or a part with password encryption, permissions or digital signatures.

Cons

• 1. The full features of this PDF editor cost at least $69, while the free download just allows you to view or create PDFs with limited editing tools.

Top 5: iSkySoft PDF Editor Professional

Pros

• 1. Built-in a straightforward interface with a tool bar along the top ribbon.
• 2. Edit the PDF files like add texts, watermarks, Bates numbering, background and other objects.
• 3. Fill out form in your PDF and output with your digital signature.
• 4. Draw on PDF documents using your mouse.
• 5. Utilize password to restrict print, edit or view and protect your content.

Cons

• 1. This PDF editor cannot modify encrypted PDF files or convert PDFs to other formats.

Part2: 5 Best PDF editors for Mac

For Mac users, there are limited options when it comes to edit PDF files. Here are top 5 best PDF editors for Mac.

Top 1: Adobe Acrobat Pro DC

Pros

• 1. Pack almost all tools related to PDF management, editing, encryption, and sharing.
• 2. Modify existing texts, images or add new objects on your PDFs.
• 3. Add password to encrypt PDFs to give audiences different permissions.
• 4. Adjust pages in a PDF or extract several pages to make a new PDF.
• 5. Provide cloud storage for editing PDFs crossing platforms.

Cons

• 1. This PDF editor for Mac is very expensive compared to the features.

Top 2: FineReader Pro for Mac

Pros

• 1. Utilize the best OCR engine to recognize the contents in scanned PDF files.
• 2. Output PDFs in editable documents in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HTML, and more.
• 3. Edit and correct the original texts, images, objects or layout.
• 4. Provide both an automated mode and adjustable mode.
• 5. Remove the smudge from the output PDFs.

Cons

• 1. The PDF editing features are limited.
• 2. The price is expensive compared to the features.

Top 3: Nitro Pro

Pros

• 1. Create PDFs directly from Microsoft Office or export PDFs into Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• 2. Convert, view, edit, protect and share your PDF documents quickly.
• 3. Integrate an easy-to-use interface that cues from Office’s ribbon design.
• 4. Mark up PDFs with sticky notes and freehand drawings.
• 5. Convert scanned PDFs into searchable text while preserving the original format.

Cons

• 1. If you want to use Nitro Pro on your Mac machine, a network connection is necessary.

Top 4: PDF Expert

Pros

• 1. Mark up PDF documents using virtual imprints simply.
• 2. Trim the current page or entire document at once in handy.
• 3. Allow you to edit texts, images and other objects.
• 4. Offer a mobile app for iOS devices to transfer PDFs quickly.
• 5. Replace one image on the existing PDF document.

Cons

• 1. Some features are not well designed, for example, the rotate tool only works 45 degrees at a time.

Top 5: PDFelement Pro

Pros

• 1. Integrate a PDF editor, PDF converter, and a PDF creator.
• 2. Modify PDFs directly by adding images, cropping, watermarking, adding links, or changing background.
• 3. Edit or delete existing text or add new text on PDF documents.
• 4. Use color, fonts and other tools to do freehand drawing.
• 5. Compile data from PDF forms for spreadsheet analysis.

Cons

• 1. There are some bugs in the Mac PDF editor, such as cannot recognize the bottom pages when converting PDFs.

Part3: Top 5 PDF editors online

Online utilities are convenient and portable, but there are limited options when processing PDFs online. Don’t worry! Here is a list of top 5 online PDF editors.

Top 1: Sejda PDF Editor

Pros

• 1. Upload a PDF file from computer, Dropbox, Google Drive or URL. (Do not miss the Google PDF Editor here.)
• 2. Provide basic PDF editing tools related to text, link, image, shape, and more.
• 3. Delete pages, merge PDF files or extract pages from a document.
• 4. Compress PDF files online without quality loss.
• 5. Not require sign-in or registration.

Cons

• 1. The free version only allows you to process three PDF files per day.

Top 2: PDFescape Online PDF Editor

Pros

• 1. Create a new PDF or upload a document from hard disk and websites.
• 2. Insert or remove text, image, shapes and link.
• 3. Draw on your PDF with the Freehand tool.
• 4. Overlay annotation or highlight text without interrupting contents.
• 5. Move, delete, rotate or crop pages in the PDF file.

Cons

• 1. This online pdf editor cannot change or modify existing texts and images.

Top 3: Smallpdf Online PDF Editor

Pros

• 1. Open a PDF from Google Drive, Dropbox, or computer.
• 2. Add new texts, images, shapes or draw on the uploaded PDF simply.
• 3. Transform between PDFs and JPG, Word, Excel, PPT quickly.
• 4. Split or merge PDF files.
• 5. Compress PDF files and create smaller documents.
• 6. Encrypt or unencrypt PDFs.

Cons

• 1. The online PDF editor only allows you to edit 2 PDFs per hour for free.
• 2. It cannot edit existing objects on PDF.

Top 4: FormSwift's Free PDF Editor

Pros

• 1. Overlay texts, checkmark, circle or insert new images to PDFs online.
• 2. Highlight contents with the built-in Highlighter tools.
• 3. Select and erase a sentence or several sentences.
• 4. Make signature with your keyboard, mouse or uploaded image.
• 5. Download the PDF to hard disk or email it to recipient.

Cons

• 1. The online PDF editor is too simple and lacks some features, such as PDF conversion.
• 2. It asks you to sign in when downloading PDFs.

Top 5: Soda PDF

Pros

• 1. Convert between PDF files and Microsoft Office, HTML and more online.
• 2. Edit all text and images with your keyboard and mouse.
• 3. Add new texts, images, and annotate on your PDF files.
• 4. Split a PDF or merge multiple PDFs into one document.
• 5. Share your PDF files online directly.

Cons

• 1. If you want to use the full version, you have to pay for upgrade.

Part4: Top 5 free PDF editors

Freeware is always attractive. If you do not mind the downsides, you can get top 5 free PDF editors below.

Top 1: Inkscape

Pros

• 1. Edit any objects on PDFs, like texts, images and graphics for free.
• 2. Modify PDFs with the built-in node editing tools.
• 3. Manipulate many details of the object and move its edges in different ways.
• 4. Create new objects with pencil, drawing, calligraphy, shape and text tools.
• 5. Support a wide range of file formats, including PDF, EPS, DXF, and more.

Cons

• 1. There are too many tools in the free PDF editor. That makes it complex for beginners.

Top 2: PDF-XChange Editor

Pros

• 1. Integrate an easy-to-use interface for editing PDFs for free.
• 2. Extract and magnify text, images and other objects in the PDF.
• 3. OCR image based PDF documents and create editable files.
• 4. Change document properties and security to protect sensitive contents.
• 5. Fill out and save Adobe PDF forms.

Cons

• 1. The free PDF editor includes some advanced features, but they are not free to use.
• 2. The free version will add watermarks on your documents.

Top 3: PDFsam Basic

Pros

• 1. Available to Windows, Mac OS 12/11/X and Linux.
• 2. Merge multiple PDFs into a single document or split one PDF into several files.
• 3. Rotate pages in your PDF until you get the right orientation.
• 4. Extract individual or several pages from the PDF and create a new document.
• 5. Batch process more than one PDF at one time.

Cons

• 1. The free PDF editor only packs limited editing features.

Top 4: AbleWord

Pros

• 1. Built-in a user-friendly interface for processing PDFs for free.
• 2. Check for spelling mistakes automatically if the PDF is readable.
• 3. Available to Windows 108/7/Vista/XP.
• 4. Only import a PDF’s text and exclude all images for editing later.
• 5. Get help and tutorial from the online forum.

Cons

• 1. The free PDF editor has not been updated since 2015.

Top 5: LibreOffice

Pros

• 1. Integrate an Office-like interface to edit PDF documents for free.
• 2. Change text’s font, style, color, background and size.
• 3. Work with Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
• 4. Add new content on your PDF with the Draw tools.

Cons

• 1. The free PDF editor does not provide cloud storage.
• 2. There is no real-time collaboration support.

Recommend: AnyMP4 PDF Converter Ultimate

• 1. Convert PDF to editable documents, like Text, Word, Excel, PowerPoint or HTML.
• 2. Keep the original PDF format and layout using the advanced OCR technology.
• 3. Support converting selected pages or several PDF files in batch.
• 4. Utilize hardware acceleration to get what you want quickly.

In short, AnyMP4 PDF Converter Ultimate is a simple way to process your PDFs.

Conclusion

Based on our sharing and reviews above, you should grasp at least 20 PDF editors for Windows and Mac OS X/11/12, online and offline, paid and free. Now, all you need to do is to discover your favorite one.