Best Open-Source PDF Editor Tools
1) Adobe Acrobat – Best for side-by-side PDF comparison
Adobe invented the PDF, and their Acrobat product is the market’s most popular PDF editor tool. Businesses primarily use it as a cloud-based tool to view, annotate, and sign PDF documents. It allows you to edit and view documents from your browsers, desktops, and mobile devices. You can also store all the documents in Adobe Document Cloud for future reference. You can also use it to create, secure, and distribute PDF files. It can automatically detect multiple fields and allows you to insert symbols, texts, or signatures.
Features
View, store, and share PDFs. Lets you annotate and print files. Robust features to password lock and secure your PDF. Allows you to scan documents. Convert PDF to other file formats. Enables you to import/export data. Easy feature for Text Recognition. You can split your PDF files. You can keep track of the Original Layout.
Key Specs:
OCR Feature: Yes Edit Text and Images: Yes Pricing: Plan starting at $19.99/ per month. Discounts on yearly payment. Free Trial: Yes, 7-day Visit Adobe Acrobat
2) PDFfiller – Best for filling forms online
PDFfiller is one of the best PDF editors that allows you to edit, create, and manage PDF documents and forms online. It has good organizational tools and lets you store your documents on the Cloud. If you need a tool that will help you streamline the tedious process of filling digital forms, PDFfiller is an obvious choice. This open-source tool can add or remove text from PDF files. It also enables you to add checkmarks, and watermarks, and highlight or annotate specific elements in PDF files.
Features
You can easily merge PDF files. You can export your edited PDF in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, JPG, PNG, TIFF, or RTF formats. Quickly collect data & payments. Allows you to extract the matter of PDF files in bulk. Easy filling of digital forms. It removes unnecessary pages. Has the option to let you view the meta-info of the document.
Key Specs:
OCR Feature: No. Keep Original Layout: Yes. Edit Text and Images: Yes. Supported Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. Pricing: Starts from $8/ per month Free Trial: Yes, 30-days Visit PDFfiller »
3) IceCream Apps PDF Editor – Best for rearranging pages of documents
IceCream Apps PDF Editor helps you easily create and edit PDFs. It has all the basic amenities of a generic PDF editing tool. It offers multiple language support and has a documented training regime to familiarize you with the tool. You will also be able to password-protect your documents with this tool. It allows you to include links and watermarks in PDF.
Features
Allows you to access/control permissions. It offers a provision for you to make annotations. It has a page rotation feature. Offers features for rearranging and collating documents. It helps append/merge files. You can export your edited PDF in JPG, PNG, TIFF, or RTF formats. Add digitally verified signatures. Offers a very good form management feature.
Key Specs:
OCR Feature: Yes. Keep Original Layout: Yes. Edit Text and Images: Yes. Supported Platforms: Windows 11, 10, 8.1, 8, and 7. Pricing: $49.95 for a lifetime plan. Free Trial: There is a free version of the app available. Visit IceCream Apps
4) Wondershare PDFelement – Best for adding texts/images and shapes
Wondershare PDFelement is a PDF editor tool that enables you to create, edit, and convert PDFs online. It comes complete with almost every PDF editing feature that you may need. It offers multiple language support that has skyrocketed its global popularity. You can export your edited PDF in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, HTML, text, and image file formats.
Features
It offers a protection features to help you safeguard your documents from prying eyes. Wondershare allows you to add text, images and shapes to PDFs. It allows you to change the text and link sizes, colors, and font styles. Offers PDF page management features like merge, split, compress, Flatten PDF, etc. It allows you to set a password to protect PDF files. It is good at helping you organize PDFs.
Key Specs:
OCR Feature: Yes. Edit Text and Images: Yes. Supported Platform: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android. Pricing: Plans start at $29.99 a month. 50% Discount on Yearly Payments. Free Trial: Free basic version. Visit Wondershare »
5) PDFSam Basic – Best for mixing PDF files
PDFSam Basic is one of the best Open-Source PDF editors to virtually combine files, rearrange pages, and organize and optimize documents. It also allows you to compress, crop, and split pages. The tool contains page extraction features, size, rotate, extract, and repair texts. It allows you to convert PDFs to grayscale. Your PDF documents stay private on your computer; no need to upload them to a third-party service. A feature allows you to decrypt, encrypt, extract, and mix pages.
Features
Maintains a comprehensive editing history. Allows you to scan documents. You can export your edited PDF in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, HTML, text, and image file formats. Offers you the document management feature. It helps you to merge and compile PDFs seamlessly. Provides the Field Function feature for editing purposes.
Key Specs:
OCR Feature: Yes Keep Original Layout: Yes Edit Text and Images: Yes Supported platforms: Windows, Mac OS, Linux Pricing: Free Basic Version Link: https://pdfsam.org/download-pdfsam-basic
6) PDFedit – Best for the ability to convert documents with a single click
PDFedit is an open-source PDF editor software for PC with a library for manipulating PDF documents. It offers a GUI, a set of CLI (command-line tools), and a pdf editor. You can delete or add text images into the PDF by selecting the part or section you want to edit. This tool also includes a pdf editor whose graphical interface is based on QT3.x, with all features implemented using a scripting language.
Features
It offers the ability to convert documents with just the click of a button It can be used as a PDF reader and editor both Reliable tool to handle different PDF versions
Key Specs:
OCR Feature: No Keep Original Layout: No Edit Text and Images: Yes Supported platforms: Windows and Mac OS Pricing: Open Source Software and is Free Link: http://pdfedit.cz/en/support.html
7) LibreOffice Draw – Best for presentations
LibreOffice Draw is an Open-Source PDF editor that helps you create anything from a simple sketch to a complex plan. It allows you to effectively communicate your ideas via visual cues of graphic details and diagrams. It allows you a maximum page size of 300×300 sq. cm, which makes it an effective tool for creating posters, brochures, technical drawings, and much more. I
Features
Has a good photo editing feature. Streamlines workflow with the help of spreadsheets. Allows you to create 3D objects and Vector graphics. Has a feature that connects objects to show relationships.
Key Specs:
OCR Feature: No Keep Original Layout: Yes Edit Text and Images: Yes Supported platforms: Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac OS Pricing: Free to use. Free Trial: Open Source Link: https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/draw
FAQ:
❓ What are the best open-source PDF Editors?
Here are some best Open-Source PDF Editors:
Adobe Acrobat PDF Filler IceCream Apps PDF Editor Wondershare PDFelement PDFSam Basic
🏅 How to select a PDF Editor?
Every tool comes with its own set of pros and cons. The trick here is to list your requirements and see which fits the bill. In this section, let us look closely at the criterion for selecting an Open-Source PDF Editor.
Pricing/Free Trial – A free trial is an ideal way to understand the tool. Pricing needs to be competitive. Good apps which have sky-high prices are not cost-effective. However, cheap options will not provide you with adequate features. So, we tried to strike a balance between these. Digital Sign–Signing Documents is a digital necessity in today’s day and age. And a good editing tool should let you sign a document online. Ability to create/edit/share PDFs – Just editing isn’t enough. We should look for tools that will allow you to create, edit, and share documents online. OCR – OCR stands for optical character recognition. This feature is also known as the text recognition feature. Collaboration feature – This feature allows you to collaborate with multiple PDF files. It comes in handy when you are working on multiple PDFs.
