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PDFApps

Free#44 of 102 in PDF Editors

PDFApps: A capable free desktop PDF editor for users who value local, open-source software. Ranked #44 of 102 in PDF Editors by our editors (4.9/10); pricing: Free plan; best for open-source desktop PDF users.

4.9/10Editor score

Visit PDFApps

PDFApps4.9 Visit PDFApps

At a glance

Editor score
4.9 / 10
Pricing
Free plan
Best for
Open-source desktop PDF users
Free plan
Yes
Paid from
Free
OCR
Yes
Facts checked
20 Sep 2026

Where it wins
- Free forever with all 15 tools and no account required
- Combines editing, OCR, conversion, forms, and page organization
- Runs locally on Windows, macOS, and Linux under the MIT license
Where it doesn't
- No integrations or mobile and web coverage
- OCR requires Tesseract as an additional dependency
- Extreme compression requires Ghostscript

Our verdict on PDFApps

PDFApps is a free, open-source desktop PDF editor for people who want to work with documents locally on Windows, macOS, or Linux. It covers everyday editing and document management in one application, including existing-text edits, annotations, signatures, redactions, form filling, OCR, conversion, compression, encryption, watermarking, and page organization. Its integrated viewer adds search, bookmarks, thumbnails, tabs, and night mode, making it suitable for individual users handling a broad mix of PDF tasks without an account or subscription.

The pricing structure is straightforward: the Free plan costs 0 USD, is free forever, includes all 15 tools, requires no account, and has no subscriptions or premium tier. The MIT license and local processing are important advantages for users who prefer open-source desktop software and offline document handling. The toolset is notably broad for a free editor: PDFs can be converted to PNG, JPG, DOCX, TXT, PPTX, XLSX, HTML, and EPUB, while TXT, images, Markdown, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, HTML, and EPUB files can be imported into PDF. Page tools include splitting, merging, rotating, extracting, reordering, and compression.

PDFApps is strongest when desktop coverage and document control matter more than connected workflows. It supports Windows, macOS, and Linux, but it does not provide integrations or mobile and web coverage, so teams that need cross-device access or an ecosystem of connected services should choose another PDF editor. OCR requires Tesseract, and its Extreme compression mode requires Ghostscript, adding setup considerations for those functions. Choose PDFApps for a broad, local, open-source toolkit; look elsewhere if browser access, mobile apps, or integrations are central to your workflow.

Your product? Our editors can test PDFApps in depth and publish a review, labelled as paid · from $149/mo →

PDFApps pricing

Plans Free planFree Free to use — no paid tier required for the core job.

See plans on pdf-apps.com

All 1 PDFApps plans and prices →

PDFApps fact sheet

Free plan	Yes
Paid from	Free
Text editing	Yes
Annotation tools	Yes
OCR	Yes
PDF conversion	Yes
Form creation	Yes
Supported platforms	Windows, macOS, Linux
Deployment	Desktop
Platforms	Windows, macOS, Linux
Support	Docs
Built for	Solo, Small business (editorial estimate)
Pricing	Free plan (source)
Website	pdf-apps.com
Facts checked	20 Sep 2026

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The editor score above is our own research. What this page doesn't have yet is a reader's view — what you used PDFApps for, what worked and what didn't. No stars are seeded and no review is paid for; an editor reads every one before it appears.

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Featured on iTechGuides

PDFApps is listed in our PDF Editors directory. Add the badge to your site — it links back to this page.

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Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

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Last updated 7 Oct 2026 · How we research and update