Filtered ranking
Best Free PDF Editors in 2026
6 of the 7 PDF editors ranked on listme.name match: they can be used without paying (a free plan or free version). The order uses the same scores as the full ranking.
The ranking
- 1
Adobe Acrobat
The reference implementation: the most complete editing, conversion, redaction and signing tools, with apps on every platform. It is subscription-only for editing, so it costs more than PDF-XChange or Foxit.
Best for Complete PDF editing with the widest compatibility
WindowsmacOSiOSAndroidWebFree plan, paid upgrades
- 2
PDF-XChange Editor
A free Windows PDF editor with annotation and conversion from Word, RTF and Markdown, and a Plus edition with more features. It is built for Windows, so Mac and Linux users need another tool.
Best for Free PDF editing on Windows
WindowsFree plan, paid upgrades
- 3
Smallpdf
Browser-based PDF tools for editing, converting, compressing and signing, with a free plan. Files go through the company's servers, which matters for confidential documents, and heavy editing is shallower than Foxit's.
Best for Quick browser tools for occasional PDF tasks
WebFree plan, paid upgrades
- 4
Sejda
Online and desktop PDF tools with a forever free tier that covers merging, splitting, compressing and cropping. Free use has limits, so regular users will need a paid plan.
Best for Occasional PDF tasks with a desktop option
WebWindowsmacOSLinuxFree plan, paid upgrades
- 5
Okular
A free, open-source viewer with annotation and signature checks on Linux, Windows, macOS and Android. It is mainly a viewer, so text and page editing are limited compared with the editors above.
Best for Free annotation and signing on Linux
LinuxWindowsmacOSAndroidFree and open sourceOpen source
- 6
PDFsam
Free, open-source page tools for splitting, merging, extracting and rotating PDFs with no watermarks. It does not edit text or images, so it complements rather than replaces an editor.
Best for Splitting and merging PDFs offline
WindowsmacOSLinuxFree and open sourceOpen source
At a glance
| Product | Score | Price | Platforms | Free plan | Pricing model |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Adobe Acrobat | 90.5 | Free plan, paid upgrades | WindowsmacOSiOSAndroidWeb | Free Reader for viewing and commenting | Subscription |
 PDF-XChange Editor | 89.5 | Free plan, paid upgrades | Windows | Free edition | Freemium |
 Smallpdf | 86.0 | Free plan, paid upgrades | Web | Free plan | Freemium |
 Sejda | 85.0 | Free plan, paid upgrades | WebWindowsmacOSLinux | Forever free, limited use | Freemium |
 Okular | 79.5 | Free and open source | LinuxWindowsmacOSAndroid | Free | Open source |
 PDFsam | 77.0 | Free and open source | WindowsmacOSLinux | Free, no limits | Open source |
