Many PDF developers and companies talk a big game about their software’s features, but in reality, few tools live up to the hype. Finding PDF editors worth your time is becoming more challenging by the day. As expected, this disparity between manufacturer claims and the experience of using their PDF tools strains the average consumer.

But you’re in luck; this article analyzes carefully-selected PDF software and tells you why they are the best in the market. The tools in this review are ideal for people looking to edit PDF online or offline and are suitable for any industry.

LuminPDF

Lumin PDF has gradually built a reputation in the PDF software industry and is now a popular editor. Many even consider it the best PDF editor and a worthy alternative to Adobe Acrobat.

What makes this editor so unique?

Lumin PDF has one of the least cluttered user interfaces of all PDF editors. A tech novice can start using this tool to edit documents without any special training.

This tool is also blazing fast, and since it’s an online app, you don’t have to worry about downloading and installing it. It handles merging, splitting, annotating, and other PDF editing operations with no hitches.

Lumin PDF’s premium version is one of the cheapest, and if you are looking for value for your money, look no further than this top PDF editor.

SmallPDF

From a value-focused editor, let’s look at a feature-packed one. SmallPDF is bursting at the seams with features, making it ideal for any use case. Photography enthusiasts will benefit from its conversion feature, as you can export your PDFs to JPG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, and other formats.

If you are in the banking or security industry, you will love this tool’s password protection feature. You can secure documents and prevent unwanted access. And if you want to compress a PDF file without losing quality, you can rely on SmallPDF.

In all, if you are looking for a well-rounded editor, SmallPDF is one of the best PDF editing software available.

Sejda

Sejda is a newcomer in the PDF software industry, but it jousts with heavy hitters. This editor already has a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars rating on Google Workspace Marketplace. Users can’t seem to get enough of its PDF conversion functionality, and if you want to make an HTML file out of a PDF document, you should go for Sejda.

This tool handles lossless PDF compression excellently. It also lets you add new elements to an existing PDF file, giving you complete control over the editing process. Due to Sejda’s rapid growth and improvements, it deserves a spot on our list of the best PDF editor tools.

Adobe Acrobat

Undoubtedly the most famous tool on this list, Adobe Acrobat, has pioneered many of the editing features you know today. Since the Adobe team has had ample time to fine-tune their features, this tool guarantees hitch-free operations every time.

If annotating is your primary need, few tools are as flexible as Adobe Acrobat. This premium editor combines, compresses, splits, and signs PDFs. It even has OCR technology for identifying and replicating scanned texts, and IT professionals can use JavaScript to create mini-apps inside PDF files on Acrobat.

These advanced features are why some people still choose Adobe Acrobat over some free PDF editors today.

PDFelement

If you are looking for a free PDF editor Windows and Mac devices can run smoothly, PDFelement is one of the top picks. It has useful features like the OCR technology for recognizing text in scanned documents, security features for locking PDF files, and basic editing functionalities.

PDFelement’s interface is user-friendly and reduces the time it takes to complete an operation on the app. It is ideal for people who prioritize results over fancy looks.

Business owners and people who want software with a shallow learning curve to ensure faster onboarding for their teammates will benefit from PDFelement’s ease of use and feature list.

Nitro Pro

Nitro Pro deserves a shoutout for having the best PDF editor online customer support system. Its customer service appeals to people who aren’t tech-savvy. If you have challenges while using this tool, you can rely on its friendly team to help you out.

But customer support is just one of Nitro Pro’s many specialties. This editor promotes collaboration between teams, thanks to its note-taking feature. You can add sticky notes to PDF documents on this software and perform other actions like annotating and scanning paper documents, making Nitro Pro a must-have in the workplace.

CloudConvert

CloudConvert is a tool for converting files into different formats, making it handy for people who regularly convert PDF files to other formats and vice versa. If you have a PDF document that you want to edit in Microsoft Word, you can use CloudConvert to make it a DOX file and then make your changes on Microsoft Word.

This tool preserves the original document’s formatting after conversion, so you don’t have to rearrange elements in the editable document. It also maintains the quality of images in the original file.

You can link CloudConvert with a Google Drive folder through Zapier, making document retrieval easy. This software converts files less than 1GB for free, making it ideal for people looking to cut costs.

iLovePDF

iLovePDF is a free PDF editor Mac users would love, especially those contented with a PDF editor that focuses on getting the basics right. This editor belongs to a more advanced tool suite that targets users with complex editing needs like PDF repairing and watermarking.

You can link iLovePDF with your Dropbox and Google Drive accounts and edit your documents without switching browser tabs. The online app lets you add new text to a PDF document and play around with the size, color, and font.

But if you want more features, you can pay $9 per month for the advanced desktop software.

PDF Expert

People who spend a lot of time reading PDF documents should go for PDF Expert. It has a clean interface that devotes screen real estate to your document’s pages. With its uncluttered toolbar, you can read two PDFs side-by-side.

PDF Expert also lets you annotate PDFs.You can sign PDFs and add images, shapes, and notes with the software. Reordering document pages and formatting PDFs is hassle-free on this PDF tool.

PDFescape

PDFescape is one of the best online PDF tools for annotating and tweaking PDF forms. You can create PDF fillable forms and edit existing ones on this software. If you have a research project and need to collect information, PDFescape will meet that need.

Organizations and teams recommend PDFescape for its collaboration support. The software lets you share documents online with other users, and for a token, the premium version will let you edit text and photos, watermark PDFs, compress and merge PDF documents.

Conclusion

No matter how careful you are, you need guidance when foraying in the world of PDF tools. The best software isn’t always apparent, so this article has highlighted the top-quality PDF editors available. No matter your team’s size or requirements, you will find the tools this article recommends handy.