Free Alternative To Adobe Acrobat Pro For Mac

20-05-2021 admin

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is the brand’s newest PDF editor.

Advertised as an all-encompassing solution, it seems great for heavy-duty PDF users. But it also costs $14.99/month after a free, week-long trial. If you’re an equally cost-conscious and tech-savvy person, you may be wondering about free alternatives.

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A Free Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Alternative

One Adobe alternative that I’ve used in the past is PDFescape. For this post, I’m going to compare PDFescape to Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, just to see if Adobe really is better.

PDFescape is available in three versions, including PDFescape Basic. This version is free, and it’s the version I’ll be comparing to Adobe Acrobat Pro DC below. I’ve downloaded the desktop version of this PDF tool for WindowsThe 6 Best PDF Readers for Windows in 2019The 6 Best PDF Readers for Windows in 2019The best PDF readers don't cost any money. Read our roundup of feature-rich PDF viewers that out perform even Adobe Reader.Read More rather than using the web version. I think this will give me the most accurate comparison.

If you want to splurge for the Premium or Ultimate versions of PDFescape, those cost $2.99 or $5.99 per month respectively, billed yearly. Otherwise, pay $5.99 or $8.99 on a monthly billing cycle.

PDFescape lets you manipulate PDFs for a drastically lower price than what Adobe Acrobat Pro DC costs. (That is, for free.) But how does this free PDF editor stack up against Adobe Acrobat Pro DC?

Let’s take a look.

Download:PDFescape (Free Basic version for Windows users) | Adobe Acrobat Pro DC (Works with both Windows and Mac platforms and costs $14.99/month after a two-week free trial)

User Interface

Both Acrobat Pro DC and PDFescape have a similar, multi-pane interface structure.

The main pane in each program lets you view your uploaded PDF. There are tools to edit it on the right and left bars.

In PDFescape, there’s also a toolbar at the very bottom of the software window.

Check out the top pane and the tools inside it, also. PDFescape uses the Ribbon interface you’ll recognize from Microsoft Word and other Microsoft product, perhaps as a way to make the software more intuitive for users.

In contrast, Adobe doesn’t mirror any other commonly used software programs, unless you frequently use Adobe products. Acrobat Pro DC features tool menus that are set up similarly to older versions of Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader.

This is nice if you’re already familiar with Adobe productsYour Guide to Choosing the Right Adobe ProductYour Guide to Choosing the Right Adobe ProductWhen most people think of Adobe, they either think of Photoshop or Acrobat Reader. But the company has a plethora of other useful software packages that most people know nothing about.Read More, but if you’re not, it can be a little difficult to get used to Acrobat’s setup.

The features on the right side of Acrobat’s interface let you access additional commands and manipulation options, whereas the features on the right and left side of PDFescape seem to offer a few additional feature, but otherwise don’t reveal much.

The options at the top of the interface offer more features, but some of these are a bit redundant. For example, there are several Edit and View buttons, which contribute to the toolbars being overly cluttered.

Looking back to Acrobat, you may notice that Adobe’s Home interface has more words than icons. The file list in the middle pane shows you all the files that you’ve recently uploaded to Acrobat Pro Dc.

PDFescape has a similar feature, though instead of a list the software lists your recent documents in thumbnail views.

And the winner is: PDFescape.

Despite my dislike of PDFescape’s redundant menu options, I do like that this software makes it extremely easy to navigate through the different PDF options, all from the top menu bar.

In contrast, Acrobat only lets you review certain options at one time.

You can easily just click the X to get out of any PDF management pane you have open, but I like being able to see all my options in one location, which PDFescape allows.

Editing Capabilities

The Tools tab in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC reveals a wealth of well-organized options.

Combine Files allows for combining material from several PDF files into one. After clicking the Combine Files button, you’ll be prompted to upload the PDFs you want to combine. Then just click Combine.

Your combined PDFs will show up in a new Binder tab. You can easily adjust the order of the combined pages by clicking Organize Pages. Just drag and drop the pages the way you’d like them ordered, and close the pane.

You can also combine files in PDFescape. From the main interface, go to Create PDF, then click Combine Files.

Upload both PDF files you want to merge and click Combine.

Just like with Acrobat, this combines both PDFs into a single document.

Unfortunately, you can’t further adjust the page order with the Basic version of PDFescape. If you want to use the Page Preview panel to reorder your PDF pages, you’ll have to upgrade to a paid account.

Unfortunately, this seems to be the case for a lot of PDFescape’s features.

Here are a few more things you can’t do with the free version that you can unlock with the paid versions:

Insert or edit images
Add page numbers
Add a header or footer
Split the PDF’s pages
Convert your PDFs to other formats (such as Word, Excel or HTML)
Highlight text or add review notes
Password secure your PDF or set secure permissions

And these limitations are just to name a few.

However, it is worth pointing out that some of these features can be accessed with the (still free) online version of PDFescape.

You can’t do anything complicated, but you do gain the ability to highlight, comment, and annotate the PDF, though the editing features here are less powerful. Additionally, you can use the online PDF editor offered by PDFescape to encrypt your PDF, which the desktop version doesn’t give you free access to.

Conversely, editing PDF text and images in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is a straightforward process. This is likely because Acrobat Pro DC is a paid PDF editor already.

You can easily crop photos, enjoy a convenient automatic spell check feature, and watch formatting automatically adjust to added text.

And the winner is: Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.

I found it super inconvenient that PDFescape would allow me to combine filesHow to Edit, Combine, and Sign a PDF File for FreeHow to Edit, Combine, and Sign a PDF File for FreeWe show you how to split, merge, downsize, and do all kinds of magic with PDF files. Read on if you're ready to take your PDF documents to the next level!Read More, but then not let me rearrange those file pages. I also don’t think that giving users image editing permissions is too much to ask of a free tool, so I have to say I found PDFescape really lacking here.

I’m also just straight up confused by the inability to comment or highlight in the desktop version of the free software when these features are offered for free on the software’s online version.

There’s no way around it, Acrobat Pro DC is just way easier to work with when editing PDFs.

Free Alternative To Adobe Acrobat Pro For Mac

Signature Capabilities

There are many instances when you might need to sign a PDFThe Best Apps to Sign, Annotate, and Edit PDFs on iPadsThe Best Apps to Sign, Annotate, and Edit PDFs on iPadsIf you find yourself dealing with a lot of PDF files, it's only natural you'll want something other than Apple's basic iBooks before long. Here are our favorite PDF tools for your iPad.Read More. After filling out a W-2 form for tax purposes or reviewing your rental contract, for example.

Unfortunately, the complimentary, basic version of PDFescape does not offer a native PDF-signing feature. You’d have to upgrade to a PDFescape Ultimate membership in order to unlock those features.

You can, however, sign PDFs in PDFescape’s web interface. Go back to the web platform we discussed in the previous section and upload the PDF you need to sign. Click on the Text feature to type out any information you need to include in blank fields throughout the document.

Then, when you’re ready to sign, just use the dropdown font menu to select the Signature font.

Sign your name, and click the double green arrow button to automatically save and download your signed PDF file.

To add a signature in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, click the Fill & Sign option in the right-hand menu.

Choose Sign from the top toolbar. If you’ve previously signed something in Acrobat Pro DC, the software will remember your signature, as you can see in the screenshot below.

If this is your first time signing a PDF in Acrobat, all you have to do is click Add Signature. Then, simply type, draw, or upload an image of your signature to the software and click Apply.

You’ll then be able to place your signature on the appropriate line and adjust the size.

And the winner is: Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.

Okay, both of these programs can work equally well to sign your PDF documents, but PDFescape will only let you sign your documents if you upload them to the web platform. If you already have the free. software downloaded on your computer, this just creates an extra step.

With Acrobat Pro DC, however, you get easily accessible and convenient signing features right at your fingertips.

Accessibility Options

Initially, PDFescape was a purely cloud-based application (i.e. the web platform was its only platform). More recently, the service developed the offline-friendly desktop version, which I’ve been using throughout this article. A blog post about the desktop version mentions using PDFescape “on the go.” However, PDFescape does not have a smartphone or tablet app, so you’re still dependent on a laptop.

Furthermore, only Premium or Ultimate users get offline access; as a free user, you’re out of luck.

As for Adobe Acrobat Pro DC, it has both Android and iOS apps. The apps are free with your Adobe subscription, so if you really feel like editing PDFs from your iPhone or Android device, you certainly can.

And the winner is: Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.

The sheer convenience of having access to your PDFs from a mobile app gives Acrobat Pro DC a clear advantage over PDFescape here.

The Final Verdict…

While PDFescape is convenient if you just need to combine a few PDFs or use the web portal to sign a contract, the free software fell tremendously short in this comparison.

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is your best choice for extensive PDF editingThe Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Mini Guide for Managing PDFsThe Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Mini Guide for Managing PDFsAdobe Acrobat Pro DC is a comprehensive solution for managing PDFs. This article covers the key features you must know to create and edit PDFs like a pro.Read More, signing, and manipulation since you can do pretty much anything you want to your PDFs with your Acrobat subscription. It’s also easy to use and has a beautiful interface.

In comparison, PDFescape isn’t necessarily difficult to use, but its crowded interface isn’t always the most intuitive, and many of the tools in the software are inaccessible with the free software.

Also, Adobe Acrobat Pro DC boasts even more features not covered here in detail. There is a Compare feature that contrasts differences between two PDFs. You can also integrate with Dropbox or track PDF forms sent to others.

Purchasing the Premium or Ultimate version of PDFescape unlocks numerous capabilities, too. But as far as its free version goes, there’s really no contest. The free version of PDFescape has numerous limitations where the Adobe program performs easily.

Is Acrobat Pro DC Worth the Money?

I think it is, but what do you think? Would you still rather jump through hoops with a free PDF editor, or have all of the features you need in one place? Or can you recommend another free PDF editor with more options and fewer limitations?

And for Adobe apps that are worth installing7 Lesser-Known Adobe Apps Worth Downloading7 Lesser-Known Adobe Apps Worth DownloadingEveryone knows Adobe offers apps for mobile platforms, but do you know about these hidden gem Adobe apps on Android and iOS?Read More, check out this helpful list.

Explore more about: PDF, PDF Editor.

I use Nitro pdf editor at work. All I need to be able to do is add text to pdf's and it does the job for me, as the newest version of Adobe (Free) doesn't allow any editing. Nitro pro does cost equivalent if not more than Adobe Pro, but you can get a week free trial (bonus: no credit card required!) and then have option to buy or not. If you don't you can still add text at least. http://www.gonitro.com
PDF was created as a drug to cause an addiction for it's users. This has the wonderful effect of ensuring a constant stream of revenue to it's pusher.
Perhaps, the solution is to use a program that is free and available to all without pawning the TV!
Just silly thought!
'And the winner is: Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.'
It would be a shocker if it wasn't. After all, Adobe just about owns PDF. The comparison seems unfair. You are comparing a Pro version of Acrobat with a light-weight, basic version of PDFescape. It's like comparing MS Word against Notepad++ and declaring that Word is better. Like DUH!
For the past few months I have been using MasterPDFeditor to massage my PDF files. Originally I downloaded and installed the Linux version but have since found out that it is included as part of the default application suite of many Linux distros.
Since I have not pushed MasterPDFeditor to the limit of its capabilities, I cannot speak to its abilities or how it compares with other PDF editors. So far it has done the job for me.
Most of the commonly needed options for Acrobat are available in various freeware programs. Unfortunately, if you need color separation previews and to edit layers, you need the full Pro version and to spend the money. Worse, getting the 'cloud' version to work with good security and a corporate firewall that allows Adobe to do what they want for authentication/licensing can be a pain in someplace beside your wallet.

Business • Updated on May 31, 2019

Editor’s note (May.31, 2019): Recently PDFpenPro turns 11. The big upgrade we have tested, and we are confident it’s still our upgrade pick since the core functionality hasn’t changed, and add more features and improvements than ever!

PDF is a necessity in macOS. Without PDF, you can’t easily create & share portable documents. In fact, almost every native macOS application lets you export content into PDF.

Unfortunately, dealing with PDFs can be a pain at times, especially if you need to sign them, merge them or anything else.

That is why a fully-fledged PDF editor for Mac is a necessity indeed! Unlike the common thought, there is an impressive variety of PDF editing programs to choose from.

And, Adobe Acrobat Pro is most people’s go-to option.

We know Adobe Acrobat Pro DC is great, but…

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC has been the standard for PDF editing for quite a long time. Considering that Adobe built the format, it’s quite common too. Anyway, that’s not really a great reason to keep using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC as the macOS PDF editor.

The Good: Acrobat Pro DC is undoubtedly one of the powerful PDF solutions out there. You are linked to the Adobe ecosystem as well. If you are someone who uses Adobe Reader for opening PDF format, you can have the benefits of a uniform UI as well.

The Bad: Even then, Acrobat Pro DC does not offer the best User Interface in town. Sure, it gets the job done, but that’s not enough. We would not recommend Acrobat Pro DC when you want to edit multiple documents and manage everything with ease.

The Ugly: Acrobat Pro DC is damn expensive. It comes with a monthly subscription charge of $14.99. Adobe Pro 2017, an older, standalone version, is available for a hefty price-tag of $449. These rates are way beyond what a normal user can afford.

We believe these reasons are enough for anyone to look for an Adobe Acrobat alternative — or one better PDF editor for Mac.

A word on online PDF editors

Online PDF editors are the next best choice that people make when they can’t afford Acrobat Pro DC. It’s an awesome option too — until you lose the internet connection. The problem with online editors is that you’d need a constant Internet connection.

There are also some security concerns. You basically have to upload the PDF document to a third-party server for editing it. It’s not the ideal option when you are dealing with confidential files either. Also, not all online PDF editors are offering satisfactory features.

Personally speaking, I think online PDF editors are just good for page management of PDF documents. If you need deeper editing or bulk editing, you can’t count on them. More importantly, most people like to edit their files in a native environment.

So, it makes sense to check out some of the actual native macOS PDF editors out there.

TL;DR – These are the Best Mac PDF Editors available for desktop right now:

PDF Expert (fastest and easiest to dive in)
PDFpenPro (most powerful)

Choosing the best PDF Editor for Mac – Acrobat Pro DC alternative requirements

As we said, there is a huge number of PDF editors for macOS. As always, we wanted to picks the best ones. As we do every single time, we had a proper criteria as well.

The PDF Editor must have a simple User Interface. It should be non-distracting as well as focused. We always recommend a UI that works well with single-document and multi-document management.
Easy Editing: The PDF editing process should be as smooth as it gets. Automated selection recognition is one of the features we love. It’s not just about the text. The program should be powerful enough to edit other components like images, boxes, shapes and signatures.
Integration: the PDF editor must integrate well with your macOS system. Everything can be buttery-smooth that way. You may also consider using this PDF editor as the default PDF viewer.
An built-in PDF Viewer is one of the coolest features you have. This way, you don’t have to check out other software for reading PDF documents. It can save you a lot of money and resources too.
Markup and Annotation features are also required in the package. It must be easy to add comments and other elements to the PDF document using the tool, you know.
Feature-rich: Yes, the PDF editor must have enough features as well. This includes basic options for editing and advanced features like Optical Character Recognition. You may, however, prefer an editor with minimal features.
Cloud Storage: It’s great to have a cloud storage feature in the optimal PDF editor. This way, you can save your documents to services like iCloud and keep everything in sync.

So, we have chosen the best Mac PDF editors based on this criteria.

The pick: PDF Expert (fastest & easiest to dive in)

As the developers say, PDF Expert is a fast, robust and beautiful PDF editor. We tested on different PDF files and read feedbacks from other PDF users online, we came to know how PDFpen beats its rivals.

Without further ado, let’s share our experience with PDF Expert.

The user interface

As you can see, PDF Expert offers a clean and intuitive User Interface. You can simply drag-and-drop a file to get started. Once added to the interface, you can decide what type of editing you want — Annotations and Editing.

On the left, top side of the screen, you have viewing mode controls. For instance, you can enable the sidebar for accessing features like Bookmarks, Thumbnails, Annotations and Outline. This sidebar is a great feature when it comes to navigating within the PDF document.

PDF Expert offers different Viewing Modes as well.

1. You can display one or two pages in the same-screen. This is great when you want to compare pages and make the edits.
2. PDF Expert has a Split View option as well. In this view, you can view/edit two PDF documents at the same time. You can arrange the documents side by side either horizontally or vertically.

This is a helpful feature when it comes to document management.

PDF Expert has a dedicated option for changing the page order of the PDF document. We’ll discuss that later.

In short, we are really impressed by the intuitive UI of PDF Expert.

Reading experience

PDF Expert offers a blazing fast PDF reading experience. The app opened the document in 1.5 seconds. Meanwhile, it took almost 10 seconds to load it with Acrobat.

As you select between PDF pages, all the pages are well displayed with fast speed, even, there is no stop when I switch between different pages.

As PDF Expert also offers iOS version, I uploaded a file into its iOS version, and the file fit in the device well, I got the same good reading experience as than on my Mac.

Editing PDF files

There are actually four main options in the toolbar — Text, Image, Link and Redact.

One thing we love about PDF Expert is that it automatically detects the type of content you’ve selected. If you’ve selected an image, for instance, you will see options to rotate, replace, export and crop the photograph.

Like the same way, you can add/manage links within the PDF document. You can set up links to the web and other pages in the document. If you ask us, PDF Expert has kept this section as minimal as possible. Even when the PDF file is complex, you won’t have trouble in making edits.

The Redact feature is also quite helpful. In a single click, you can white out sensitive content in the PDF file. I’ve found this feature really useful while sharing confidential data with friends.

Annotating PDF files

Annotating PDFs is probably the second most popular thing you do with PDFs after viewing and reading. Whether you’re a student annotating a book or an architect, marking up a blueprint, you can highlight, underline, strikethrough, add shapes, lines or your own stamps, and export all your annotations with ease. Once again, you can count on the toolbar to access a top-class collection of tools.

It’s very easy to add signatures to PDF Expert. You can do it using text, trackpad or even upload an image of the actual signature. Either way, you get awesome results. Other annotation features also work great in this PDF editing suite.

Managing pages in PDF

As we mentioned earlier, PDF Expert has a dedicated viewing option for managing pages. When you want to take care of a big PDF document, this is a great feature.

This section offers a bunch of options such as Add Page, Append File, Copy, Paste, Rotate, Delete and Share. You can easily arrange multiple pages by dragging and dropping them. You can also extract individual pages from a complete PDF document.

Last but not least, PDF Expert offers an option to add page numbers on the header and footer areas as well.

Multi-platform support

PDF Expert is available for both macOS and iOS. It also enables content-sync between the devices, you know.

If you want to access documents that you created using PDF Expert for macOS, you can easily do it from an iPhone or iPad. The app can be downloaded from App Store and everything is kept in sync. It’s a great way to access cloud storage: everything is done via iCloud.

It’s as seamless as it gets.

Additional features in PDF Expert

There are a few advanced features that we should talk about.

PDF Expert has an in-built method for password-protecting PDF files as well. This is a great way to secure your PDF file without further complication. It’s so simple that you can go to File Set Password, and pick the password of your choice.

PDF Expert also has an option to reduce file size of a PDF file. While doing so, you can adjust the image quality as well. When we checked, PDF Expert was able to reduce the file size by 75%, which is quite a great deal.
Last but not least, PDF Expert comes with Touchbar support as well. So, if you have a compatible MacBook, you’ll love it.

What could be better

There are a few things that we didn’t like in PDF Expert. We understand that PDF Expert is a minimalistic PDF editor but it has left out some basic features as well.

You cannot create PDF documents using PDF Expert. You can technically add a new page in the PDF file and add text, but that’s something inefficient. We’d have really loved to see some additional set of PDF creation features in the program.
PDF Expert could have included a basic version of Optical Character Recognition. It’s disappointing that the program does not even support plug-ins, which can bring in the feature. It lacks other types of plug-ins as well.
There are only four editing options in PDF Expert. At times, these may not be enough for most people. We’d have loved to see some extra toolbars in there.
It’d also be better if PDF Expert had better options for bulk actions. As of now, that’s NIL.

Also, PDF Expert lacks options for customization and control. Everything is basic – too basic, at times.

Availability & pricing

PDF Expert is available for macOS and iOS. You can download the Mac version from the official website and the iOS version from App Store.

PDF Expert for macOS is priced at $79.99 while the iOS version can be bought for $9.99. If you ask us, both apps have been priced quite reasonably. The PDF Expert license actually lets you run the app on 3 Macs.

Verdict

PDF Expert, according to my repeated tests and collected feedbacks from other users, it is faster than Preview. It allows you to edit & manage PDF documents with ease, never compromising the performance as well. It’s true that it lacks advanced tech like OCR but that’s something you should be convinced about. Overall, for the price you’re paying, PDF Expert is worth it.

Upgrade pick: PDFpenPro (most powerful)

There are times when you need more than a basic PDF editor. PDFpenPro is the best choice for that occasion. It comes with a great set of features inside, including the option to create awesome PDF files. If you can spend more for a comprehensive PDF suite, PDFpenPro could be a potential option.

Now, let’s have a look at what this PDF suite has to offer.

The interface

PDFpenPro has been designed to create PDF files with precision. The UI has been optimized for professionals. When you open the program, you can see the blank screen where you can insert content like text, images, shapes and others. Like we saw in PDF Expert, PDFpenPro too offers different viewing options. It has a multi-tabbed UI for managing multiple files as well.

The latest version 11 offers the possibility to see different parts of a document simultaneously with split view. Just as you can in, for instance, Microsoft Word, you can have two views on the same document. Either alongside or below your main view, you get this second window pane on the document.

We should admit that’s useful because it means you can be making some fine edits to page 9 of a PDF while referring to page 99 at the same time.

Editing & annotation

PDFpenPro checks all the boxes when it comes to editing PDF files. You can take care of a wide variety of content like text, images and others. All the editing options are included in the same toolbar. It’s also easy to navigate between multiple pages of the document.

The new Font Bar extends PDFpen’s Editing Bar downward, which provides the same kind of text formatting you’d get in a word processor. Select text and then you can change the font, size, justification and so on.

We also loved the Precision Edit tool in PDFpen, which recognizes the parts of the page and removes them intelligently.

There are also a few features that you can’t find in the standard version. For instance, you can use PDFpenPro to turn websites into PDF in a single click. Thanks to the wider compatibility, it lets you export PDF files to Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint formats as well.

Scanning & OCR

Optical Character Recognition is perhaps the best feature inside PDFpen. It has been designed to extract an impressive variety of data from sources like a scanned image. To use this feature, you can open the image in the software and click an Perform OCR button and you’re off the races. In a few minutes, PDFpenPro will help you convert the content into editable text. You can go about your business, including editing other PDF files, or create interactive forms that you can send to recipients, and PDFPenPro will continue to perform OCR on your files in the background.

It’s quite a time-saver and PDFpenPro happens to have great speeds too. PDFpenPro offers much control over the batch OCR process. The app was able to recognize text in hundreds of pages of documents in a few short moments, making them searchable, editable, and correctable. And you can decide the quality and resolution with ease.

Furthermore, the developer Smile has added both medical and legal terms to the English OCR dictionary in the latest PDFpen 11, making the apps even more attractive to professionals in those fields.

Some other features

Alternative To Adobe Acrobat Reader

PDFPenPro has a few features that have been around for awhile that are worth a mention here. For instance, you can use it to sign digital documents. As we did see in the case of PDF Expert, you can easily add and manage different signs and images. It basically goes like clockwork.

A Form field recognition tool scans your PDFs to see if there are any spaces on a page that are meant for users to add information to. When found, PDFPenPro adds a form field to that location where a user can click and enter text.

It also has support for audio annotations and redaction of PDF document. While the first one allows you to include worthwhile comments, the second feature will allow you to prevent sensitive data from exposure. It can come in handy at many times.

Adobe Acrobat Pro Dc For Mac

Last but not least, PDFpenPro offers multi-device syncing. Because both macOS and iOS versions are available, you can easily manage documents across platforms. All these features work hand in hand to make PDFpenPro one of the most professional-friendly PDF editing suites out there.

What could be better?

The only thing we think of is this: the UI.

It’s a powerful software, we do understand. It’s made for professionals, we understand that too. However, a slight change in the UI can make it all the more intuitive. This would make it easier for people to not just understand the software but also make awesome PDF documents in no time.

We think that’s something to be done soon.

Availability & pricing

PDFpenPro is available for both macOS and iOS.

PDFpenPro costs $124.95. Still, it’s a single license that can power only one Mac.

You can actually find its standard version, PDFpen, on Setapp.

Verdict

PDFpenPro is made for professionals, and there’s a steep learning curve. Even then, PDFpenPro offers solid OCR, a powerful new Precision Edit tool, and many features that give you better control everything in a PDF file. It is just that you should be ready to pay something extra.

Other apps we considered

Here are some of the top apps we considered as the best Mac PDF editor. They did not, however, make it to the top list.

Preview is the pre-built PDF and image viewer in macOS. It’s something that you can securely use for viewing and annotating PDF documents. The best part? It’s quite integrated to the system that you get the maximum level of performance. The main limitation here is that Preview does not actually let you edit the PDF files. It has a bunch of effective options for annotation.

You can do a few things like adding text and shapes to the document. Once done, Preview can neatly export the files to PDF as well. Considering that you are not paying anything to get this program, we’d love to keep it aside. So, if you just want to bring some annotations and text boxes to a PDF document — without affecting the existing text, Preview would be fine.

Preview is free and is built into macOS.

iSkysoft PDF Editor 6 Professional for Mac is one of the most well-priced PDF editing suites out there. It has made some compromises in performance and features, though. The best part is that the app comes with full support for OCR and PDF conversion. These two features are great when you consider the overall price tag of the app.

If you ask me what matters the most here, it’s Batch Processing. iSkysoft PDF Editor 6 Professional for Mac is one of the very few editors that allow complete support for batch processing. You can convert and deal with a lot of PDF files at once. The User Interface actually imitates that of PDF Expert, but we wish it had an enhanced level of performance.

iSkysoft PDF Editor 6 Professional is available for macOS and Windows, priced at $99.95.

Foxit PhantomPDF is one of the smoothest PDF editors we’ve seen so far. It packs so many features into a smaller-looking tool. Nevertheless, compared to other PDF editors we’ve covered, Foxit PhantomPDF comes with a larger footprint. Multitasking is not easy when you have Foxit PhantomPDF running in background. It also checks the boxes of OCR and automated recognition.

It’s comparatively easier to do PDF editing in Foxit PhantomPDF. We think, however, that the AI could be an impressive one. As of now, the User Interface looks so rudimentary and you will need some time to get used to the deal. Keep that aside, Foxit PhantomPDF is a great PDF editor for teams as well. It has options for real-time collaboration features.

Alternative To Adobe Acrobat

Foxit PhantomPDF is available for Windows and macOS. It has a hefty price tag of $99.95 for Mac.

Alternative To Adobe Acrobat Pro For Mac

Are you looking for a fully-fledged suite for OCR? Then, ABBYY FineReader Pro for Mac is a great choice for. The problem is that you cannot expect standard features here. The whole program has been made for OCR needs, an area in which you can expect the best results. In just a few seconds, the program would convert a scanned image to editable text.

As far as OCR technology is concerned, ABBYY FineReader Pro for Mac works just great. It was able to do the OCR for even some of the low-quality images we’d tried. But, of course, if you have a better-quality image, the results would be better. We would not recommend the program for standard editing needs, though. The price tag is relatively higher too.

ABBYY FineReader Pro for Mac is available for $119.00.