Compare the Top Free PDF Annotators as of October 2026

What are Free PDF Annotators?

PDF annotation tools are pieces of software designed to allow users to add notes and highlight text on PDF documents. They can be used by students or professionals to mark up documents, make comments, and organize information in an intuitive way. Annotations may also include drawing shapes or adding images. The annotations can then be saved with the document for easy sharing and future reference. Compare and read user reviews of the best Free PDF Annotators currently available using the table below. This list is updated regularly.

  • 1
    Apryse PDF SDK
    Apryse (formerly PDFTron) powers the future of document technology. We help businesses, developers, and enterprises handle documents with unmatched speed, accuracy, and security. Whether running in secure server environments or delivering seamless web-based experiences, Apryse makes document workflows smarter and easier. With Apryse, you can: Embed powerful document features directly into your apps — from viewing and editing to collaboration and compliance. Run at enterprise scale on secure server infrastructure, ensuring reliability without cloud dependencies. Deliver seamless in-browser document experiences with responsive, accessible, and feature-rich web capabilities. Trusted globally, Apryse empowers organizations to simplify operations, enhance productivity, and create exceptional document experiences.
    Starting Price: 0.00
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  • 2
    MobiPDF

    MobiPDF

    MobiSystems

    MobiPDF (formerly PDF Extra) is an intuitive and powerful PDF editor and reader designed for today’s modern user - the cost-efficient alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro you’ve been looking for. FEATURES OVERVIEW: PDF Viewer and Reader: Switch between page views or use "Read Mode" for distraction-free reading. Create and Edit PDFs: Modify text and images or start with a blank PDF. Convert to Office Formats: Easily turn PDFs into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and image files. Leverage OCR: Transform scanned documents into searchable PDFs. Organize PDFs: Combine, split, reorder, and compress documents. Markup and Comment: Highlight, annotate, and add bookmarks or stamps. Fill PDFs: Seamlessly fill forms or create ones from scratch. Sign PDFs: Sign your documents anywhere—no ink required! Secure Your Work: Protect files with passwords, digital signatures, and 256-bit encryption. Offline Mode: Full functionality without internet access. Translate PDFs
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    Starting Price: $49.99
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  • 3
    PDF Studio Viewer

    PDF Studio Viewer

    Qoppa Software

    PDF Studio Viewer is a cross-platform PDF reader that is reliable and easy to use. PDF Studio Viewer can annotate PDF documents and fill interactive forms. For more editing features, Qoppa Software publishes PDF Studio Standard and Pro editions. Features: -Display PDFs with high fidelity -Annotate & Markup PDFs -Fill & Save Forms -Render Digital Signatures & Layers -Advanced User Interface -Advanced Print & Search Options -Document Storage Integrations -DocuSign© Integration
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    SwifDoo PDF

    SwifDoo PDF

    SwifDoo Software

    SwifDoo PDF is a comprehensive, all-in-one PDF tool that offers features that most users often require. This free software comes with a user-friendly interface where most of its main features layout and can be easily recognized and accessed on the main screen of the program. SwifDoo PDF - the most functional PDF editor that can be successfully used by novice users and experienced professionals. Beginners will enjoy the simplicity and certain intuitiveness of the interface, as well as the ability to edit PDF files without much effort. SwifDoo PDF has a number of special features for scanning copy convert. Besides many convert features. PDF Reader PDF Annotation (Including Stamp) Picture/image Extraction (only need copy and paste from PDF) PDF Edit PDF Compress PDF Merge PDF Split PDF Signature System Requirements: Windows 10/7/8/vista/XP Edition: SwifDoo PDF 2.0.0.6
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    Starting Price: $0
  • 5
    Adobe PDF Library SDK

    Adobe PDF Library SDK

    Datalogics Inc.

    Adobe PDF Library is the only commercial PDF SDK built on Adobe Acrobat's own core engine, delivering the same rendering accuracy, PDF spec coverage, and behavior as Acrobat itself. Available in Modern C++, Adobe C/C++, .NET, .NET Framework, and Java, and supported on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Create, edit, merge, split, annotate, and watermark PDFs programmatically; convert to and from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF/A, PDF/X, and more; add OCR, digital signatures, redaction, and encryption; and process AcroForms and XFA forms. SOC 2 Type 2 compliant, with a 91% customer retention rate among enterprise users. For enterprise deployment, the pdfRest API Toolkit Container packages this technology as a self hosted REST API for on premises, private cloud, or hybrid environments. Datalogics also offers Scout, an AI assistant, and an MCP server so teams can bring PDF capabilities into AI powered workflows.
    Starting Price: $5,999
  • 6
    Adobe Acrobat Reader
    View, sign, collaborate on, and annotate PDFs with our free Adobe Acrobat Reader. Only with Adobe Acrobat Reader you can view, sign, collect and track feedback, and share PDFs for free. And when you want to do more, subscribe to Acrobat Pro. Then you can edit, export, and send PDFs for signatures. Do more than just open and view PDF files. It’s easy annotate documents and share them to collect and consolidate comments from multiple reviewers in a single shared online PDF. Work on documents anywhere using the Acrobat Reader mobile app. It’s packed with all the tools you need to convert, edit, and sign PDFs. You can use your device camera to capture a document, whiteboard, or receipt and save it as a PDF. Acrobat Reader is connected to Adobe Document Cloud, so you can work with your PDFs anywhere. You can even access and store files in Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, or Microsoft OneDrive.
    Starting Price: $1.95 per month
  • 7
    UPDF

    UPDF

    Superace Software Technology Co., Ltd.

    UPDF supports editing, annotating, and managing PDF seamlessly on for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android. You can get every tool you need to edit, annotate, and organize your PDF files in one premiere all-rounder smart application. It is explicitly designed to meet the desire of most users for a stunning yet very comprehensible interface that is not just only for beginners. Key Features: 1. Edit PDF Document - You can add or delete texts as well as edit the text's properties and formats such as its font style, font color, and size. - You can also crop, rotate, replace, extract or delete images. 2. Annotate PDF - Easily highlight, underline, and strike out those parts. You can also add shapes, sticky notes and text boxes for a quicker and easier means of adding texts. 3. PDF Page Management - Rotate, delete, extract and rearrange PDF pages as you need. 4. View and Navigate PDF Files - Flexible reading mode such as single page mode or double-page mode.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 8
    PDFgear

    PDFgear

    PDFgear

    PDFgear is an all-in-one PDF solution that helps users view, edit, protect, convert, sign, annotate, organize, OCR, Copilot, organize PDF files, and make more possibilities on Windows, MacOS, iOS, and iPadOS. PDFgear offers all expected functions in its clean and straightforward interface so users could enjoy their document reading and editing experience without disturbance. PDFgear Copilot provides more possibilities as a personal document assistant. As it's powered by AI, users could easily manipulate all PDFgear functions and chat with PDFs by asking PDFgear Copilot. Get lost in various functions and comprehensive document content? Don't worry! Just ask Copilot! It will cover everything. With PDFgear and Copilot in it, processing PDF is like a walk in the garden.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 9
    Xodo

    Xodo

    Apryse

    With Xodo, you can edit, annotate, sign, and share PDFs on desktop, mobile, and web. Xodo makes working with PDFs quick and easy, so you can get things done. Gone are the days of printing and faxing. Sign contracts, expense reports, cover letters, or any other document on your smartphone or tablet, using just your finger or stylus. Sign it then and there. Instead of fumbling for a pen or wasting printer ink, use just your finger to sign any document. Save your signature to sign future documents instantly with just a tap of your finger or a click of the mouse. Then save and share with whoever needs it. What used to take back and forth emails can now be done in seconds. Xodo takes the stress out of filling forms. Simply complete forms on the go from your smartphone or tablet by typing onscreen for fill-in fields and tapping to select checkboxes and other options. Save time and energy. Fill in forms from your smartphone or tablet, then save and share with whoever needs to see it.
  • 10
    KDAN PDF

    KDAN PDF

    Kdan Mobile Software

    KDAN PDF is a high-performance document intelligence solution designed for professionals who require robust editing and analysis tools across Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. It functions as a comprehensive PDF engine that streamlines the document lifecycle through advanced AI integration. Users can leverage the built-in AI assistant to summarize long reports and extract structured data from complex files instantly. The software excels in high-accuracy OCR, supporting over 50 languages to transform scanned images into searchable text. Key metrics of KDAN PDF include its optimized app launch speeds and powerful offline processing capabilities, allowing for secure text editing, file conversion, and page management without an internet connection. With features like Bates numbering, secure redaction, and multi-format conversion (Office, HTML, ePub), KDAN PDF provides a flexible and efficient environment for managing professional digital archives on any device.
    Starting Price: $59.99/year (billed annually)
  • 11
    TinyWow

    TinyWow

    TinyWow

    TinyWow provides free online conversion, pdf, and other handy tools to help you solve problems of all types. All files both processed and unprocessed are deleted after 1 hour. Convert PDF to JPG and download each page as an image. Convert PDF to PNG and download each page as an image.
    Starting Price: $5.99 per month
  • 12
    LiquidText

    LiquidText

    LiquidText

    Review documents faster. Find facts effortlessly. See the connections others miss. Go past the limits of paper with LiquidText. Note-taking and document analysis tools have changed little from the margin notes, highlighting, and sticky notes we have used forever. Most apps today try to duplicate paper, but, in spite of this, over 80% of knowledge workers still prefer paper at work and school. LiquidText moves beyond paper. It captures your reading, notes, highlights, annotations and observations just like paper; but goes further to reveal their connections, to source materials and each other in a way that documents and maps your project in a clear and shareable form. We connect related notes into ideas, and we connect your ideas into reports. Every note, idea and observation can be connected to others, and a single tap can show those relationships and original context.
    Starting Price: $7.99 per month
  • 13
    Readdle PDF Converter
    PDF Converter transforms any file you have on the iPad into a PDF document. Open or download files from e-mail, cloud or web right on your iPad and convert them into good-looking PDFs. PDF Converter’s existence is devoted to this purpose, and the app does it well. Everything from a multi-million contract to a web page can be saved as a PDF in seconds. That’s right, PDF Converter can create great PDFs from almost any file type, including email attachments, iWork and MS Office files, photos, web pages, and much more. When your PDF is ready, view, annotate, edit or merge it using the powerful tools of PDF Expert. The results are accurate and identical to the original documents since we have full control of the conversion process. Also, it is 100% secure since it is done locally on the iPad. Your documents never leave it and you do not need an active online connection.
  • 14
    FreePDF

    FreePDF

    SoftMaker

    The free PDF editor for personal and business use. Create, edit, view, print and annotate PDF files... free of charge! Do you want to insert pictures into a PDF file? Do you want to change the order of pages in a PDF? Do you want to add new pages or delete existing ones? You can do all of these things with FreePDF! FreePDF can perform the following tasks for you: Rearrange the order of the pages in a PDF file, insert pages from other PDFs or remove pages. Insert pictures and drawings into your PDF and position them as desired. Customize the layout of PDF files by rearranging, moving and removing text and pictures. ... and much more! Of course, FreePDF is also a great PDF viewer that lets you view and annotate PDF files quickly and conveniently. The built-in PDF printer driver creates PDF files from any Windows application. In addition, FreePDF supports the secure encryption of PDFs.
  • 15
    Slim PDF Reader

    Slim PDF Reader

    Apryse Software

    Copy and paste PDF text, annotate PDFs, fill out interactive PDF forms, and validate digital signatures you receive on Windows, Mac, and Linux with a lightweight & completely free Slim PDF Reader. It comes with a Dark theme setting that will help you save battery on a laptop and reduce eye strain, a full range of advanced and customizable annotation tools, various document navigation tools, search and print features, ability to copy text for pasting into another application, snapshot tool, interactive PDF form filling and signature verification features. Slim PDF Reader is one of the smallest desktop PDF readers (download size only 15 MB), 100% bloatware free, fast and easy on system resources.
    Starting Price: Free
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