Free PDF Editor - Top 6 Best Free PDF Editors 2020 Update

PDF files have become the industry standard for digital information, offering numerous advantages, including the ability to encapsulate text, fonts, formats, colors, and graphics in a single file, as well as support for hypertext links, sounds, and dynamic images, making them ideal for e-books, product descriptions, company announcements, and other digital content.

While many PDF readers are free, finding a truly free PDF editor that allows you to edit, annotate, convert, sign, and insert images can be challenging. Fortunately, there are top-rated free PDF editors in 2020 that can meet your needs, each with its own set of features and limitations. These editors offer various functionalities, including online and desktop options, so you can choose the one that best suits your requirements.

#1 - Soda PDF: A Top Choice

Soda PDF  SmallPDF is the most recommended choice for the best free PDF editor of 2020. It's a reliable, capable, and portable PDF tool that can be used on a computer or any mobile device with a web browser. With its intuitive software, you can easily and flexibly edit PDF documents with great functions, and its free trial version can complete all your basic editing tasks, such as editing text, images, and links.

• Create PDFs from any printable file format, including files from your clipboard, scanner, and web pages, with a tool that allows you to easily convert and save them as PDFs.
• You can use a PDF converter tool to convert one or more PDFs to various file formats, including Word, PTT, Excel, Image, HTML, TXT, and RTF. These tools allow you to upload your PDF files and select the desired output format, and they will convert the files for you.
• Modify all contents in your PDF files
• Merge PDF files with ease - combine multiple PDF files into a single document, perfect for consolidating reports, presentations, and other documents.
• Split large PDF documents into small pieces for separate reading
• Insert images, page numbers, links, watermark, header, and footer
• Review, comment and annotate your PDF with diverse shapes
• Access your features online on any device

Soda PDF's Premium version offers good value for its price, adding advanced features like E-Sign, editing confidential info, and creating personalized digital forms, setting it apart from the Home version.

Pros:

• The price is the lowest for the paid version
• It has excellent OCR capabilities
• The UI is very user-friendly, as simple as using Word
• It supports the securing and signing PDFs features
• Free unlimited version upgrades

Cons:

• Individual users only get a 14-day free trial

Price: The Premium edition only costs $35.97

System Support: Soda is a software that can be used on all Windows platforms, including desktop and mobile devices.

#2 - Adobe Reader DC: Best PDF Viewer  

The PDF file format was created by Adobe, and Adobe Acrobat has traditionally been the best tool to open and view PDFs. Adobe Acrobat Reader DC  Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is the industry standard for editing PDF files, allowing you to view, print, sign, and annotate PDFs with its free version. However, for more advanced features like creating PDFs, exporting to Word or Excel, adding security, or generating signatures, you need to subscribe to Acrobat Pro DC.

Pros:

• The world's best PDF editors
• The free global standard for viewing and commenting on PDF
• Support working on PDF using Acrobat Reader mobile app

Cons:

• It may be the most expensive PDF editor
• Limited usages for getting signatures in Acrobat Reader DC version

Price: The service costs $179.88 as a one-time payment or $14.99 per month for a recurring subscription.

System Support: Available for both Windows and macOS.

#3 - JotForm PDF Editor: Customization Made Easy

JotForm PDF Editor is a great alternative to other PDF editors, offering automation to time-consuming daily tasks. It saves time and increases productivity by generating and formatting invoices and contracts with ease. What sets it apart is the ability to collect necessary data through online forms and convert them into professional-looking PDF documents in seconds, making it a convenient and efficient tool.

Pros:

• The platform offers a wide range of integrations with various tools and services, including Google Drive, Zoom, and Slack, among others.
• 600+ ready to use PDF templates according to your needs
• You can use signature widgets to easily collect electronic signatures from your customers, streamlining your business processes and enhancing the overall user experience.
• Easy collaboration on documents
• Free to use
• Drag & drop builder 
• Highly customizable 

Cons:

• The free plan is limited
• Limited form and submissions on the free plan
• Too many widgets and integrations can be confusing

Price: The Forever Free plan allows unlimited use with some limitations, while the Bronze package costs $24/month, the Silver package costs $29/month, and the Gold package costs $79/month.

System Support: It supports both Windows and Mac systems.

#4 - Nitro Pro: Great Alternative to Adobe Acrobat 

If you're looking for an alternative to Adobe Acrobat, there are several options available. One popular choice is Foxit PhantomPDF, which offers many of the same features as Acrobat, including the ability to create, edit, and manage PDFs. Nitro Pro  Nitro Pro is a top-notch PDF editor that lets you create, convert, edit, and review PDFs with ease, and also fill, sign, and secure them. It offers three versions - Basic, Team, and Enterprise - to cater to different user needs.

Pros:

• Very simple UI to ensure no barriers for use
• Integrate with popular cloud storage apps
• Unlimited eSignature requests

Cons:

• The Basic version doesn't support ticket submission
• Users only get a 14-The Basic version of the software offers a one-day free trial, but with limited features.

Price: The pricing for the service is $128 for individuals or businesses with fewer than 20 users, but it becomes much more expensive for teams or enterprise users.

System Support: It can work on Windows XP/7/8/10.

#5 - Sejda PDF Editor: An Online Free PDF Editor

Sejd a PDF Editor  SmallPDF offers both web and desktop applications that enable users to view and redact PDF documents. Its free online PDF editor is popular for its convenient features, allowing users to edit PDFs by converting them to Word, JPG, merging files, deleting pages, typing on PDFs, compressing files, and reducing file size. The desktop edition also offers additional features such as adding signatures, comments, and links, as well as creating fillable PDF forms.

Pros:

• Directly open PDF files from a web site
• Allows for edit pre-existing text in PDF without adding a watermark
• Run in the web browser, no need to download

Cons:

• Limited to PDFs with fewer than 200 pages
• PDF files cannot exceed 50M
• Not as secure as other desktop PDF editors
• OCR is not supported in the online version

Price: Sejda PDF Editor offers three purchase plans for personal use: a Web Week Pass for $5, a Web Monthly plan for $7.5, and a Desktop+ Web annual plan for $63.

System Support: Edit PDF offline with Sejda Desktop for Windows and Mac.

#6 - Foxit PhantomPDF: A capable Acrobat Alternative 

F oxit PhantomPDF  editor is a nice Adobe Acrobat alternative for PDF document generation and management. It allows editing of PDF files on Windows and macOS systems, featuring creation and editing of PDF documents and fillable forms, as well as sorting pages, adding headers/footers/watermarks, and exporting PDF. Additionally, it can convert paper into editable and searchable PDFs, making it suitable for a paperless environment. After publishing, editor enables the management of PDFs, including sharing content, integrating with ECMs and cloud storage, and protecting sensitive information.

Pros:

• OCR function is embedded
• Comes bundled with PhantomPDF Online providing many same capabilities
• Has the same features as other great products

Cons:

• Users only get a 14-day free trial
• The trial version has limited features
• It's a little bit expensive

Price: $129 for Standard, $159 for Business, $129 for Mac version

System Support: It supports both Windows and Mac systems.

Wrap UP

The top five free PDF editing software options are summarized here, with detailed information on product introduction, features, advantages and disadvantages, price, and system support. Each option offers a unique set of features and benefits, with some being online-based and others offering affordable pricing. Whether you need online software or a budget-friendly tool, there's a choice to suit your needs. If you're looking for a recommendation, the first option is a smart choice.

To ensure the safety of your important and private PDF content, we strongly recommend making regular backups. Losing a PDF document due to careless deletion, hard drive formatting, or virus attack can be devastating, but having a backup can prevent such losses. Deep Data Recovery  - a top-"Utilize specialized data recovery software to promptly recover lost data, ensuring timely retrieval of vital information and minimizing potential downtime or losses."

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