Is there a real free PDF editor out there? Many advertisers say that their product is free, however, when you download it, you find that it is just a free trial! When you try to use an advanced feature, you need to pay; when you deal with a large file, you need to pay; when you reach the trial days, you need to pay. How frustrated! So, is there really a real free PDF editor? I tried 30+ PDF editors, and I am about to tell you the truth about anything that tags a “Free”.
Are these famous PDF editors you knew free?
1. Is Adobe Acrobat free?
Everyone has heard of Adobe Acrobat, as it is the No.1 PDF editor in the whole market. But you need to be clear of that there are three versions of Adobe Acrobat:
- Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
- Adobe Acrobat Standard DC
- Adobe Acrobat Pro DC
Let us make a full comparison of these three versions, the features and the prices for them.
| Comparison | Adobe Acrobat Reader DC | Adobe Acrobat Standard DC | Adobe Acrobat Pro DC |
| Price | Free | $155.88/year | $179.88/year |
| View, comment and print | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Edit PDF text and images | No | Yes | Yes |
| Create PDF | No | Yes | Yes |
| Convert PDF | No | Yes | Yes |
| Edit text and images | No | Yes | Yes |
| Create and file forms | No | Yes | Yes |
| Password protect PDF | No | Yes | Yes |
| Sign, send and track | No | Yes | Yes |
| OCR | No | No | Yes |
| Compare PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Redact | No | No | Yes |
| Validate and fix PDFs | No | No | Yes |
2. Nitro Pro – Is this PDF editor Free?
Nitro Pro used to be one of the top PDF editors for Windows, but now it has Mac version too (It acquires PDFpen for Mac). When you check the nitro website, you will find that Nitro is more suitable for small business and enterprise.
Is Nitro Pro Free?
No. It is not free. It has a 14-day free trial for you to use.
Let’s learn about the features of Nitro Pro:
| Nitro Essentials (Mac only) | PDF Pro | Platform | |
| Create PDFs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Combine PDFs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Convert PDFs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Edit PDFs (text and image) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Markup PDFs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| OCR | No | Yes | Yes |