For freeware that edits PDFs:
1. Smallpdf
A handy cloud-based free PDF editor
Operating system: Windows, macOS, Linux (in browser)
Powerful range of tools
Cloud-based
PDF to Word converter
Limited free trial
With Smallpdf’s Edit PDF tool, you get a simple user interface that allows you to add text and image content to your PDF files. This platform also offers simple e-signing, and the ability to add comments and highlights to information already stored in your PDFs.
The Smallpdf system actually contains lots of other PDF modification tools too. Along with the editor function, there’s a variety of options to convert PDFs into easier-to-edit formats such as Word and Powerpoint files, and you can save space by merging individual PDF documents into a single file.
But the best thing about Smallpdf is that it’s a cloud-based platform. In other words, you can access it from any supported device simply by visiting the Smallpdf website and dragging-and-dropping a PDF into your browser.
Don’t be thrown off by the prompts to begin a 'free trial' – you only have to do that if you want to install the Smallpdf Desktop program for offline editing.
Read our full SmallPDF review
2. PDF-XChange Editor
Another superb tool for editing text in PDFs, with built-in OCR
Operating system: Windows
Optical character recognition
Text editing
Splits and extracts pages
Watermarks documents
PDF-XChange Editor is a free PDF editing program for Windows computers developed by Tracker Software. The interface is a little more complex than that of the Smallpdf editing suite but gives you easy access to plenty of helpful features such as a stamp option for marking documents as 'Expired' or 'Approved'.
But for most users, the main reason to use PDF-XChange Editor is the fact that it comes with inbuilt Optical Character Recognition (OCR). This means that if your original PDF document is a photocopy, PDF-XChange will still recognize the text and allow you to edit it. Also, PDF-XChange Editor lets you reformat text, and even convert it into fonts that aren’t already loaded on your computer.
And like Smallpdf, you can use this platform to merge or split individual PDF files. The only serious downside of this powerful editor is that, if you haven’t signed up to the Pro version, a small 'Created with PDF-XChange Editor' watermark will be added at the bottom of any PDF files that you export.
Read our full PDF-XChange Editor review
3. Formswift
A completely free PDF editor for your web browser
Operating system: Windows, macOS, Linux (in browser)
Scans documents from phones
Edits images and text in PDFs
Simple cloud-based system
Can't split/merge documents
FormSwift is an in-browser PDF editor that you can start using in just a couple of seconds. Unlike PDF-XChange Editor and Smallpdf, the FormSwift platform is totally free. That means there’s no need to start a free trial to use it. There aren’t even any annoying 'upgrade now' prompts to ignore.
With support for image addition, text editing, e-signatures, and checkmarks, FormSwift has everything you need to perform basic PDF edits. After you’ve finished your edits, you can print directly from the FormSwift interface or save your file as a Word or PDF file.
Plus, if you need to import a paper document for editing, all you need to do is visit the FormSwift Snap URL on your phone. Once you’ve given it permission to, the platform will use your phone’s camera to import the file.
Full FormSwift review coming soon
4. PDFescape
Ideal for editing smaller PDF files
Operating system: Windows, macOS, Linux (in browser)
No account necessary
Easy document merging
10MB file size limit
Desktop editor is paid-only
With PDFescape, you can either edit online or through a desktop application. The desktop application is the more powerful of the two as it supports edits to pre-existing PDF content and allows you to scan paper documents. However, only the online version of PDFescape is free to use.
All the same, you get plenty of useful PDF editing options with PDFescape online such as the ability to make freehand notes and a tool for adding clickable URL links to your documents. You’ll also find that it’s pleasingly easy to add, rotate, and annotate pages with the in-browser version of PDFescape.
The only major flaw of this free PDF editor is that you can’t upload documents that are larger than 10MB. A regular A4-size PDF page only takes up about 100KB of data though, so this shouldn’t cause a problem unless you’re editing a book-length document.
Read our full PDFescape review
5. Sejda
PDF editing with a slick interface in the cloud
Operating system: Windows, macOS, Linux (in browser)
No account necessary
Simple interface
File size limits
Premium is expensive
PDF files are a good way to store professional or financial information, which means that their contents are often sensitive. Sejda is a free online PDF editor that you can trust with important documents because all uploaded files are wiped from its servers after five hours.
Aside from security, Sejda is a good choice if you are after a free PDF editor with a user-friendly interface. Sejda’s single menu bar makes it easy to find all the editing options necessary for adding text, links, images, and signatures to PDF documents.
When you’re done editing a document in Sejda, you just need to click the 'Apply Changes' button and proceed to save the finished product in your Google Drive account, Dropbox system, or locally.
Sejda does come with some limits, but they aren’t restrictive enough to cause problems for casual users. You can only perform three tasks and upload 50MB, or 200 pages of information to the Sejda platform every hour.
Read our full Sejda review
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