Top 5 Best PDF Reader Editors for 2024

To help you make a good decision, we’ve researched users’ major concerns for choosing the best PDF reader and editor for your PC, then we review each of the software based on these conditions.
Basic Features and Benefits
To know the best PDF Reader and Editor for you, you have to know your industry requirements and if the software offers the features for these requirements. We reviewed each software based on what they are good for your industry.
User Interface
This contributes majorly to the ease of use. If your editing team is not that techy, you would want to opt for software that has a friendly user interface and most of the reviewed software in this article has a simple user interface.
Pricing
If you are concerned about basic editing, you shouldn’t go for pricey software. Be rest assured we included software with pricing that will suit your needs.
Others’ Comments
To help aid you in making a good decision as fast as possible, we’ve checked what people are saying about each PDF Reader and Editor for Mac or Windows and provided a one-sentence description.
1. Most Efficient: Afirstsoft PDF
Basic Features and Benefits:
Afirstsoft PDF is rapidly becoming one of the Best PDF Reader and Editor for Windows and Mac because of its flexibility.
We choose it as the best overall because it suits almost all industry basic needs, either its health care industry for handling patient records or financial niche in which document security is their priority. The integrated AI also makes all basic editing including PDF merging, annotating, organizing, or conversion very user-friendly.
Pros:
No Complexities
AI Assistance
Excellent Customer Support
Cons:
Available for only Windows and Mac, coming soon for IOS and Android.
User’s Comment:
Most Users say it is the simplest yet most effective PDF editor software they have used.
Pricing:
You can either subscribe to a 6-month plan, yearly plan, or 3-year plan now for $39.99, $44.99 and $55.99 respectively. Currently, there is a 30% discount on all subscriptions ending in a few days.
Also if you participate in their current social media activity which is following their official social media account and posting a video (TikTok or YouTube) about your favorite feature, you can get 6 MONTHS FREE ACCESS to premium features.
2. Best AI Features: Adobe Acrobat DC
Basic Features and Benefits:
If not that, it takes practice for non-techy individuals to get familiarized with its user interface, we would have chosen it as the best overall but they have redesigned their interface, and that renders it much easier to use.
When it comes to complex editing of PDF documents for industrial uses, Adobe Acrobat DC is extremely good at text and image editing. Apart from that the preview for annotation is not that good, it does well in all other aspects of PDF editing, check our list of the 8 most popular uses of PDF editors at the bottom of this article.
Pros:
Versatile
Cons:
Pricey
User’s Comment:
Most users that love it are the techy ones and those that are using it for varieties of editing or industrial use, if your requirement is basic PDF editing, you would want to reconsider at that price.
Pricing:
The Adobe Acrobat Stand is priced at $12.99 monthly payment billed annually while the Adobe Acrobat Pro is priced at $19.99 monthly billed annually. Keep in mind that only the Pro version is available for Mac users.
3. Best For Mac Users: Nitro Pro
Basic Features and Benefits:
Anyone who uses Microsoft Word can simply operate this PDF Reader effortlessly since their user interface is similar and since many people are familiar with MS Word, almost everyone can use the Nitro PDF Editor.
Generally, the Nitro PDF Reader can do any kind of basic PDF editing you can think of ranging from file conversion, form filling, signature, and sharing documents across multiple devices except for using the OCR feature. Additionally, if your industry’s major concern is annotating and commenting consider this the best software.
Pros:
Unparalleled Customer Support
No Credit Card For Free Trial
Available for Monthly or Annual subscription and one-time payment.
Cons:
Not Available for Android
Pricey
User’s Comment:
Most users complain that they are experiencing difficulty in extracting text from images using this software.
Pricing:
The Nitro Pro PDF Editor is priced at $16.11 per Monthly subscription or $193.49 per license i.e. billed once.
4. Best Overall: Foxit PhantomPDF
Basic Features and Benefits:
The Foxit Phantom PDF Editor also has a selection of tabs at the top that will provide you with essential tools to use at a moment, simplifying the view for the non-techies.
If you work more on filling out and signing forms, we would recommend you go for this software. Another great feature is being able to compare two versions of PDFs for reviewing, this is a feature that is not even on the Acrobat Standard version.
Pros:
Free 14 days Evaluation
Built For Businesses
Protect Sensitive Data
More Cloud Storage
Cons:
The pro version is only PC-compatible
Additional Pricing
Uninstalling is a bit difficult
Pricey
User’s Comment:
Most users complain that after installing this app, it will make itself the default app but their support is very responsive.
Pricing:
Foxit PhantomPDF only comes in a yearly subscription, it has two plans, the PDF Editor with a yearly subscription of $129.99 and the PDF Editor+ with a yearly subscription of $159.99.
5. Best For Budget: PDFelement by Wondershare
Basic Features and Benefits:
PDFelement is an excellent PDF reader that is available on all types of devices. The ability to view PDF documents in various modes and some other handy features like processing forms, digital signatures, zooming, removing pages from files, password protection, or any other editing feature is present on PDFElement.
It is designed to be user-friendly making it easy to navigate, the ability to save edited files in any other file format makes it a leading alternative to Adobe Acrobat. If your company’s major requirement is splitting and merging PDFs, this is the go-to for you.
Pros:
Supports Various Languages
The free version has a variety of features
Has Useful Advanced Features
Cons:
Edited Documents are watermarked in the free version
You must have an account to save the document
Pricey
User’s Comment:
All users of this PDF editor software like it, especially the mark users, their only complaint is that it might be occasionally slow.
Pricing:
PDFelement by Wondershare has a one-time payment, a one-year subscription, and two 2 year subscriptions of $139.99, $89.99, and $119.99 respectively.
8 Most Popular Uses of PDF Reader Editors for PC
- Editing Text and Images
- Filling Out and Signing Forms
- Annotating and Commenting
- Merging and Splitting PDFs
- Converting Files to and from PDF
- Securing with Passwords and Permissions
- Compressing PDF Files
- Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
There is no best PDF Editor for PC but if there is one, it will be Afirstsoft PDF, you can check our full review article on Afirstsoft PDF. You can also check others if they match your requirements.