Open source alternatives to Adobe Acrobat

4 projects on starwire do the same job. Ranked by how much of what Adobe Acrobat does each one covers, read from its README and website. Ties go to the most active.

What Adobe Acrobat does

  1. View and annotate PDFscore
  2. Edit text and images in PDFscore
  3. Convert PDFs to and from Office filescore
  4. Fill and sign forms
  5. Merge, split and organize pages
  6. OCR for scanned documents
  7. Compress and protect PDFs
  8. Request e-signatures

Each dot in the table is one job, in this order. Square dots are core jobs and count double. Full means yes, half means partly. "See the evidence" under a project shows the line behind each one. Coverage is what a project documents, not how well it works or how hard it is to move to. How we score this

ProjectCoversStarsCommits, 12 weeksLast releaseClosed vs openedSetupLicense
bentopdfPDF toolkit for converting, viewing, and generating PDF files Replaces it82%16k+59
179
 14 days ago91% Needs a server AGPL-3.0
Covers all 3 core jobs. Not shown: OCR for scanned documents; Request e-signatures.See the evidence
  • View and annotate PDFscoreYesAnnotate, highlight, redact, comment
  • Edit text and images in PDFscoreYesClick any paragraph and edit it in place
  • Convert PDFs to and from Office filescoreYesConvert Word documents (DOCX, DOC, ODT) to PDF
  • Fill and sign formsYesFill in forms directly in the browser
  • Merge, split and organize pagesYesCombine multiple PDF files into one
  • OCR for scanned documentsNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it.
  • Compress and protect PDFsYesCompress PDF Reduce the file size of your PDF
  • Request e-signaturesNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it.
Stirling-PDFSelf-hosted web app with many tools to edit, convert and merge PDFs Replaces it73%97k+583
678
 9 days ago100% Needs a server Custom license
Covers 1 of 3 core jobs. Partly: View and annotate PDFs; Convert PDFs to and from Office files. Not shown: Request e-signatures.See the evidence
  • View and annotate PDFscorePartlyPDF Reader Lightning-fast reading and simple tools
  • Edit text and images in PDFscoreYes60+ powerful tools for editing PDFs
  • Convert PDFs to and from Office filescorePartlyEdit, sign, redact, convert, and automate PDFs
  • Fill and sign formsYesEdit, merge, split, sign, redact, convert, OCR, compress
  • Merge, split and organize pagesYesEdit, merge, split, sign, redact, convert, OCR, compress
  • OCR for scanned documentsYesOCR Read scanned pages
  • Compress and protect PDFsYesCompress Shrink for archive
  • Request e-signaturesNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it.
pdfcraftBrowser based PDF toolkit for editing, converting, merging and splitting files Covers one part55%9.8k+45
193
 6 days ago32% Runs in a browser AGPL-3.0
Covers 0 of 3 core jobs. Partly: View and annotate PDFs; Edit text and images in PDFs; Convert PDFs to and from Office files. Not shown: Fill and sign forms; Request e-signatures.See the evidence
  • View and annotate PDFscorePartlyAll-in-one PDF editor for merge, split, organize
  • Edit text and images in PDFscorePartlyedit, convert, merge, split, and secure your PDF files
  • Convert PDFs to and from Office filescorePartlyOffice to PDF
  • Fill and sign formsNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it.
  • Merge, split and organize pagesYesCombine multiple PDFs into one document
  • OCR for scanned documentsYesMake scanned PDFs searchable with text recognition
  • Compress and protect PDFsYesMerge, split, compress, convert, and edit PDF files
  • Request e-signaturesNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it.
pdfcraftPDF reader and editor written in Rust Covers one part36%21k+745
6,355
 3 days ago46% Install like an app Apache-2.0
Covers 1 of 3 core jobs. Partly: Fill and sign forms; Compress and protect PDFs. Not shown: Edit text and images in PDFs; Convert PDFs to and from Office files; OCR for scanned documents; Request e-signatures.See the evidence
  • View and annotate PDFscoreYesViewer with threaded comments
  • Edit text and images in PDFscoreNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it.
  • Convert PDFs to and from Office filescoreNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it.
  • Fill and sign formsPartlykeeping links, form fields, layers and bookmarks intact
  • Merge, split and organize pagesYesRead, organize, combine, split and secure PDFs
  • OCR for scanned documentsNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it.
  • Compress and protect PDFsPartlyOpens everything from RC4 to AES-256 encryption
  • Request e-signaturesNot shownNeither the README nor the website mentions it.

Vital signs from GitHub, checked weekly. How we read these · How setup is read

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