Free PDF editing in 2026: ONLYOFFICE and PDFgear lead, because they truly edit content — locally and without watermarks

Asked:

top 10 free apps for pdf editing

Ten free PDF-editing suites, ranked from a scan of 1,338 unique comparison and search pages plus 2,076 official-project and vendor results on 30 September 2026, corroborated across six distinct source domains. The editorial score (0–1) is a consistent ranking aid weighing permanent free editing, breadth, watermark/quota freedom, privacy and platform reach — not a scientific measurement.

The ranking at a glance

edits existing text & objects for free adds text / annotations only ◆ works locally, no upload · hover a bar for details

What the bars cannot say

ONLYOFFICE (#1) is the only free desktop editor here that also inserts tables, charts and SmartArt and converts PDFs to DOCX — its only gate is paid AI features. sekin.in

PDFgear (#2) is the easiest no-watermark pick: no signup, no export watermark, no stated size cap, free OCR, offline desktop editing. vexifa.com

PDF24 (#3) offers the widest toolbox — 44+ tools fully free — but real text editing needs its Windows-only desktop app; the web side is operations-only, though anonymous. vexifa.com

Watch the traps lower down: Tenorshare PDNob (#6) allows only 20 watermark-free edits, and PDF-XChange (#7) watermarks the save if any premium-marked tool is touched, even accidentally. tenorshare.com

Pick by use case

Best overall

ONLYOFFICE PDF Editor

Full free content editing on Windows, macOS and Linux, working locally; only AI features are paid.

Easiest no-watermark option

PDFgear

No signup, no export watermark, offline desktop editing with free OCR.

Broadest toolbox

PDF24

44+ free tools in the browser; true text editing via its Windows desktop app.

Best open-source choice

LibreOffice

Fully open source across Windows, Mac and Linux; files never leave the device, but complex layouts can suffer.

Best visual / design editor

Canva

Moves, restyles and rewrites a document's content freely, but lacks signing, tracking and OCR.

Best browser option

PDF24 web · PDFescape

PDF24's web tools are anonymous and free; PDFescape adds text and forms in any browser under 10 MB / 100-page limits.

All ten, compared

#	App	Platforms	Free editing	Key free-tier limits	Privacy	Score	Source

Method: 10 PDF-editing app suites ranked from a scan of 1,338 unique comparison/search pages and 2,076 official-project/vendor search results, collected 2026-09-30, linked to six distinct source domains (at most four rows backed by any one URL). Editorial score (0–1) weighs permanent free editing ability, tool breadth, absence of watermarks or tight quotas, privacy and platform support; it is a consistent ranking aid, not a precise measurement. Source page/host counts are corroboration signals, not popularity. PDF24 desktop and web variants merged into one suite; long feature lists trimmed in the table for space.

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