Drag & drop a PDF file here, or click to browse
If you need more than PDF Editor
Add text, drawings, highlights, shapes, and whiteout+rewrite to any PDF — plus manage pages (delete, reorder, rotate, insert blank). All annotations are flattened into the PDF on save so they show in Acrobat, Preview, and Chrome. 100% free, no upload, no sign-up, no watermark.
Annotate + Manage PagesNo UploadNo Sign-upFlatten on Save
| Feature | Ours | SmallPDF | iLovePDF | Adobe |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annotate any PDF | Free (unlimited) | $12/mo | Free (limited) | $20/mo |
| Upload required | No — local processing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sign-up required | No | Yes for free tier | No | Yes |
| Page management | Delete / Reorder / Rotate / Insert | Pro only | Basic | Full |
| Whiteout + rewrite | Yes | Pro only | No | Yes |
| Works offline after first load | Yes | No | No | No |
| Watermark on output | None | Yes on free | Yes on free | No |
Partially. PDF text is stored as positioned glyphs, not as semantic characters — pdf-lib cannot reflow existing text. The Whiteout tool covers the original text with a white rectangle, then draws your replacement text on top, which looks like a real text edit but is technically an overlay. For minor corrections and label changes this works well. For heavy reflow, use PDF to Word first.
Yes. Every annotation is flattened onto the page during save using pdf-lib primitives, so the output is a standard PDF. No special viewer is needed — the file works everywhere.
Helvetica by default (and Helvetica-Bold for whiteout replacement text). When your annotation text contains CJK, Cyrillic, Greek, or other non-Latin characters, the tool automatically switches to an embedded Noto font so the text renders correctly across all PDF readers.
You can add annotations and manage pages on any PDF, including scanned ones. The underlying text stays as an image so you cannot search or copy it. Use the OCR PDF tool first to add a text layer if you need that.
Not in v1. This tool focuses on annotations and page management. To fill or create form fields, use a desktop tool. To remove encryption that blocks some PDF features, use the PDF Unlock tool first.
Up to 100 pages per document, limited by your browser's memory. For larger files, use PDF Split first and process the parts separately. Individual files up to 256 MB are accepted.
Not directly in this tool. Use the PDF Unlock tool first to remove the password, then come back here. Decryption also happens entirely in your browser.
File size scales with the number and size of annotations. A document with a few text callouts and highlights stays roughly the same size; a document heavily annotated with high-resolution ink drawings can grow 2–5×. The output is still a normal PDF with no watermark.
For deeper PDF editing beyond what a free browser tool can do, PDF Agile's editor handles text reflow and redaction in one place.
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When you outgrow a single-purpose tool, PDFelement bundles editing, OCR, conversion, and eSign in one paid desktop suite.
We keep things browser-based and free; PDFelement adds desktop-class polish for advanced features like Bates numbering.
UPDF is an AI-assisted PDF editor with built-in OCR and chat-with-PDF, useful for edits our free tool can't handle.
We focus on common cases; UPDF adds an AI layer for asking questions about the document content.