5 Best Free PDF Markup Software Across Platforms

The best PDF editing software must offer more than just opening documents and editing texts. It’s vital to consider its markup features, especially for team collaborations. The best free PDF markup software can boost productivity by letting everyone in the team work on PDFs remotely. Therefore, we have prepared this guide to help you identify and understand some top-rated PDF editing programs in 2024 with powerful annotation capabilities.

5 Best Free PDF Markup Software Recommended

  1. Afirstsoft PDF

Do you quickly get bored by reading those long reviews? Choose this powerful PDF annotation tool. Afirstsoft PDF is a cross-platform software that lets you view and edit any PDF file on desktops and mobile platforms. It provides a range of PDF markup features that allow you to highlight texts, draw shapes, and add notes/comments. Let’s just say it’s an excellent tool for everyone, including students and business professionals.

Afirstsoft PDF key features:

  • Annotation features to highlight, underline, add notes, and apply strikethroughs. 
  • Quickly add or delete PDF texts with modern font styles. 
  • Compatible with various files, including documents, images, videos, and audio. 
  • PDF OCR (optical character recognition) scanning in multiple languages. 
  • AI assistant for summarizing PDF texts and answering questions. 
  • Create PDFs from document and image formats.
  • Cloud storage for remotely accessing PDFs on any device.

Four reasons why Afirstsoft PDF stands out:

  • Cross-platform compatibility: You can easily annotate and markup PDF files on Windows and MacOS computers. Afirstsoft PDF also offers apps for iPhones, iPads, and Android. Moreover, use the free cloud service to access PDFs on any device. 
  • Single license usability: A single Afirstsoft PDF license allows you to edit documents on up to four devices. That’s not all. You can use a single license to access documents on mobile phones and desktops.  
  • User-friendly interface: Afirstsoft PDF ensures maximum simplicity without compromising effectiveness. The MS Office-style layout makes it a friendly PDF annotation tool for all skill levels. 
  • Cost-effective: Its collaborative editing capabilities can reduce office paperwork and increase productivity. Our research also shows that the price of Afirstsoft PDF is only 25% of Adobe Acrobat’s.
  1. PDF X-Change Editor

PDF X-Change Editor is a beautiful desktop program. Although there’s no mobile version here, it stands out as one of the most feature-rich PDF editors. In addition to opening and viewing PDFs, it allows you to annotate your documents with comments and annotations. You can also find options to strike out, highlight, and underline texts. It does almost everything perfectly. 

Key features of PDF X-Change Editor:

  • Add shapes, hyperlinks, and audio to documents. 
  • OCR engine to make texts searchable and selectable. 
  • Create and edit fillable forms with a single click. 
  • Add watermarks to personalize documents. 
  1. Kami

Kami offers so much more than PDF viewing and editing. It has an intuitive toolbar to find tools for adding PDF markups, drawings, comments, and text boxes. With the markup feature, you can highlight texts, add strikethroughs, or underline important words. This allows you to enjoy detailed and clear PDF comments and notes. Kami works with any file, including slides, images, and sheets.

Kami key features:

  • Compatible with PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, and Android phones. 
  • Annotate PDFs with freehand drawings and coloring options. 
  • Share Kami documents with a QR code for real-time editing. 
  • Seamless integration with OneDrive, Google Drive, Canvas, and more. 
  1. PDFgear

PDFgear is a free document markup software for Windows PCs, MacOS, and iOS devices. It provides a range of markup tools for adding sticky notes, drawing shapes, underlining texts, and more. As expected, it also houses automation tools, such as the OCR function for scanning and making texts searchable and editable. Moreover, PDFgear can convert your documents into images and PPTs for seamless sharing. 

PDFgear key features:

  • Intuitive search tool for quickly finding information.
  • Highlight, underline, and add notes to PDFs. 
  • PDFgear AI for summarizing, explaining, and translating. 
  • Compress PDF files without losing quality. 
  1. PDFescape

Lastly, you can try PDFescape to annotate and add text markups to your PDF file on Macs and Windows PCs. It has an intuitive ribbon-style interface for seamlessly editing PDF texts and images. For example, you can change the font style or colors and highlight, underline, or cross out texts. You can also give your PDF a professional look with features like bookmarks, hyperlinks, and stamps. 

Key features of PDFescape:

  • Free PDFescape Basic plan for all users. 
  • Merge, crop, rotate, and extract PDF pages. 
  • Add PDF comments and notes for collaborative editing. 
  • Sign and certify PDFs for authenticity purposes. 

Conclusion

These are the best tools to manage and collaborate during the PDF process. Note that each has its strengths and weaknesses. This means the only way to find the best free PDF markup software is by trying one yourself. But if you’re short of time, we recommend downloading Afirstsoft PDF. It’s a free PDF markup tool with all the features to make collaborative editing successful. Try it today!

Tagged with , ,