Comparison

PDF Viewer by Nutrient vs PDF Toolbox

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

PDF Viewer by Nutrient

Easily view, search, and annotate PDF documents on your iPhone and iPad. Import files from cloud services, fill out forms, add signatures, and organize your documents. Advanced features like redaction and combining documents are available with a Pro subscription.

Highlights
  • View and search PDFs
  • Annotate with highlights and notes
  • Sign documents digitally
  • Fill out PDF forms
  • Organize and share documents
  • Import from cloud services
Features
Read full description

PDF Viewer is a fast and beautiful app, allowing you to view, search, and annotate PDF documents with ease on your iPhone and iPad. Access your files from iCloud, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, Google Drive or any other cloud solution via Apple's familiar Document Browser interface. +++ Listed as “Productivity lifesaver” on the App Store +++ "A streamlined interface packed with powerful features - it’s like having a desktop-quality PDF toolkit wherever we go" – App Store Editor Notes “I'm impressed by how the folks at PSPDFKit have been able to fine-tune the document browser to the app's needs.” – MacStories.net "If you want a PDF viewer that is designed for reading PDF books, this is it." – App Review VIEW DOCUMENTS ON THE GO • Easily import a PDF from your favorite cloud service provider, email, or directly off a website. • Supports Open In Place, Drag & Drop and features the familiar Apple Document Browser interface from the Files app. • Search for the exact text you are looking for within the document. • Double tap on the screen to Smart Zoom directly to the text you want to read. • Annotate images (JPEG, PNG) non-destructive, just like PDF documents. (PRO) ANNOTATE WITH EASE • While reviewing a document, use your finger or Apple Pencil to highlight and markup text. • Leave comments by adding a note, text, or drawing directly on the PDF. • Add images or audio. • Reply to notes. (PRO) SIGN DOCUMENTS ANYWHERE • Add your signature to any document using your finger or Apple Pencil. • Move and resize your signature as needed. • Flatten a document to ensure the signature doesn’t change. CREATE AND EDIT PDFs • Create new documents from existing documents by moving, rotating, deleting, or adding new pages. • Combine multiple documents into a single one. (PRO) • Add bookmarks to easily return to certain pages in large documents. FILL OUT FORMS • Quickly fill out PDF Forms by adding text to the fields. • Flatten and secure the form once you’re done to ensure the document doesn’t change. • Add a signature to any Form. STORE, ORGANIZE AND SHARE • Store documents, create folders and organize your documents. • Share documents by printing, emailing or saving your edits back any cloud service. PASSWORD PROTECT DOCUMENTS • Read document metadata, title and keywords. • Protect documents with user and owner passwords and limit permissions. (PRO) AND SO MUCH MORE • Conveniently switch to night mode when viewing your documents at night. • Present on external screens without the distraction of toolbars. (PRO) • Have the text from a PDF read out loud to you with text-to-speech. • PDF Viewer remembers where you were down to the page/position where you left off - even across devices. PRICING PDF Viewer comes with a large feature set, completely free. Some advanced features require the purchase of PDF Viewer Pro, available as a subscription. We offer 3-monthly and yearly subscription plans. There’s also a fully functional 7-day trial, so you can test PDF Viewer Pro (including document merging and password editing) before you commit. All plans unlock the app on iPhone and iPad. TRUSTED BY COMPANIES YOU KNOW PDF Viewer is built on top of and powered by PSPDFKit, the same PDF engine trusted around the world by companies like Dropbox, Box, IBM, Atlassian, SAP, and Lufthansa. BE PART OF THE PDF VIEWER COMMUNITY pdfviewer.io twitter.com/pdfviewerapp LEGAL Duration and price of each subscription are displayed in PDF Viewers’ storefront, updated at the time of purchase. Payment will be charged to iTunes account at confirmation of purchase. Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off no later than 24 hours before the end of the current period. Subscriptions and auto-renewal can be managed/turned off in the iTunes account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial period is forfeited as soon as a subscription is purchased. Terms of Use: https://pdfviewer.io/terms Privacy Policy: https://pdfviewer.io/privacy

About

PDF Toolbox

Features
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Fifteen tools, one app, bought once: - Split a PDF by page ranges (1-3,7,9-12) or every N pages - Merge several PDFs into one — in order, interleaved, or reversed - Compress a PDF and see the real before/after size - Add a watermark — text, angle, opacity, placement - Add Bates numbers — prefix, starting number, zero-padding - Set or remove a password and its permissions - Read the words off a scan, so they can be selected and searched - Run split, compress, watermark, page numbers, Bates, rotate, password or form-fill across many files The real problem with a PDF app is not whether it works offline. It is what it does to your file once you trust it: corrupted files, blank saves, lost annotations, disappearing pages. PDF Toolbox is built around one rule: your file is never modified, and every PDF it writes is checked before you see it. WHAT'S IN 2.0 - Pages — split by ranges or every N pages, extract, reorder, delete, rotate, duplicate a page - Convert — scan with your camera, photos into a PDF, a PDF into JPEG, PNG, or HEIC images - Reduce — compress while keeping text selectable, or rasterize the pages for the smallest file - Mark — watermark, page numbers, Bates numbering, headers and footers - Mark up — highlight, underline, strike through, note, or draw on the page - Sign — draw or type a signature, then place and scale it - Forms — fill in a PDF form, or lock the answers in - Text — copy, search, and extract all the text in a document - Files — open from Files, iCloud, Mail, or Safari; recents one tap away - Home, Tools, Scan and Settings tabs; every tool in its own colour - iPad — full support, either orientation HOW WE PROTECT YOUR FILE Your original is opened read-only and is never the file PDF Toolbox writes to. Every job builds a new file in a private, temporary location, checks it, and only then hands it to you — through the share sheet or Save to Files. If a check fails, you get a plain error and no file — never a broken one labeled as done. What gets checked on every PDF this app writes: it opens correctly in two independent PDF readers, it has exactly the pages it should, no page comes out blank that wasn't blank in your original, the text you had is still there and still selectable wherever the job promises it, and your original is confirmed untouched — the same SHA-256, byte for byte, before and after. Above 64 MB it is checked on size, date and its first and last megabyte instead, and the receipt says "size and date unchanged" when that is what ran. Two things get fewer than nine, and say so: the strongest compression rasterizes the pages, so its receipt reads "pages rasterized — text no longer selectable" instead of the text clause; and page images and extracted text are not PDFs, so they arrive named and sized under "Saved" rather than "Verified". You see it before you export: the file, named and sized, every check ticked off beneath it. HONEST LIMITS Signing draws your signature onto the page. It is not a legal e-signature service — no identity verification, no audit trail, no certificate. Reading the words off a scan is never perfect. PDF Toolbox lays what it read invisibly over the picture and never alters the page you scanned. Locking a form's answers in flattens dropdown fields showing their first choice rather than the one you picked. Type the answer into a text field if the exact wording matters. PDF Toolbox does not convert Word or Office files to PDF, and it never will. iOS has no on-device way to do that correctly, and we will not upload your file to a server to fake it. Compression can only shrink pictures — a document that is already just text and lines has nothing left to squeeze, and PDF Toolbox says which of those it found rather than inventing a percentage. THE TERMS Bought once. No subscription, no in-app purchases, no ads. Fully offline — no account, no analytics, no network requests. Already own PageSplit? It is now PDF Toolbox, and 2.0 is a free update — no new charge.

Screenshots

PDF Viewer by Nutrient4 screens
PDF Toolbox4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PDF Viewer by Nutrient at Free against PDF Toolbox's $2.99. PDF Viewer by Nutrient also leads on device support (4 vs 2). PDF Toolbox's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2). On update cadence, ads and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

PDF Viewer by Nutrient is free to download; PDF Toolbox costs $2.99 up front. PDF Viewer by Nutrient sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $6.99 per 3 months. PDF Toolbox asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Viewer by Nutrient ships an update monthly, PDF Toolbox every 5 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 12, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
PDF Viewer by Nutrient versus PDF Toolbox: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF Viewer by NutrientPDF Toolbox
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.6 (9.1K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews73.6% of reviews—
Number of ratings9.1K — better—
Update frequencyMonthly — betterEvery 5 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, Mac, Vision Pro — betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size112 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPSPDFKit GmbHNOSHU, llc

Bugs and requests

PDF Viewer by Nutrient

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Annotations randomly disappearing or not saving
  • Incompatibility issues with certain PDF files
  • Scrolling and panning problems on large PDFs
  • Unexpected crashes after iOS updates

Requested features

5 requests
  • Add a rubber/eraser tool for annotations
  • Implement a side-by-side PDF view mode
  • Improve palm rejection and gesture support
  • Allow customization of toolbar and shortcuts
  • Provide better options for PDF file management

PDF Toolbox

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

2 purchases

PDF Viewer by Nutrient

Subscriptions2
  • PDF Viewer Pro 3 Months7 Days trial$6.993 Months
  • PDF Viewer Pro Yearly7 Days trial$19.991 Year
None

PDF Toolbox

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PDF Viewer by Nutrient free?
PDF Viewer by Nutrient is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PDF Toolbox free?
PDF Toolbox costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Do PDF Viewer by Nutrient or PDF Toolbox have ads?
Neither PDF Viewer by Nutrient nor PDF Toolbox shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PDF Viewer by Nutrient or PDF Toolbox?
PDF Viewer by Nutrient ships an update monthly, and PDF Toolbox every 5 weeks. Most recently, PDF Viewer by Nutrient was updated on October 17, 2026 and PDF Toolbox on October 12, 2026.

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