Comparison

PDF Reader vs PDF Maker & Reader Pro

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

Head to head
About

PDF Reader

This app offers a superior PDF reading experience with its innovative Liquid Mode, which optimizes documents for mobile screens. It also provides robust tools for annotating, signing, managing, and sharing your PDF files, catering to both work and study needs.

Highlights
  • Liquid Mode for optimized mobile reading
  • Annotation tools (pencil, text, highlighting)
  • Handwritten signature insertion
  • File management (move, merge, copy, delete)
  • Cloud service integration (Wondershare, iCloud)
  • Create blank PDFs and folders
Features
Read full description

PDFelement - PDF Reader is a PDF reader using the latest technology. The newly connected Liquid Mode function allows you to enjoy the best reading experience. In addition, there are various annotation tools, file management, signature, Various functions such as cloud services can meet your PDF needs in work and study. PDF VIEWER • Liquid Mode gives you the best PDF reading experience • Star files to find them quickly • Easily locate recently accessed files in the "Recent" list. • Enter the page number to navigate to the desired page for viewing LIQUID MODE • Get the best PDF Reading experience with Liquid Mode • PDF document fully fits the mobile phone screen, no need to zoom in and out repeatedly. • Easily adjust brightness, font size,style, and spacing. ANNOTATE • Using Pencil to annotate like writing on the paper • Add text annotations, freely modify the text and background, border colors, choose the appropriate font and font size. • Supports many annotating tools like highlighting, underlining, squiggly lines, or strikethroughs. MANAGE • Move, merge, copy or delete files SIGNATURE • Enables handwritten signatures to be inserted anywhere within the document, while also offering the ability to zoom in and out for greater flexibility. • Built-in commonly used stamps CREATE • Quickly create completely blank PDF documents • Creat blank folders. SHARE • Sharing document content with others is just a click away with capture feature. • Select sentence(s) or pragraph(s) to share CLOUD SERVICE • PDF Reader supports uploading or downloading docs via computer, Wondershare document cloud and iCloud. Please note that this app only supports editing native PDF files. It does not support editing scanned or raster PDF. If you find you cannot edit text in PDF, please check if it is scanned PDF. Thank you! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Need HELP? Please contact us! We'll feedback to you ASAP. Email: pdfelement@wondershare.com Support Center: http://support.wondershare.com Forum: http://forum.pdf.wondershare.com Official Website: https://pdf.wondershare.com If you think this App helps you, your positive review in the App Store would be much appreciated.

About

PDF Maker & Reader Pro

Create and edit PDF documents on your iPhone and iPad. Add text, photos, maps, and diagrams to new or existing PDFs. Easily share your creations via email or cloud storage.

Highlights
  • Create new PDF documents
  • Edit existing PDFs
  • Add text, photos, and maps
  • Input manually or with keyboard
  • Support for Apple Pencil
  • Share via email and cloud storage
Features
Read full description

PDF Maker & Reader is a simple and powerful tool for reading and creating PDF. It can be displayed PDF documents on iPhone and iPad and you can input either manually or from the keyboard and add photos, maps, lines and diagrams. And you can make a new PDF document. PDF documents that you made can be output to many applications. [Major Functions] - You can read PDF documents from iTunes, iCloud Drive and many applications.(compatible with App Extensions) - You can make a new PDF document. - You can make a PDF document in the following way.  1. You can input either manually or from the keyboard (compatible with Apple Pencil).  2. You can paste up to photos.  3. You can paste maps.  4. By pasting figures and lines, you can display PDF documents graphically. - You can upload PDF documents to iTunes, iCloud Drive, applications compatible with PDF, and you can attach PDF to emails. [Contact us] https://www.studioks.net/en/contact-us/ [Studio K's - Business Applications Maker] https://www.studioks.net/en/

Screenshots

PDF Reader4 screens
PDF Maker & Reader Pro4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: PDF Reader at Free against PDF Maker & Reader Pro's $1.99. PDF Reader also leads on review sentiment (77% vs 40%) and ratings volume (3.9K vs 12). PDF Maker & Reader Pro's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (10.3 vs 15.0). On rating, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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 Reader is free to download; PDF Maker & Reader Pro costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.3 for PDF Reader against 4.3 for PDF Maker & Reader Pro. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PDF Reader has 3.9K ratings behind it against 12, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 77% of PDF Reader's written reviews are positive against 40% of PDF Maker & Reader Pro's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Reader ships an update every 2 months, PDF Maker & Reader Pro every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard6 real differences · 4 level
PDF Reader versus PDF Maker & Reader Pro: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF ReaderPDF Maker & Reader Pro
PriceFree — better$1.99
Rating4.3 (3.9K ratings)4.3 (12 ratings)
Positive reviews76.7% of reviews — better40.0% of reviews
Number of ratings3.9K — better12
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFree — betterPaid
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.010.3 — better
Further details — not scored
Size173 MB14 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWondershare Technology (Hunan) Co.,Ltd.NAOAKI SEKIGUCHI

Customer experience

PDF Reader

All ratings3,923 ratings
Positive83.1%
Neutral3.2%
Negative13.7%
Written reviews1,582 reviews
Positive76.7%
Neutral6.1%
Negative17.2%

PDF Maker & Reader Pro

All ratings12 ratings
Positive83.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative16.7%
Written reviews5 reviews
Positive40.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative60.0%

Bugs and requests

PDF Reader

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Text boxes appearing randomly
  • Inability to select/edit text in some PDFs
  • Scrolling issues and page loading delays
  • Incompatibility with certain PDF formats

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to edit text formatting (font, size, color)
  • Support for multiple open documents
  • Improved Apple Pencil integration
  • Bookmark/favorite feature for frequently used PDFs
  • Expanded cloud storage integration (OneDrive, Google Drive, etc.)

PDF Maker & Reader Pro

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

PDF Reader

No in-app purchases

None

PDF Maker & Reader Pro

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PDF Reader free?
PDF Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PDF Maker & Reader Pro free?
PDF Maker & Reader Pro costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, PDF Reader or PDF Maker & Reader Pro?
PDF Reader and PDF Maker & Reader Pro are both rated 4.3 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3.9K and 12 ratings respectively.
Do PDF Reader or PDF Maker & Reader Pro have ads?
Neither PDF Reader nor PDF Maker & Reader Pro shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PDF Reader or PDF Maker & Reader Pro?
PDF Reader ships an update every 2 months, and PDF Maker & Reader Pro every 3 weeks. Most recently, PDF Reader was updated on September 23, 2026 and PDF Maker & Reader Pro on September 18, 2026.

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