# PDF Reader vs DarkPDF

The clearest difference is price: PDF Reader at Free against DarkPDF's $0.99. PDF Reader also leads on review sentiment (77% vs 47%) and ratings volume (3.9K vs 27). DarkPDF's advantage is update cadence (every 4 days vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On rating, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

PDF Reader is free to download; DarkPDF costs $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.3 for PDF Reader against 4.3 for DarkPDF. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PDF Reader has 3.9K ratings behind it against 27, 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 47% of DarkPDF's.

PDF Reader ships an update every 2 months, DarkPDF every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on September 30, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | PDF Reader | DarkPDF |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | **Free** | $0.99 |
| Rating | [4.3 (3.9K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-reader-pdfelement/id1150215996/reviews) | [4.3 (27 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/darkpdf/id1487657766/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **3.9K** | 27 |
| Positive reviews | **76.7% of reviews** | 47.1% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Every 4 days** |
| Monetization | **Free** | Paid |
| Size | 173 MB | 3 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | **13.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Wondershare Technology (Hunan) Co.,Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1721309409) | [Numathic](https://appshunter.io/developer/1000499318) |

## What reviewers say

### PDF Reader

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-reader-pdfelement/id1150215996)

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:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Efficient PDF editing
- 💡 Useful annotation tools
- 🚀 Convenient for students/professionals
- 👍 Great value for free app

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Crashes and glitches
- 🔒 Privacy concerns with account requirement
- 👎 Unintuitive user interface
- 🐛 Unreliable saving/syncing
- 👎 Limited functionality compared to paid version

**Reported bugs**

- 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**

- 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.)


### DarkPDF

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/darkpdf/id1487657766)

This app allows you to read PDF documents in dark mode, inverting text and background colors to reduce eye strain. It also offers the ability to compress margins and blank spaces for a larger text display.

**Highlights:** Dark mode PDF reading, Invert text and background, Larger text display, Margin compression, Cross-platform compatibility (macOS & iOS)

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is PDF Reader free?

PDF Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is DarkPDF free?

DarkPDF costs $0.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Which has better reviews, PDF Reader or DarkPDF?

PDF Reader and DarkPDF are both rated 4.3 out of 5 on the App Store, from 3.9K and 27 ratings respectively.

### Do PDF Reader or DarkPDF have ads?

Neither PDF Reader nor DarkPDF shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, PDF Reader or DarkPDF?

PDF Reader ships an update every 2 months, and DarkPDF every 4 days. Most recently, PDF Reader was updated on September 30, 2026 and DarkPDF on September 21, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*