Comparison

PDF Reader vs PDF Book Reader

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 Book Reader

Easily read, manage, and annotate PDF books and documents. This app offers a smooth reading experience, powerful annotation tools, and seamless cloud integration. Organize, search, and share your PDFs with ease.

Highlights
  • Natural PDF reading and navigation
  • PDF bookmarking and annotation
  • Text search and OCR extraction
  • PDF merging and page rearrangement
  • Cloud storage integration (Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud)
  • File import and export via cloud and Files app
  • PDF sharing and printing
Features
Read full description

PDF Book Reader app helps you easily and naturally read PDF books and documents. It works as smooth as reading web pages in web browsers. PDF Book Reader is the best app to read, manage and annotate PDF Books and it works beautifully on iOS 14. The most powerful PDF Book reader, carefully designed and optimized specially for the iPhone & iPad. [ KEY FEATURES ] • Naturally read and navigate PDF books • Bookmark PDF e-Books • Annotate PDF e-Books • Search texts in entire PDF files • Extract texts by using OCR • Merge PDF files • Rearrange PDF pages by drag & drop • Connect with Google Drive, Dropbox, iCloud, Photos • Import files from Files, Photos, Google Drive, Dropbox • Automatically and securely save PDF files in Files app • Share PDF files via email, text (sms), cloud solutions • Print PDF files [ Upgrade to subscription version ] Upgrading to subscription version requires auto-renewal subscription. Payment will be charged to your Apple ID account at the confirmation of purchase. The subscription automatically renews unless it is canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Your account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. You can manage and cancel your subscriptions by going to your App Store account settings after purchase. Links to Your Privacy Policy and Terms of Use: http://www.btoj.com.au/privacy.html http://www.btoj.com.au/terms.html Please feel free to contact us for anything.

Screenshots

PDF Reader4 screens
PDF Book Reader4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PDF Reader at none against PDF Book Reader's 2. PDF Reader also leads on ads (none vs shown) and rating (4.3 vs 3.9). PDF Book Reader's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (13.0 vs 15.0). On price 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

Both are free to download. PDF Book Reader sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. PDF Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PDF Reader holds the better App Store score, 4.3 against 3.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PDF Reader has 3.9K ratings behind it against 31, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 77% of PDF Reader's written reviews are positive against 61% of PDF Book Reader's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Reader ships an update every 2 months, PDF Book Reader every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 13, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
PDF Reader versus PDF Book Reader: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF ReaderPDF Book Reader
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (3.9K ratings) — better3.9 (31 ratings)
Positive reviews76.7% of reviews — better61.1% of reviews
Number of ratings3.9K — better31
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 5 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size173 MB46 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperWondershare Technology (Hunan) Co.,Ltd.B TO J PTY LTD

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 Book Reader

All ratings31 ratings
Positive74.2%
Neutral3.2%
Negative22.6%
Written reviews18 reviews
Positive61.1%
Neutral0.0%
Negative38.9%

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 Book Reader

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

PDF Reader

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

PDF Book Reader

Subscriptions2
  • 1 Month Subscription$3.991 Month
  • 1 Year Subscription$28.991 Year

Questions

Is PDF Reader free?
PDF Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PDF Book Reader free?
PDF Book Reader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PDF Reader or PDF Book Reader?
PDF Reader is rated higher. PDF Reader averages 4.3 out of 5 from 3.9K ratings, while PDF Book Reader averages 3.9 from 31 ratings.
Do PDF Reader or PDF Book Reader have ads?
PDF Book Reader shows ads; PDF Reader does not.
Which is updated more often, PDF Reader or PDF Book Reader?
PDF Reader ships an update every 2 months, and PDF Book Reader every 5 days. Most recently, PDF Reader was updated on September 23, 2026 and PDF Book Reader on September 13, 2026.

Other comparisons