# PDF Reader vs PDF Book Reader

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.

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.

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.

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.

## The numbers

| Metric | PDF Reader | PDF Book Reader |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.3 (3.9K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-reader-pdfelement/id1150215996/reviews)** | [3.9 (31 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-book-reader/id1576631236/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **3.9K** | 31 |
| Positive reviews | **76.7% of reviews** | 61.1% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | **No** | Yes |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Every 5 days** |
| Monetization | **Free** | Free with in-app purchases |
| Size | 173 MB | 46 MB |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | **13.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Wondershare Technology (Hunan) Co.,Ltd.](https://appshunter.io/developer/1721309409) | [B TO J PTY LTD](https://appshunter.io/developer/569308231) |

## 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.)


### PDF Book Reader

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-book-reader/id1576631236)

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:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (2)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 Month Subscription | $3.99 | per month |
| 1 Year Subscription | $28.99 | per year |


## Frequently asked 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.

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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.*