Comparison

PDF Reader vs LightPDF

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

LightPDF

This app offers a comprehensive suite of tools for managing PDF documents on your mobile device. It leverages AI to summarize, chat with, and convert PDFs, along with scanning capabilities, text extraction, and editing features. It also includes an ID photo maker and watermark removal.

Highlights
  • AI Chat with PDFs
  • Phone Scanner to PDF
  • PDF to Word/JPG/Excel Converter
  • OCR Text Extraction
  • PDF Editing and Annotation
  • ID Photo Maker
  • Watermark Removal
Features
Read full description

LightPDF, AI-powered, is a must-have PDF toolkit for your mobile device. You can use it to summarize and chat with PDFs and other documents, and quickly get the key information from the files! And it takes advantage of AI to help you easily scan paperwork to PDFs, extract texts and remove specific objects. It can be your PDF converter, editor, reader, on-the-go mobile scanner, cloud-based PDF storage, and ID photo maker. Try LightPDF to convert, OCR, scan, edit, read, annotate, comment, compress, and merge PDFs easily and quickly to get a high-quality result. And its sharing and collaborating feature can help you communicate smoothly with your colleagues on the same PDF document, and improve your teamwork productivity. What LightPDF can do: Smart AI Chat Assistant for PDFs - Ask questions to the chatbot about your file and it will answer you with cited sources - Quickly output results in markdown and table formats - Chat with PDFs, scans, Excel, Word, PPT, and ePub documents Intelligent Phone Scanner - Take photos of your papers, cards, books, and more to turn them into PDF format. Work as your pocket PDF scanner - Extract and copy texts from paper works - Remove handwriting from the test paper - Advanced filter features for better scanning result Powerful PDF Converter with OCR - Convert PDF to Word, JPG, PNG, Excel, PPT, and TXT, as well as turn Word, PPT, Excel, JPG, PNG, and CAD formats to PDF - Equipped with OCR technology to recognize and turn PDF scans and photos into docx, xlsx, pptx, pdf, and txt formats - Convert multiple documents at the same time and quickly get your work done Cloud-based PDF Editor & Reader - Edit, sign, and add images to a PDF file - Highlight, draw markups, and insert notes into PDF - Reduce PDF file size with a few touches - Combine multiple PDF documents into one - Read PDFs, add bookmarks, search and annotate - Print PDFs directly from your devices - Auto-sync PDFs in order to work with PDFs on the go. No more worry about losing data Handy ID Photo Maker - Create ID and passport photos with ease. It allows you to remove the background, change the background color, and produce a new photo with the selected size - Unblur the photo to enhance its quality and make it clear Image Watermark Removal - AI automatically recognizes and removes watermarks from images, eliminating the need for manual smudging like in Photoshop. It is particularly effective for large logos and full-screen watermarks, enhancing learning efficiency. New Way for Teamwork - Share files via links with your team and invite multiple people to view, edit, highlight, sign, and add comments on the same PDF at the same time - Set permissions to keep PDF security under control - Upload the file to the cloud, and access it on any device - Star files as favorites to quickly find and open them Subscriptions will be charged to your credit card through your iTunes account. Your subscription will automatically renew unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. After purchase, please manage your subscriptions in the App Store Account Settings. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you need any help or have suggestions on LightPDF, please feel free to contact us. We can't keep making progress without your voice. Email: support@lightpdf.com Customer Service Center: https://lightpdf.com/contact FAQ: https://lightpdf.com/faqs/lightpdf-editor-faq Privacy Policy:https://lightpdf.com/privacy Terms of Service:https://lightpdf.com/terms

Screenshots

PDF Reader4 screens
LightPDF4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PDF Reader at none against LightPDF's 13. PDF Reader also leads on ratings volume (3.9K vs 52). LightPDF's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (88% vs 77%). On price, rating, ads 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. LightPDF sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $13.99 per 7 days. PDF Reader asks for nothing beyond the download.

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 LightPDF. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PDF Reader has 3.9K ratings behind it against 52, 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 88% of LightPDF's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Reader ships an update every 2 months, LightPDF every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 21, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
PDF Reader versus LightPDF: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF ReaderLightPDF
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (3.9K ratings) — better4.3 (52 ratings)
Positive reviews76.7% of reviews88.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings3.9K — better52
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.014.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size173 MB113 MB
Age rating4+17+
DeveloperWondershare Technology (Hunan) Co.,Ltd.Wangxu Technology Co., 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%

LightPDF

All ratings52 ratings
Positive92.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative7.7%
Written reviews86 reviews
Positive88.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative11.6%

User reviews

PDF Reader

From 3.9K App Store ratings

What we love

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

Room to improve

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

LightPDF

From 52 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • 🚀 Efficient PDF tools
  • ✨ High-quality PDF to Word conversion
  • 💡 Impressive OCR functionality
  • 💬 Helpful AI chatbot

Room to improve

  • 💸 High price
  • ❌ App doesn't work
  • 💳 Unexpected charges
  • 🚫 Watermark removal issues
  • 📉 Blurry pictures

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.)

LightPDF

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • App requests more money after payment
  • Paid subscription not unlocking features
  • Trial period charged despite cancellation
  • Scans cut off PDF to 3 pages or under
  • Performance issues

Requested features

3 requests
  • iPad support
  • Edit text in the exact same font
  • More advanced editing features

In-app purchases

None

PDF Reader

No in-app purchases

12 purchases

LightPDF

Subscriptions5
  • LightPDF Weekly Subscription$13.997 Days
  • LightPDF Monthly Subscription2 variants$19.991 Month
  • LightPDF Yearly Subscription$47.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • LightPDF Annual Subscription$49.991 Year
  • LightPDF Yearly Subscription3 Days trial$59.991 Year
One-time7
  • iOS LightPDF - 1 Week$9.99
  • 買一年送一年$79.99
  • 1年購入で1年おまけ$84.99
Show 4 more
  • 2 zum Preis von 1$99.99
  • 3-Year Subscription$99.99
  • Mac LightPDF Lifetime Plan$109.99
  • Buy 3 yrs Get 3 yrs Free$149.99

Questions

Is PDF Reader free?
PDF Reader is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is LightPDF free?
LightPDF is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PDF Reader or LightPDF?
PDF Reader is rated higher. PDF Reader averages 4.3 out of 5 from 3.9K ratings, while LightPDF averages 4.3 from 52 ratings.
Do PDF Reader or LightPDF have ads?
Neither PDF Reader nor LightPDF shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PDF Reader or LightPDF?
PDF Reader ships an update every 2 months, and LightPDF every 2 weeks. Most recently, PDF Reader was updated on October 21, 2026 and LightPDF on October 19, 2026.

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