Comparison

PDF Search vs PDF Squeezer

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

Head to head
About

PDF Search

This app uses AI to quickly search through multiple documents, finding information in seconds. It features NLP for smarter searches, OCR for text recognition in scanned documents and images, and allows for unified searching across devices.

Highlights
  • AI-powered document search
  • Natural Language Processing (NLP)
  • Built-in OCR for text recognition
  • Document scanning to PDF
  • Exportable search results
  • Unified search across devices
Features
Read full description

PDF Search — find it, and ask about it PDF Search reads every word of every document you own and makes it findable in the time it takes to type. Then it goes further: ask a question in plain words and get an answer, with the exact pages it came from. Built for people who live in documents — students, lawyers and researchers. ASK YOUR DOCUMENTS ANYTHING — NEW AI Chat answers questions about your library in plain language. Ask "can I end my lease early?" and it searches your documents, reads the pages that matter, and answers — citing the page each fact came from, so you can check it yourself. • Chat about your whole library, or the one document you are reading • Every answer carries page references you can tap • Conversations are saved, so you can pick one up later • Runs on your device, or on Apple's Private Cloud Compute AI Chat needs Apple Intelligence: an iPhone 15 Pro or later, or an iPad with an M-series chip, running iOS 26 or later. SEARCH THAT RANKS, NOT JUST MATCHES Ordinary search tells you a word exists somewhere. PDF Search scores every page on how well it answers you — where the words appear, how close together they are, whether they land in a heading — and puts the strongest first. • Results grouped by document, with every matching page and its rank • Jump straight to the page, your words highlighted in context • Search everything at once, or narrow to a folder or tag • Export results to share or keep LANGUAGE, NOT JUST LETTERS Indexing uses tokenizing and lemmatization, so search understands the shape of a word. Look for "hike" and find "hiking"; look for "children" and find "child". Stems and near matches are covered too. WORDS LOCKED IN PICTURES Built-in text recognition reads photographed receipts, scanned contracts and screenshots of slides, and adds every word to your index — so a picture of a page is as searchable as the page itself. It covers every language your device supports. The built-in scanner turns paper documents, notes and cards into PDFs, reads them as it goes, and files them with everything else — searchable from the moment they land. MORE THAN PDFS Index PDFs alongside Microsoft Office documents (Word, PowerPoint), iWork files (Pages, Keynote), rich text, plain text and logs, source code, and pages saved from the web. Turn any format off to skip it. KEEP A LARGE LIBRARY IN ORDER • Folders on device or in iCloud, plus any folder or file you point the app at • Tags, to cut across folders however you think • Bookmarks with notes, gathered in one place across every document • A document's table of contents, to move around a long file quickly • Highlights and annotations while you read • Index status at a glance: what is indexed, what is queued YOUR MAC, IN YOUR POCKET Run PDF Search on your Mac and sync over Wi-Fi with a single click. Documents come across with their index intact, so your iPhone or iPad need not do the work twice. PRIVATE BY DEFAULT Indexing and search happen on your device. Your documents stay yours. FREE AND PRO The free version indexes and searches your documents and opens the top-ranked result. Pro unlocks everything else: • AI Chat, with page references • Search inside images and scans • Scan paper to PDF • Plurals, stems and near matches • Every ranked result, not just the first • Export, tag and de-duplicate Pro comes as a monthly or annual subscription, or a one-off lifetime unlock — one payment, yours for good, no renewals. SUBSCRIPTION TERMS Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. A subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and renewal is charged within 24 hours of that. Manage or cancel any time in your Apple Account settings. An unused part of a free trial is forfeited when a subscription is bought. Privacy Policy: https://pdfsearch.app/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://pdfsearch.app/terms.html

About

PDF Squeezer

Reduce PDF file sizes on your iPhone or iPad with customizable compression settings. Preview changes before saving and process files securely offline. Automate tasks with iOS Shortcuts integration and compress multiple files at once.

Highlights
  • Customizable compression settings
  • Preview compressed PDFs
  • Offline, on-device processing
  • iOS Shortcuts integration
  • Batch compression
Features
Read full description

PDF Squeezer, the beloved Mac app, is now available for iPhone and iPad! Effortlessly reduce PDF file sizes with customizable compression settings to save space without losing quality. Process files securely on your device, ensuring total privacy with no internet connection required. Experience this well-known app's magic with an unlimited free trial! Customizable Compression Choose from light, moderate, or strong settings to balance file size reduction and quality, right from your iPhone or iPad. See Before You Save Preview your compressed PDFs directly on your device. Ensure the quality meets your needs before saving. Privacy-Focused Compression PDF Squeezer's on-device compression keeps your PDFs private and secure, eliminating the need for an Internet connection. Streamline Your Workflow PDF Squeezer integrates deeply with iOS, including a Shortcuts action for custom workflows. Automate your PDF compression tasks. Batch Compression Compress multiple PDF files at the same time to speed up your work. PDF Squeezer is also available for Mac and Windows as a separate purchase.

Screenshots

PDF Search4 screens
PDF Squeezer4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: PDF Squeezer at free with in-app purchases against PDF Search's subscription. PDF Squeezer also leads on rating (4.8 vs 4.3) and review sentiment (64% vs 50%). PDF Search's advantage is ratings volume (128 vs 22). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases 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 Search sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and PDF Squeezer sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PDF Squeezer holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PDF Search has 128 ratings behind it against 22, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 50% of PDF Search's written reviews are positive against 64% of PDF Squeezer's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Search ships an update every 2 weeks, PDF Squeezer monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
PDF Search versus PDF Squeezer: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF SearchPDF Squeezer
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.3 (128 ratings)4.8 (22 ratings) — better
Positive reviews50.0% of reviews63.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings128 — better22
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size16 MB29 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMuharrem OzkanDaniel Witt

Customer experience

PDF Search

All ratings128 ratings
Positive80.5%
Neutral6.3%
Negative13.3%
Written reviews64 reviews
Positive50.0%
Neutral12.5%
Negative37.5%

PDF Squeezer

All ratings22 ratings
Positive95.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative4.5%
Written reviews22 reviews
Positive63.6%
Neutral4.5%
Negative31.8%

In-app purchases

3 purchases

PDF Search

Subscriptions2
  • PRO Monthly Access$4.991 Month
  • PRO Annual Access3 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • PRO Lifetime Access$29.99
1 purchases

PDF Squeezer

One-time1
  • Full Version$9.99

Questions

Is PDF Search free?
PDF Search is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PDF Squeezer free?
PDF Squeezer is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PDF Search or PDF Squeezer?
PDF Squeezer is rated higher. PDF Search averages 4.3 out of 5 from 128 ratings, while PDF Squeezer averages 4.8 from 22 ratings.
Do PDF Search or PDF Squeezer have ads?
Neither PDF Search nor PDF Squeezer shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PDF Search or PDF Squeezer?
PDF Search ships an update every 2 weeks, and PDF Squeezer monthly. Most recently, PDF Search was updated on September 21, 2026 and PDF Squeezer on September 20, 2026.

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