Comparison

PDF Pro vs PDFMaker

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

Head to head
About

PDF Pro

Edit, annotate, and read PDF documents on your iPhone and iPad. Highlight text, add notes, shapes, voice recordings, and photos. Search your entire PDF library, fill out forms, and sign documents.

Highlights
  • Edit and annotate PDFs
  • Highlight text and add notes
  • Embed audio and photo annotations
  • Full-text search of PDF library
  • Fill out and sign PDF forms
  • Organize PDFs with folders and tags
  • Import from cloud storage
Features
Read full description

PDF Pro lets you read, edit and annotate your PDF documents directly on your iPhone and iPad. Highlight text, take notes, embed shapes or draw with your finger. You can even embed voice recordings or photo annotations. Full-text-search your entire PDF library with just a single tap. Above all PDF Pro comes with full-featured PDF form and signature support. Key-Features At A Glance: • POWERFUL SEARCH: ∙ Full-text-search your entire PDF library. ∙ Search inside specific documents with easy navigation through the search results. ∙ Look-up selected text directly on Wikipedia or in the included dictionaries. • FILE-MANAGEMENT: ∙ Group your PDFs in folders and tag them with colorful labels. ∙ Import PDFs from your Dropbox®, Microsoft OneDrive® or Google Drive®. ∙ Add PDFs via USB or WiFi. ∙ Open E-Mail attachments. • CLEAR VIEW: ∙ Easily browse through all your annotations. ∙ Full PDF outline support. You can even search the outline. ∙ Get an overview of all your bookmarked or annotated pages just with a single tap. • SHARE and PRINT: ∙ Easily share your annotated documents with your friends or co-workers. ∙ Print your annotated and edited PDFs. ∙ You can even share or print single pages of a document. • HIGH SPEED and STABILITY: ∙ Rapid viewing of PDF documents. ∙ Smooth display of very large PDF files. • NIGHT MODE: ∙ Makes reading in the dark much easier on the eyes. • SECURITY: ∙ Support for password-protected PDFs • AND MUCH MORE... Premium Features and Premium Offer include: • ANNOTATIONS and NOTES: ∙ Highlight text, take notes or draw with your finger. ∙ Powerful shape editor for arrows, rectangles, circles, lines and much more. ∙ Embed audio and photo annotations into your PDFs. ∙ Use predefined stamps or create your own. • DOCUMENT EDITOR: ∙ Create new pages. ∙ Export pages or merge them into existing documents. ∙ Reorder, rotate and delete pages. • CONTENT EDITOR: • Modify the existing content of PDF documents. • MULTITASKING: ∙ Work with multiple PDFs at a time. ∙ Copy and paste annotations, shapes, images or text from one PDF document into another. • FORM SUPPORT: ∙ Just fill out your PDF form, sign it with your handwritten signature and you are ready to send it via E-Mail or print it via AirPrint®. A monthly or annual subscription is required to get access to all premium features and premium offer. --- Subscriptions automatically renew monthly or yearly depending on your plan unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period. Plans are priced at $3.99USD monthly and $24.99USD yearly (pricing may vary in countries other than the U.S.). Payment will be charged to your App Store Account at confirmation of purchase. To avoid automatic renewal, you must turn off auto-renew at least 24 hours before your subscription ends. You can turn off auto-renew at any time from your App Store Account Settings. Terms of Use: https://pdf-pro.net/terms-of-service/ Privacy Policy: https://pdf-pro.net/privacy-policy/

About

PDFMaker

Easily create and manage PDF documents from your mobile device. Scan images, merge files, extract text with OCR, and protect your documents with passwords. All processing is done offline for enhanced privacy.

Highlights
  • Scan images to PDF
  • Merge and split PDF files
  • Reorder and rotate pages
  • Extract text with OCR
  • Password protect PDFs
  • Convert websites to PDF
  • Compress PDF files
Features
Read full description

A powerful PDF Scanner with a set of tools for every PDF need. PDF Maker allows you to easily create PDF files from your mobile device. You can either take a picture using the app's scan feature or select images from your device’s camera roll. — A whole set of tools PDF Maker comes with a suite of tools to satisfy all PDF needs, you can: - Rename PDF files - Merge the contents of PDF files into a new file - Split contents of a PDF file into a new file - Reorder pages of a PDF document - Rotate individual pages or the whole document - Extract text from a PDF document, using industry lead OCR technology - Export as images - Compress PDF files - Convert a website page to PDF - Protect a PDF file with password - Unlock a password protected PDF file — Your privacy is our concern PDF Maker works 100% offline, using your device's processor to perform all tasks, so your documents are never sent to an external or third party server. PDF Maker is now available for all iOS devices!

Screenshots

PDF Pro4 screens
PDFMaker4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: PDFMaker at free with in-app purchases against PDF Pro's subscription. PDFMaker also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months) and review sentiment (76% vs 60%). PDF Pro's advantage is ratings volume (7K vs 1.4K). On price, rating, 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 Pro sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and PDFMaker 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

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for PDF Pro against 4.8 for PDFMaker. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7K and 1.4K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 60% of PDF Pro's written reviews are positive against 76% of PDFMaker's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Pro ships an update every 2 months, PDFMaker weekly. Both last shipped on October 26, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
PDF Pro versus PDFMaker: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF ProPDFMaker
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (7K ratings)4.8 (1.4K ratings) — better
Positive reviews60.0% of reviews76.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7K — better1.4K
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationSubscriptionFree with in-app purchases — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS17.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size97 MB54 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperDominic RodemerArthur Eduardo Skaetta Alvarez Desenvolvimento de Software LTDA.

Customer experience

PDF Pro

All ratings6,945 ratings
Positive93.4%
Neutral3.2%
Negative3.4%
Written reviews425 reviews
Positive60.0%
Neutral10.4%
Negative29.6%

PDFMaker

All ratings1,397 ratings
Positive95.6%
Neutral1.4%
Negative3.0%
Written reviews89 reviews
Positive76.4%
Neutral5.6%
Negative18.0%

User reviews

PDF Pro

From 7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 User-friendly interface
  • 🚀 Fast and efficient
  • 💡 Excellent PDF management features
  • 🔒 Secure and reliable
  • 🎨 Great annotation tools

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes and stability issues
  • 💰 Expensive subscription model
  • 🔍 Inconsistent search functionality
  • 📖 Loses last read position
  • 🖋️ Unreliable handwriting support

PDFMaker

From 1.4K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 Efficient PDF creation
  • 💰 Affordable one-time purchase
  • 📁 Useful for saving manuals and documents
  • 🙌 Great for scanning and merging documents

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Scanning issues (gray screen, brightness problems)
  • 🤔 Unexpected charges after first use
  • 🗑️ Lack of file deletion options
  • 💾 Unnecessarily large file sizes

Bugs and requests

PDF Pro

Reported bugs

5 issues
  • Annotations and highlights randomly disappearing
  • Compatibility issues with newer iOS versions
  • Corrupted PDF files after editing
  • Slow performance on older devices
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between PDFs

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved bookmarking and note-taking
  • Seamless iCloud/cloud storage integration
  • Customizable keyboard shortcuts
  • Advanced text editing and OCR capabilities
  • Better organization and folder management

PDFMaker

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashing when trying to save documents
  • Inability to find/access local files
  • Incompatibility with certain devices/platforms

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add brightness/contrast adjustment
  • Implement file deletion functionality
  • Optimize file sizes
  • Support for merging PDFs from various sources

In-app purchases

12 purchases

PDF Pro

Subscriptions12
  • Offer - Monthly - macOS3 Days trial$1.991 Month
  • Offer - Monthly - iOS3 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Premium - Monthly - iOS3 Days trial$3.991 Month
Show 9 more
  • Premium - Monthly - macOS3 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Offer - Annual - iOS3 Days trial$12.991 Year
  • Offer - Annual - macOS3 Days trial$22.991 Year
  • Premium - Annual - iOS3 Days trial$24.991 Year
  • Offer - macOS + iOS3 Days trial$24.991 Year
  • Offer - iOS + macOS3 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Premium - Annual - macOS3 Days trial$44.991 Year
  • Premium - iOS + macOS3 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Premium - macOS + iOS3 Days trial$49.991 Year
1 purchases

PDFMaker

One-time1
  • PDF Maker Premium$3.99

Questions

Is PDF Pro free?
PDF Pro is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PDFMaker free?
PDFMaker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PDF Pro or PDFMaker?
PDFMaker is rated higher. PDF Pro averages 4.7 out of 5 from 7K ratings, while PDFMaker averages 4.8 from 1.4K ratings.
Do PDF Pro or PDFMaker have ads?
Neither PDF Pro nor PDFMaker shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PDF Pro or PDFMaker?
PDF Pro ships an update every 2 months, and PDFMaker weekly. Most recently, PDF Pro was updated on October 26, 2026 and PDFMaker on October 26, 2026.

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