# PDF Pro vs Polaris Office

The clearest difference is monetization model: Polaris Office at free with in-app purchases against PDF Pro's subscription. Polaris Office also leads on update cadence (every 4 weeks vs every 2 months). PDF Pro's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and rating (4.7 vs 4.4). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. PDF Pro sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per month and Polaris Office sells 13 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

PDF Pro holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 6.9K and 2.5K respectively. Written reviews complicate that: 60% of PDF Pro's written reviews are positive against 63% of Polaris Office's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

PDF Pro ships an update every 2 months, Polaris Office every 4 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 15, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | PDF Pro | Polaris Office |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[4.7 (6.9K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-pro-reader-editor-forms/id454936656/reviews)** | [4.4 (2.5K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/polaris-office-pdf-and-docs/id698070860/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **6.9K** | 2.5K |
| Positive reviews | 60.0% of reviews | **62.6% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | **No** | Yes |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | **Every 4 weeks** |
| Monetization | Subscription | **Free with in-app purchases** |
| Size | 97 MB | 243 MB |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | **16.0** |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, Mac** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Dominic Rodemer](https://appshunter.io/developer/309872333) | [Polaris Office Corp.](https://appshunter.io/developer/380275428) |

## What reviewers say

### PDF Pro

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-pro-reader-editor-forms/id454936656)

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:** Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (12)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Offer - Monthly - macOS | $1.99 | per month |
| Offer - Monthly - iOS | $2.99 | per month |
| Premium - Monthly - iOS | $3.99 | per month |
| Premium - Monthly - macOS | $4.99 | per month |
| Offer - Annual - iOS | $12.99 | per year |
| Offer - Annual - macOS | $22.99 | per year |
| Premium  - Annual - iOS | $24.99 | per year |
| Offer - macOS + iOS | $24.99 | per year |
| Offer - iOS + macOS | $29.99 | per year |
| Premium - Annual - macOS | $44.99 | per year |
| Premium - iOS + macOS | $49.99 | per year |
| Premium - macOS + iOS | $49.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

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

**What reviewers complain about**

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

**Reported bugs**

- 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**

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


### Polaris Office

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/polaris-office-pdf-and-docs/id698070860)

Create, edit, and share documents, spreadsheets, and presentations across multiple devices. This all-in-one office suite offers PDF viewing and conversion, with seamless cloud integration and collaboration features.

**Highlights:** Edit and save documents in various formats, View and convert PDFs, Sync across desktop, iPhone, and iPad, Share documents via link, Supports 18 global languages, Integrated cloud storage options

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (13)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Premium Service | $3.99 | per month |
| Smart Service | $3.99 | per month |
| Pro Service | $5.99 | per month |
| AI Service | $12.99 | per month |
| AI Service | $12.99 | per month |
| AI-Plus Service | $20.99 | per month |
| Premium Service | $39.99 | per year |
| Smart Service | $39.99 | per year |
| Pro Service | $59.99 | per year |
| AI Service | $129.99 | per year |
| AI-Plus Service | $209.99 | per year |
| Remove Ads(30 days) | $1.99 | one-time |
| Remove Ads | $10.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Efficient document editing
- 💡 Good alternative to Microsoft Office
- 🔒 Secure file storage and sync

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Frequent crashes and data loss
- 💸 Aggressive monetization with ads and subscriptions
- 🔍 Difficult to navigate and find features
- 🔌 Drains device battery quickly

**Reported bugs**

- Documents not saving properly
- Syncing issues between devices
- Compatibility problems with newer iOS versions
- Formatting issues when exporting to PDF

**Requested features**

- Add support for more file formats
- Improve offline document editing capabilities
- Provide better integration with cloud storage services
- Introduce a dark mode option


## Frequently asked questions

### Is PDF Pro free?

PDF Pro is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is Polaris Office free?

Polaris Office is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, PDF Pro or Polaris Office?

PDF Pro is rated higher. PDF Pro averages 4.7 out of 5 from 6.9K ratings, while Polaris Office averages 4.4 from 2.5K ratings.

### Do PDF Pro or Polaris Office have ads?

Polaris Office shows ads; PDF Pro does not.

### Which is updated more often, PDF Pro or Polaris Office?

PDF Pro ships an update every 2 months, and Polaris Office every 4 weeks. Most recently, PDF Pro was updated on October 14, 2026 and Polaris Office on October 15, 2026.

---

*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*