Comparison

PDF Max vs PDF Export

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

Head to head
About

PDF Max

This app offers a comprehensive suite of tools for editing, annotating, and organizing PDF documents. It allows users to extract key information, create study materials, and fill out forms. Advanced features include OCR scanning, voice notes, and PDF page management.

Highlights
  • Edit text, images, and links in PDFs
  • Annotate with highlights, stamps, and comments
  • Scan documents with OCR capabilities
  • Create and fill PDF forms
  • Organize and study content with Cards
  • Export work to Markdown, PDF, or Word
Features
Read full description

PDF Max is a complete PDF editor for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, trusted by millions of people since 2012. From signing a form to building research you can verify, PDF Max helps you edit, annotate, organize, understand, study, protect, and deliver PDFs—all in one app. YOUR PDF. NOW A WORKSPACE. Collect important passages, highlights, images, tables, formulas, and notes as Cards beside your PDFs. Every Card remembers where it came from, so you can return to the original page whenever you need the full context. • Search, tag, connect, and arrange your Cards • Gather related Cards into named groups called Frames • Organize evidence from several PDFs without merging them • Compare passages side by side or view your evidence as an Outline or table • Present Frames or export your work to Markdown, PDF, or Word STUDY WHAT MATTERS Turn trusted Cards into Questions, practice a focused topic, or use scheduled Study for long-term review. Track your Progress, study text and visual material, and return to the supporting PDF whenever an answer needs more context. On supported devices, Apple Intelligence can draft Questions for you to review before saving. EDIT, ANNOTATE, FILL, AND SIGN • Edit existing text, typography, images, links, shapes, and tables • Add, replace, crop, align, rotate, and arrange content • Remove image backgrounds and automatically crop subjects • Highlight, underline, strike through, draw, stamp, and comment • Add text boxes, callouts, notes, shapes, and threaded comments • Complete forms, find missing required fields, and add reusable signatures • Create and edit text, checkbox, radio, dropdown, signature, date, and image fields • Permanently redact text, areas, pages, or search results SCAN, READ, AND UNDERSTAND • Scan paper with automatic capture, edge detection, cleanup, crop, filters, and page reordering • Make scans searchable with optional OCR • Turn selected images into polished PDFs • Reflow fixed or scanned pages into a comfortable reading column • Keep figures beside the text they explain • Customize reading theme, typography, spacing, margins, and alignment • Translate supported languages and listen with on-device Read Aloud • Keep selected passages and useful context with Focus View VOICE NOTES THAT STAY ON THE PAGE • Place and play audio notes anywhere in a PDF • Create searchable on-device transcripts when the required speech model is available MAKE FLAT FORMS FILLABLE • Detect likely text, checkbox, and signature fields in flat or printed forms • Review every detected field before applying it • Use Form Assist to review suggested answers from your encrypted profile EVERY PDF TOOL IN ONE PLACE • Reorder, rotate, insert, duplicate, replace, extract, merge, split, or delete pages • Compress PDFs while preserving selectable text and vector graphics • Resize mixed pages to standard paper sizes • Add page numbers, N of M, Roman numerals, letters, or Bates numbering • Add or remove an open password • Create and edit PDF outlines and bookmarks • Recognize text with OCR and convert Word documents to PDF • Create PDFs from paper, journal, planner, graph, and project templates • Present PDF pages or Workspace Frames full screen • Save, print, flatten, share, or export the finished result Join more than 25 million downloads worldwide and move from document to outcome with PDF Max. Some advanced features require PDF Max PREMIUM. PDF MAX PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION Payment will be charged to your Apple Account when the purchase is confirmed. Subscriptions renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription period. You can manage or cancel your subscription in your Apple Account settings. Any unused portion of a free trial will be forfeited when a subscription is purchased, where applicable. Privacy Policy: https://mobeera.ai/privacy Terms: https://mobeera.ai/terms

About

PDF Export

This app provides comprehensive tools for creating, editing, converting, and organizing PDF files on your mobile device. It offers features like scanning documents, merging files, adding watermarks, and even transcribing audio to text, all without requiring an internet connection.

Highlights
  • Convert Word, Excel, JPG to PDF
  • Convert PDF to Word, Excel, PPT
  • Edit PDF text and images
  • Annotate and sign documents
  • Merge and split PDFs
  • Scan documents with OCR
  • Compress and secure PDFs
Features
Read full description

Tired of switching between multiple apps just to handle PDFs? PDF Export brings scanning, editing, converting, signing, compressing, chat exporting and 30+ PDF tools together in one simple app. Scan a document, edit a PDF, convert Office files, export WhatsApp chats, add signatures, protect files and much more — right from your iPhone or iPad. Pay once. No subscription. No monthly fee. # ANNOTATE & EDIT PDFs - Work directly inside your PDF. - Highlight important text, draw, add comments, annotate pages and edit PDF content without recreating the entire document. # SCAN ANY DOCUMENT - Turn your iPhone or iPad into a portable document scanner. - Scan receipts, contracts, notes, forms and multi-page documents in seconds. Automatic edge detection helps create clean, professional-looking PDFs without needing a separate scanner. # OCR — EXTRACT TEXT FROM IMAGES - Need text from a photo, scanned document or handwritten document? - OCR can recognize and extract text from images, scanned documents, handwritten documents and image-based PDFs. - Copy, search or work with the extracted text without typing everything again. # MERGE & SPLIT PDFs - Organize PDF pages exactly the way you need. - Combine multiple PDF files into a single document, or split a large PDF into smaller files. Great for reports, invoices, forms and document collections. # SIGN DOCUMENTS - Sign PDFs directly on your iPhone or iPad. - No printing, signing and scanning again. Simply open your document, add your signature and share the completed PDF. # CONVERT FILES TO PDF — OR BACK AGAIN - Quickly convert documents between popular formats: - Word to PDF - PDF to Word - Excel to PDF - PDF to Excel - PowerPoint to PDF - PDF to PowerPoint - JPG to PDF - PDF to JPG - Web Page to PDF - PDF to Text - PDF to HTML - PDF to RTF Keep your documents in the format you actually need. # COMPRESS PDFs - Large PDF taking too much space? - Reduce PDF file size to make documents easier to email, share, upload or store while maintaining useful document quality. # PROTECT, UNLOCK & WATERMARK PDFs - Keep sensitive documents protected. - Add password protection to PDFs, unlock files you have permission to access, and add watermarks to help protect your work. # CHAT TO PDF - Export WhatsApp chats as beautifully formatted PDFs or interactive HTML. - Choose from WhatsApp-style or clean document layouts, personalize with themes, search messages, jump between months, and view shared media easily. - Perfect for saving memories, keeping records, and archiving important conversations. # ROTATE & CROP PDF PAGES - Fix poorly oriented or badly cropped pages in seconds. - Rotate pages with a tap, remove unwanted margins, or crop multiple pages to create a cleaner document. # MORE PDF TOOLS - PDF Export includes many additional tools for everyday document work, including: - Blank PDF editor - Web to PDF - Clipboard to PDF - Add page numbers - Extract images - Repair PDFs - Transcribe content - Send fax And more TRY BEFORE YOU BUY See how the tools work before purchasing. Import your own file for a trial, or use the built-in sample document anytime to explore available features. # WHY PDF EXPORT? - 30+ PDF tools in one app - One-time purchase — no subscription - Scan, edit, sign and convert documents - Export WhatsApp chats to PDF or interactive HTML - Designed for iPhone and iPad - Many document tools work offline - Simple tools for everyday PDF tasks Whether you're scanning paperwork, signing a contract, converting an Office document, compressing a large PDF or preserving an important WhatsApp conversation, PDF Export gives you the tools to get it done in one place. Download PDF Export and make PDF and document management simpler.

Screenshots

PDF Max4 screens
PDF Export4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: PDF Max at none against PDF Export's shown. PDF Export's advantage is review sentiment (46% vs 35%) and update cadence (fortnightly vs monthly). On price, rating, ratings volume 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 Max sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and PDF Export sells 10 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

PDF Export holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.5. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 1.2K and 1.8K respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 35% of PDF Max's written reviews are positive against 46% of PDF Export's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Max ships an update monthly, PDF Export fortnightly. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
PDF Max versus PDF Export: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF MaxPDF Export
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.5 (1.2K ratings)4.7 (1.8K ratings) — better
Positive reviews35.4% of reviews46.4% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.2K1.8K — better
Update frequencyMonthlyFortnightly — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, MaciPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS18.015.6 — better
Further details — not scored
Size301 MB217 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMobeeraLiveBird Technologies Private Limited

Customer experience

PDF Max

All ratings1,178 ratings
Positive87.9%
Neutral2.6%
Negative9.5%
Written reviews189 reviews
Positive35.4%
Neutral7.4%
Negative57.1%

PDF Export

All ratings1,727 ratings
Positive91.1%
Neutral3.3%
Negative5.6%
Written reviews418 reviews
Positive46.4%
Neutral5.5%
Negative48.1%

User reviews

PDF Max

From 1.2K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 👍 Helpful for studies and work
  • 🚀 Fast and efficient
  • 👍 Great for annotating PDFs

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes frequently
  • 🔒 Unreliable cloud sync
  • 💰 Paywall for basic features
  • 🐛 Buggy updates
  • 👎 Poor customer support

PDF Export

From 1.8K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Excellent PDF conversion capabilities
  • 🚀 Fast and efficient performance
  • 💡 Comprehensive set of PDF tools
  • 👍 Easy to use interface
  • 👍 Helpful for personal and professional use

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 💰 Paid features required for basic functionality
  • 🔒 Confusing in-app purchase and upgrade process
  • 🔍 Poor discoverability of features
  • 🗂️ Lack of cloud sync and cross-device support

Bugs and requests

PDF Max

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Disappearing documents and annotations
  • Incompatibility with newer devices
  • Crashes on launch
  • Unreliable file saving

Requested features

5 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Ability to edit/delete annotations
  • Better integration with cloud storage
  • Split-screen viewing for PDFs
  • Improved handwriting recognition

PDF Export

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Crashes when opening certain PDF files
  • Formatting issues when converting documents to PDF
  • Inability to restore previous purchases

Requested features

5 requests
  • Improved PDF splitting and merging capabilities
  • Annotation and editing tools for PDFs
  • Better integration with other productivity apps
  • Clearer pricing and feature structure
  • Enhanced user interface and navigation

In-app purchases

10 purchases

PDF Max

Subscriptions3
  • Premium Subscription (1 week)$1.997 Days
  • One year premium$34.991 Year
  • Yearly Onboarding Offer7 Days trial$34.991 Year
One-time7
  • Standard Annotating Package$0.99
  • Cloud Access Package$1.99
  • Advanced Annotating Package$3.99
Show 4 more
  • Form Filling Package$3.99
  • Pro Package$4.99
  • Premium Package (Update)$4.99
  • Premium Package (New User)$9.99
10 purchases

PDF Export

One-time10
  • 1 Fax Credit$0.99
  • Convert 5 Documents Online$0.99
  • 5 Fax Credit$3.99
Show 7 more
  • PDF Export Pro Plus$3.99
  • PDF Export Pro$3.99
  • Convert 30 Documents Online$4.99
  • 10 Fax Credit$5.99
  • 20 Fax Credit$9.99
  • PDF Export Full Access$12.99
  • Convert 150 Documents Online$19.99

Questions

Is PDF Max free?
PDF Max is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PDF Export free?
PDF Export is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, PDF Max or PDF Export?
PDF Export is rated higher. PDF Max averages 4.5 out of 5 from 1.2K ratings, while PDF Export averages 4.7 from 1.8K ratings.
Do PDF Max or PDF Export have ads?
PDF Export shows ads; PDF Max does not.
Which is updated more often, PDF Max or PDF Export?
PDF Max ships an update monthly, and PDF Export fortnightly. Most recently, PDF Max was updated on November 6, 2026 and PDF Export on November 6, 2026.

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