# PDF vs PDFTool Lab

The clearest difference is ads: PDFTool Lab at none against PDF's shown. PDFTool Lab also leads on update cadence (monthly vs every 5 months). PDF's advantage is iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On price, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. PDF sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days and PDFTool Lab sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

PDF ships an update every 5 months, PDFTool Lab monthly. The most recent releases landed on September 7, 2026 and September 11, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | PDF | PDFTool Lab |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | **[3.5 (6 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-lock-and-unlock/id6444889806/reviews)** | — |
| Number of ratings | **6** | — |
| Positive reviews | 33.3% of reviews | — |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | Every 5 months | **Monthly** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Size | 26 MB | 66 MB |
| Requires iOS | **13.0** | 17.0 |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, iPod** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Hardik Dhameliya](https://appshunter.io/developer/1611140120) | [ASAPP STUDIO](https://appshunter.io/developer/1338092352) |

## What reviewers say

### PDF

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-lock-and-unlock/id6444889806)

Secure your documents by adding password protection or remove existing passwords from PDF files. This app also offers tools to merge, extract, and convert PDFs, along with OCR capabilities to recognize text.

**Highlights:** Lock PDF with password, Unlock password-protected PDFs, Merge multiple PDF files, Extract or remove PDF pages, Add watermarks to PDFs, Scan and recognize text (OCR), Digitally sign PDFs, Convert web pages to PDF

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Subscription Weekly | $4.99 | per 7 days |
| Subscription Monthly | $9.99 | per month |
| Subscription Yearly | $19.99 | per year |


### PDFTool Lab

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdftool-lab/id6757402188)

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| PDFTool Premium | $0.99 | one-time |


## Frequently asked questions

### Is PDF free?

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

### Is PDFTool Lab free?

PDFTool Lab is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Do PDF or PDFTool Lab have ads?

PDF shows ads; PDFTool Lab does not.

### Which is updated more often, PDF or PDFTool Lab?

PDF ships an update every 5 months, and PDFTool Lab monthly. Most recently, PDF was updated on September 7, 2026 and PDFTool Lab on September 11, 2026.

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