PDF Gear vs FreePDF
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
PDF Gear
This app offers a comprehensive suite of tools for managing PDF documents on mobile devices. Users can easily view, annotate, edit pages, fill out forms, and digitally sign documents. It provides a free and unlimited experience for all its powerful PDF manipulation features.
- View and print PDFs
- Annotate with highlights, text, and drawings
- Organize pages (add, delete, rotate, extract)
- Fill out forms and sign documents
- Manage PDF files (duplicate, rename, move, share)
- Open and save to device & iCloud
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Want a well-featured and easy-to-access PDF solution for mobile use? PDFgear for iOS could achieve this! With PDFgear for iOS, users could handle their PDFs with ease, including viewing, printing, annotating, page editing, signing, etc. The abundant features will let you fill out forms, sign contracts, finish works, review documents, and make more possibilities in PDF! PDFgear for iOS provides free use for all functions without any limits like trial watermark, page count, etc. The concise design brings users a satisfying experience, and the powerful performance makes the perfect document. PDFgear will make your study and work easier to carry out PDFs! Try it on your own! View and Print PDF • Open and view PDFs with easy touch • Zoom in or out for better details • Jump to the appointed page directly • Print PDF from your phone Annotate PDF • Markup texts in PDF with highlight, underline and strike-through • Input texts with the color and font size you need • Draw shapes like rectangles, circles, lines, and arrows easily • Write on PDFs with the Ink tool, and erase the ink freely Organize Pages • Add, delete, and rotate pages supported • Extract pages from the PDF file with the aimed page range Fill out Forms & Sign PDFs • Insert text to the form at the place you need • Put common symbols like checkmarks and crossmarks in the document • Add built-in or customized stamps to the form • Sign the PDF with the signature created from image, keyboard, or drawing Manage PDFs • Manage PDF files with duplicate, rename, copy, move, share, etc. • Open and save PDFs in the device & iCloud
FreePDF
This app offers a comprehensive suite of tools for managing, scanning, converting, filling, and signing PDF documents. It includes features like scanning to editable PDFs, annotation, form filling, document security, and an AI assistant. It's designed for professionals, students, and anyone needing a versatile PDF solution.
- Scan to editable PDFs
- PDF annotation and editing
- Advanced signature and form filling
- Versatile file conversion
- Document security with passcodes
- AI Assistant and Writing Helper
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FreePDF is the perfect app for professionals, business people, students, and anyone in need of a robust, secure, and versatile PDF tool. With its comprehensive feature set and user-friendly interface, FreePDF is your go-to app for all things PDF on iOS, iPadOS and macOS. This powerful app offers a wide range of features to manage, scan, convert, fill, sign and edit PDFs directly on your device, ensuring your files remain secure and private. Now we have added an innovative AI Assistant and Writing Helper as well! Key Features: + Scan into editable PDFs: · Scan physical documents, objects, and photos using your iOS device's camera. · Edit and annotate scanned files with a full suite of editing tools. + Intuitive PDF Annotation and Editing: · Annotate, fill, sign, and highlight PDFs with ease. · Add rich text including images, tables, lists, etc. to your PDF pages. · Fully compatible with Apple Pencil for precision and natural experience. Features include tilt and pressure sensitivity, palm rejection, and more. + Advanced Signature and Form Filling: · Sign documents with personalized or predefined signatures. · Fill in PDFs using a stylus, pencil, or finger with ease. + Write and Draw Over new blank PDFs: · Highlight, mark up, and annotate directly on your own PDFs. · Includes drawing and writing features. + Versatile File Conversion: · Convert images (PNG, TIFF, JPG, SVG, HEIF, GIF) to PDF. · Transform documents (TXT, RTF, WORD, HTML, PPT, XLS, PAGES, NUMBERS, KEY) into PDFs. · Easily convert files from Microsoft Office and Apple iWork suites to PDF. + Document Security: · Safeguard your PDFs with secure passcodes. · Keep sensitive information confidential and protected. + Anywhere Access and Sharing: · Share and send PDFs from anywhere, anytime. · Integrated sharing options include iCloud, Gmail, Mail, Google Drive, Dropbox, One Drive, Box, iMessage, and Print. + Efficient Document Management: · Organize and manage PDF files effortlessly. · User-friendly interface for handling both small and large collections. · Search and find easily your files. Get FreePDF for FREE now! Privacy Policy http://www.noteswriter.com/Kairoos_Privacy_Policy.html EULA https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ This app requires users to have a subscription to unlock all the features after a 3-day risk-free trial.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: PDF Gear at 85% against FreePDF's 11%. PDF Gear also leads on rating (4.7 vs 1.8) and in-app purchases (none vs 2). FreePDF's advantage is update cadence (every 5 days vs monthly). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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
Both are free to download. FreePDF sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. PDF Gear asks for nothing beyond the download.
PDF Gear holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 1.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: PDF Gear has 8.6K ratings behind it against 5, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 85% of PDF Gear's written reviews are positive against 11% of FreePDF's.
PDF Gear ships an update monthly, FreePDF every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on September 25, 2026 and August 26, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | PDF Gear | FreePDF |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.7 (8.6K ratings) — better | 1.8 (5 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 85.1% of reviews — better | 11.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 8.6K — better | 5 |
| Update frequency | Monthly | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 16.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 46 MB | 317 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | PDF GEAR TECH PTE. LTD. | Kairoos Solutions SL |
Customer experience
PDF Gear
FreePDF
Bugs and requests
PDF Gear
Reported bugs
3 issues- Crashes when opening certain PDF files
- Inability to edit text in forms on iPad
- Corrupted PDFs after repeated editing and saving
Requested features
6 requests- Add password protection and encryption
- Improve undo/redo functionality
- Enhance text editing capabilities
- Implement better auto-save and file recovery
- Provide more customization options
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- Integrate with more cloud storage services
FreePDF
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
PDF Gear
No in-app purchases
FreePDF
- FreePDF Unlock All Features3 Days trial$2.991 Month
- FreePDF Lifetime Pro Unlock$3.99







