Comparison

PDF Merger vs PDF Extractor

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

Head to head
About

PDF Merger

Features
Read full description

PDF Merger 2.0 is the fastest, most private way to combine, split, compress, scan, OCR, and sign PDFs on iPhone and iPad โ€” now with built-in AI Chat powered by Gemini. โ€” NEW IN 2.0 โ€” โ€ข AI Chat (Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite) โ€” Ask any PDF anything. Summaries, lookups, totals, translations. Opt-in, with no chat history stored on our servers. 5 free questions/week. โ€ข OCR (on-device) โ€” Recognise text on scanned PDFs in 30+ languages. Searchable, copyable, exportable. โ€ข Page Extraction โ€” Pull any page into its own PDF in one tap. โ€ข Page Numbering โ€” Add numbers to every page with custom format & position. โ€ข E-Signature โ€” Stamp a saved signature image with date. โ€ข Cover Page Bundler โ€” Auto-generate a cover with title + table of contents. โ€ข Insert Blank Page โ€” Perfect for chapter breaks. โ€ข 40+ Languages โ€” Fully localized UI and App Store keywords. โ€ข iPad Polished โ€” Sidebar layout, drag-and-drop, Apple Pencil ready. โ€” CORE FEATURES โ€” โ€ข Merge PDFs โ€” Drag, drop, and reorder unlimited files into one PDF. โ€ข Split PDFs โ€” Extract page ranges or single pages with one tap. โ€ข Compress PDFs โ€” Shrink size up to 80% while preserving readability. โ€ข Rotate Pages โ€” Fix sideways scans, per-page or in batch. โ€ข Add Watermark โ€” Text or image, adjustable opacity and position. โ€ข Password Lock โ€” AES-128 encrypted PDFs. โ€ข Document Scanner โ€” Camera-to-PDF with auto-crop and perspective correction. โ€ข JPG to PDF โ€” Photos to PDF with auto-cropping. โ€ข PDF to Images โ€” Each page as JPG or PNG. โ€ข Apple Intelligence โ€” Smart Summary + Auto-Rename, fully on-device. โ€” PRIVACY-FIRST โ€” โ€ข PDF processing stays 100% on your device. โ€ข AI Chat is opt-in. When enabled, only the text of the PDF you're asking about is sent to Gemini, cached for 1 hour, and never stored beyond that. โ€ข No tracking, no analytics, no advertising. โ€ข Files live in your private app sandbox; deleted when you delete them. โ€” PRO TIER (optional) โ€” Unlock unlimited merges, larger batches, watermark removal, password protection, document scanner, OCR, e-signature, AI Chat, Apple Intelligence Smart Summary, and every new feature with a single subscription or one-time Lifetime purchase. โ€ข Weekly โ€” try Pro for less than a coffee โ€ข Yearly โ€” save 70% โ€ข Lifetime โ€” pay once, own forever Subscriptions auto-renew unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the renewal date. Payment is charged to your Apple ID. Manage in Settings โ†’ Apple ID โ†’ Subscriptions. โ€” DESIGNED FOR iOS โ€” โ€ข Built natively with SwiftUI + PDFKit for iOS 17+. โ€ข Optimized for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Pencil. โ€ข Full Dark Mode support. โ€ข Dynamic Type accessibility throughout. โ€ข VoiceOver labels on every interactive control. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.freeprivacypolicy.com/live/dca821a0-9b8b-48a6-9565-d1c64344a313

About

PDF Extractor

Extract text, tables, and images from PDFs securely on your device. Offers on-device OCR for scanned documents and rebuilds content as editable Markdown. Includes project management for revisited extractions.

Highlights
  • On-device OCR for scanned PDFs
  • Extracts text, tables, and images
  • Rebuilds content as Markdown
  • Supports password-protected PDFs
  • Project management for revisited imports
  • Batch ZIP export
Features
Read full description

Pull the text, tables and images out of any PDF โ€” entirely on your device. Nothing is uploaded, so private documents stay private. PDFExtract reads a PDF's own text layer when it has one, and falls back to on-device OCR when it doesn't. Either way it rebuilds what it finds as clean Markdown you can paste straight into your notes, docs or knowledge base. Every import becomes a project you can reopen, review and run again with different settings. WHAT IT DOES - Import standard and password-protected PDFs - Extract the text layer from selectable PDFs - On-device OCR for scanned and image-only pages - Rebuild detected tables as real Markdown tables - Pull embedded images out of pages at their original resolution - Preview the original PDF, the extracted images and the rendered Markdown - Copy Markdown, share it as a file, or export a whole project as a ZIP - Tune OCR: recognition level, render resolution up to 600 DPI, recognition languages, automatic language detection and language correction - Choose the Markdown output style, page headings and document title - Keep every import as a project you can revisit and re-extract WHAT'S FREE - Text, Markdown and OCR for the first 5 pages of a document - The first 10 extracted images of a project - Every OCR and Markdown setting - Copy the Markdown or share it as a file PDFEXTRACT PRO UNLOCKS - Every page of a document, however long it runs - Every extracted image, unblurred and shareable - Tables rebuilt as Markdown tables instead of run-together lines - Batch ZIP export of the Markdown and all extracted images SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS PDFExtract Pro is available as a monthly subscription, a yearly subscription, or a one-time Lifetime purchase. - Monthly: auto-renews every month - Yearly: auto-renews every year - Lifetime: a single payment, never renews Prices are shown in the app and vary by region. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. A subscription renews automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours of the period ending. You can manage or cancel a subscription any time in your Apple Account settings. PRIVACY PDF parsing, OCR, layout analysis and table recognition all run locally on your device. Your documents are never uploaded to a server. Privacy Policy: https://www.mzjpg.com/policy/pdfextract Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

PDF Merger3 screens
PDF Extractor4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: PDF Merger at none against PDF Extractor's shown. On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. PDF Merger sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and PDF Extractor sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Merger ships an update every 9 months, PDF Extractor every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 7, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 7 level
PDF Merger versus PDF Extractor: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF MergerPDF Extractor
PriceFreeFree
Positive reviewsโ€”100.0% of reviews
Update frequencyEvery 9 monthsEvery 5 months โ€” better
AdsNo โ€” betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
Monetizationโ€”Free with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.0 โ€” better18.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size2 MB79 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAhmet BostanckliogluDajiale

In-app purchases

3 purchases

PDF Merger

Subscriptions2
  • Pro โ€” Weekly3 Days trial$1.997 Days
  • Pro โ€” Yearly$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • PDF Merger Lifetime$59.99
3 purchases

PDF Extractor

Subscriptions2
  • Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Yearly$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • PDFExtract Pro โ€” Lifetime$49.99

Questions

Is PDF Merger free?
PDF Merger is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PDF Extractor free?
PDF Extractor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do PDF Merger or PDF Extractor have ads?
PDF Extractor shows ads; PDF Merger does not.
Which is updated more often, PDF Merger or PDF Extractor?
PDF Merger ships an update every 9 months, and PDF Extractor every 5 months. Most recently, PDF Merger was updated on October 7, 2026 and PDF Extractor on October 19, 2026.

Other comparisons