Comparison

PDF Highlighter vs Excerpt

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

Head to head
About

PDF Highlighter

Effortlessly highlight key information in PDF documents with custom colors and multiple search terms. This tool automates the highlighting process, saving time for professionals and students alike. Export or print your annotated PDFs with ease.

Highlights
  • Automatic highlighting of words and phrases
  • Multiple highlight colors
  • Supports multiple search terms
  • Regular expression support for advanced searches
  • Export and print highlighted documents
  • Direct sharing from other apps
Features
Read full description

Instantly add highlights to PDF documents - add multiple highlights with different colours for different words. No need to search and laboriously add highlights manually. Highlight individual words or the entire line - great for finding team members or individuals in long lists of names. Each search can match on multiple different words or phrases. Great for highlighting all the members of your sports team. Designed specifically for swimming team managers and coaches - instantly find your team on event start lists and heat sheets. Highlight each squad in a different colour, pick out individuals or highlight event names and numbers. Share start list PDFs directly into the app from results websites. Copy or save your highlighted document to a file, or send it to a printer. Also great for: • Sports team managers and coaches • Students, academics & researchers • Lawyers & legal professionals • Journalists & writers • Business professionals • Language learners • Medical & scientific professionals • Project managers & analysts Supports multiple search terms, and multiple highlights and shortcuts integration. Search terms support regular expressions for advanced use cases.

About

Excerpt

This audiobook player allows you to highlight spoken passages as text, automatically linking them to the original ebook text. It offers hands-free highlighting via various devices and integrates with note-taking apps. Enhance audio quality and sync your library across Apple devices.

Highlights
  • Highlight spoken audio as text
  • Link highlights to original ebook text
  • Hands-free highlighting (Lock Screen, headphones, Siri)
  • Sync ebooks with narration
  • Export highlights to Markdown, CSV, JSON
  • Search all highlights
  • Audio enhancement
Features
Read full description

Excerpt is an audiobook player that lets you highlight what you hear, the way you would highlight an ebook. Tap the highlighter and the last 30 seconds are saved as text, while the book keeps playing. THE AUTHOR’S EXACT WORDS A transcript mishears names and drops punctuation. Link the book’s epub and Excerpt finds the passage you heard, so each highlight uses the sentence as the author wrote it. HIGHLIGHT WITHOUT TOUCHING YOUR PHONE Take a highlight from the Lock Screen, your headphones, the Action button, your Apple Watch or Siri. Useful when you are driving, running or washing up. READ ALONG AS YOU LISTEN With an epub linked, the ebook follows the narration sentence by sentence. On iPad the page opens beside the player. SEND HIGHLIGHTS TO YOUR NOTES Export a book’s highlights as Markdown for Obsidian, send them to Readwise, or share them as HTML, CSV or JSON. SEARCH EVERY HIGHLIGHT The Vault searches the highlights from all your books at once, on your device. SHORTCUTS AND SIRI More than 30 actions for the Shortcuts app, and links that open any highlight. YOUR OWN FILES, OR FREE LIBRIVOX BOOKS Import m4b and mp3 files, download books from your Audiobookshelf server and keep your position in sync with it, or search LibriVox for free public-domain audiobooks, many with a matching ebook. CLEAN UP LOW-QUALITY AUDIOBOOKS The Enhance model restores muffled, compressed narration on your device. Compare it with the original before you apply it. The original is always kept. ON EVERY DEVICE Books and highlights sync through your own iCloud to iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. There is no account to create. EXCERPT PREMIUM Excerpt is free to use. Premium is an optional subscription that adds Whisper transcription models, an ebook match for every book, and AI clean-up of transcripts. Privacy Policy: https://octetmediteranee.eu/excerpt/privacy Terms & Conditions: https://octetmediteranee.eu/excerpt/terms

Screenshots

PDF Highlighter4 screens
Excerpt4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Excerpt at Free against PDF Highlighter's $1.99. PDF Highlighter's advantage is update cadence (every 5 weeks vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (18.2 vs 26.0). On review sentiment, ads, in-app purchases and device support 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

Excerpt is free to download; PDF Highlighter costs $1.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Highlighter ships an update every 5 weeks, Excerpt every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 19, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
PDF Highlighter versus Excerpt: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF HighlighterExcerpt
Price$1.99Free — better
Rating—4.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews100.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews
Number of ratings—1 — better
Update frequencyEvery 5 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationPaidFreemium — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, Apple Watch — better
Requires iOS18.2 — better26.0
Further details — not scored
Size7 MB167 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTaptix LtdSean Laidlaw

Customer experience

PDF Highlighter

Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Excerpt

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

PDF Highlighter

No in-app purchases

None

Excerpt

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PDF Highlighter free?
PDF Highlighter costs $1.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Excerpt free?
Excerpt is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do PDF Highlighter or Excerpt have ads?
Neither PDF Highlighter nor Excerpt shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PDF Highlighter or Excerpt?
PDF Highlighter ships an update every 5 weeks, and Excerpt every 2 months. Most recently, PDF Highlighter was updated on October 18, 2026 and Excerpt on October 19, 2026.

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