Comparison

PDF Compressor vs PDFPress

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

Head to head
About

PDF Compressor

Features
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PDF Compressor & Photo Optimizer — Everything on your iPhone, nothing in the cloud. Shrink PDFs and photos by up to 95% while you blink eyes. No internet required. No uploads. Your files never leave your device. --------------------------------- WHAT YOU CAN DO --------------------------------- COMPRESS PDF Reduce PDF file size with adjustable quality levels. Perfect for email attachments, web uploads, and freeing up storage. COMPRESS PHOTOS Shrink JPEG, PNG and HEIC images while keeping them sharp and shareable. SELECT & SPLIT PAGES Pick only the pages you need from any PDF using a visual thumbnail grid. MERGE & JOIN PDFs Combine multiple PDFs or images into a single document in seconds. PASSWORD LOCK & UNLOCK Protect sensitive PDFs with a password or remove password from encrypted files — all on-device, no cloud key storage. RECENT FILES Instantly access and re-share your recently compressed or edited files. ADD SIGNATURE Append signature to your PDFs and share them instantly ----------------------------------------- WHY CHOOSE PDF COMPRESSOR ----------------------------------------- 100% on-device - your documents never leave your iPhone or iPad No account, no subscription required to get started Works offline - compress on a plane, in a meeting, anywhere Supports Files app - open and save directly from iCloud, Dropbox and more iPad & Mac (Apple Silicon) ready Perfect for students, professionals, lawyers, and anyone who handles PDFs regularly.

About

PDFPress

Features
Read full description

Compress PDFs to fit any upload limit — privately, on your phone. PDFPress shrinks PDF files without losing visible quality, so you can fit them under the strict size limits set by job portals, government forms, email attachments, and online applications. Everything happens on your device — your documents never leave your phone. WHY PDFPRESS: • 100% On-Device — Your sensitive documents never upload to any server. Bank statements, ID proofs, contracts, medical records — they all stay private on your phone. • Compress to Target Size — Tell PDFPress your exact size limit (1 MB, 2 MB, 5 MB, or any custom size) and it intelligently compresses until your PDF fits. Perfect for Aadhaar uploads, job application portals, exam forms, and email attachments. • Three Quality Presets — Low, Medium, and High compression for any need. Plus a custom quality slider for total control. • Batch Compression — Compress up to 500 PDFs at once. Save hours when handling many documents. • Merge PDFs — Combine multiple PDFs into a single document with drag-to-reorder. • Honest Results — When a PDF cannot be compressed further (text-only documents are already optimized), PDFPress tells you clearly instead of pretending. PERFECT FOR: • Job application uploads with 1-2 MB limits • Aadhaar, PAN, and government form submissions • Exam application portals (UPSC, SSC, NEET, JEE, etc.) • Email attachments that exceed size limits • Bank KYC document uploads • WhatsApp document sharing • Scanned document storage FREE & PRO TIERS: • Free version compresses any PDF up to 25 MB at Low quality, one file at a time. • Pro (one-time purchase) unlocks all quality presets, custom quality slider, target size compression, batch up to 20 PDFs, and unlimited file size. • Pro+ (one-time purchase) adds batch up to 500 PDFs and PDF merge. NO SUBSCRIPTIONS — EVER: PDFPress is a one-time purchase. Pay once, use forever. No monthly fees, no annual renewals, no surprises. PRIVACY FIRST: PDFPress works completely offline. No account required. No analytics tracking. No advertising. Your documents are processed entirely on your device and never sent to any server — not ours, not anyone's.

Screenshots

PDF Compressor4 screens
PDFPress4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: PDFPress at none against PDF Compressor's shown. PDF Compressor's advantage is update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 6 weeks). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

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

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. PDF Compressor sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and PDFPress sells 2 one-off in-app purchases. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Compressor ships an update every 3 weeks, PDFPress every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 9, 2026 and September 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences Ā· 4 level
PDF Compressor versus PDFPress: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF CompressorPDFPress
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.2 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB4 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSwetha MBCodeNeuron Studios

In-app purchases

3 purchases

PDF Compressor

Subscriptions3
  • Unlock All Photo PDF functionality$2.991 Month
  • Unlock All Photo PDF functionality$9.996 Months
  • Unlock All Photo PDF functionality$14.991 Year
2 purchases

PDFPress

One-time2
  • PDFPress Pro$2.99
  • PDFPress Pro Plus$9.99

Questions

Is PDF Compressor free?
PDF Compressor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PDFPress free?
PDFPress is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do PDF Compressor or PDFPress have ads?
PDF Compressor shows ads; PDFPress does not.
Which is updated more often, PDF Compressor or PDFPress?
PDF Compressor ships an update every 3 weeks, and PDFPress every 6 weeks. Most recently, PDF Compressor was updated on September 9, 2026 and PDFPress on September 8, 2026.

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