Comparison

MSRX PDF Compressor vs PDF Tools

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

Head to head
About

MSRX PDF Compressor

Features
Read full description

MSRX PDF Compressor makes PDFs smaller without turning your text into pictures. Most PDF compressors flatten every page to an image. The file shrinks, but you lose selectable text, search, links, and anything a screen reader can use. This one looks at each page first. Pages with real text keep it. Pages that are scans or photographs get re-encoded, which is where nearly all the saving in a scanned document lives anyway. TEXT STAYS TEXT A 135-page workbook came out 33% smaller with all 138,000 characters still selectable and searchable. A 224-page scanned textbook went from 100 MB to 9 MB. The difference is the document, not the setting โ€” and the app tells you which one you have before you commit. FIT UNDER A LIMIT Tell it the limit your email or upload form imposes โ€” 5, 10, 20 or 25 MB โ€” and it works out the settings for you, testing real pages rather than guessing. If it cannot reach your limit, it says so and hands back the smallest file it managed. It will not pretend it succeeded. SEE WHERE THE MEGABYTES ARE Before you compress, the app breaks the file down: images, fonts, page content, overhead. Then it tells you plainly what to expect โ€” "10 of 28 pages are scans. Those compress well; the rest keep their text." COMPARE BEFORE AND AFTER Put the original and the result side by side, page by page, and confirm for yourself that nothing was lost. ALSO IN THIS VERSION โ€ข Compress several PDFs at once, with per-file results โ€ข History, with a running total of everything you have saved โ€ข Greyscale conversion for scans and photographs โ€ข Compress from any app's share sheet, without opening this one โ€ข A Shortcuts action, for compressing as part of an automation โ€ข Full Dark Mode, Dynamic Type, and VoiceOver support HONEST ABOUT WHAT IT CANNOT DO Compression works on images. A document that is mostly text and embedded fonts has very little to give, and the app says so up front instead of letting you find out afterwards. Scanned documents are where you will see the dramatic numbers. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything happens on your iPhone or iPad. Your files are never uploaded, and the app has no analytics, no accounts, and no network access at all. FILE LIMITS Up to 500 MB and 2,000 pages per document. Free. No ads, no subscriptions, no in-app purchases.

About

PDF Tools

Features
Read full description

PDF Tools is your all-in-one offline PDF manager for iPhone and iPad โ€” scan documents, merge PDFs, compress PDFs, split PDFs, and convert images to PDF directly on your device. No internet required. No file uploads. No login. Turn your iPhone into a portable document scanner. Scan receipts, invoices, contracts, notes, passports, IDs and reports with automatic edge detection and high-quality results. KEY FEATURES Document Scanner Scan documents instantly with your camera Automatic edge detection High-quality PDF creation Scan receipts, contracts, notes, IDs, passports and reports Merge PDF Combine multiple PDF files into one document Reorder files before merging Fast offline PDF merging Compress PDF Reduce PDF file size significantly Three compression levels โ€” Low, Medium, High Save storage and share large files easily Split PDF Extract specific pages into a new PDF Create smaller focused documents Image to PDF Convert photos and images into professional PDF documents Support multiple images in one PDF PDF to Images Convert PDF pages to JPG or PNG Export pages individually File Manager Access all scanned and exported documents Rename, delete and share files PDF Tools gives you everything you need to scan, merge, compress, split and convert PDFs โ€” completely offline, completely free, no login required. Standard Apple EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

MSRX PDF Compressor4 screens
PDF Tools4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: MSRX PDF Compressor at none against PDF Tools's shown. PDF Tools's advantage is update cadence (weekly vs every 5 months) and iOS requirement (15.5 vs 17.0). On price, 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

MSRX PDF Compressor ships an update every 5 months, PDF Tools weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 4, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard3 real differences ยท 3 level
MSRX PDF Compressor versus PDF Tools: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterMSRX PDF CompressorPDF Tools
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsWeekly โ€” better
AdsNo โ€” betterYes
In-app purchasesNoNo
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” better
Requires iOS17.015.5 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size7 MB35 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperMrinal Singh RajaVENTRYDIGITAL TECHNOLOGY LTD

In-app purchases

None

MSRX PDF Compressor

No in-app purchases

None

PDF Tools

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is MSRX PDF Compressor free?
MSRX PDF Compressor is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is PDF Tools free?
PDF Tools is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do MSRX PDF Compressor or PDF Tools have ads?
PDF Tools shows ads; MSRX PDF Compressor does not.
Which is updated more often, MSRX PDF Compressor or PDF Tools?
MSRX PDF Compressor ships an update every 5 months, and PDF Tools weekly. Most recently, MSRX PDF Compressor was updated on October 4, 2026 and PDF Tools on October 8, 2026.

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