Comparison

Pdf Beacon vs DocFind

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

Head to head
About

Pdf Beacon

Features
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Search PDFs, take handwritten and audio-linked notes, and study documents side by side β€” all in one offline-first workspace. PDF Beacon brings your document library, FoliNotes notebooks, and connected study tools together. Find information faster, annotate important content, and link your notes to exact locations in PDFs, audio recordings, and supported videos. SEARCH ACROSS YOUR LIBRARY β€’ Search your indexed documents and jump directly to matching PDF pages. β€’ Find words and phrases without manually browsing long files. β€’ Use on-device OCR to recognize text in supported scanned PDFs. β€’ Continue searching locally available, indexed content while offline. READ & ANNOTATE β€’ Highlight, underline, strike through, and add PDF notes. β€’ Draw and mark important content using pen tools. β€’ Use Apple Pencil on supported iPads. β€’ Save important pages with bookmarks. β€’ Keep your annotations connected to the documents you study. FOLINOTES β€” HANDWRITTEN & AUDIO NOTES Create dedicated notebooks for classes, research, projects, and personal study. β€’ Write by hand or use typed text. β€’ Add images, shapes, and drawings. β€’ Choose from different notebook templates. β€’ Organize your notes and pages. β€’ Record audio while taking notes. AUDIO-SYNCED NOTES When you write during an audio recording, your notes can automatically link to the corresponding recording time. Tap the linked audio marker later to replay the relevant moment instead of searching through the entire recording. STUDY WORKSPACE Bring documents, notes, and supported media into a connected study environment. β€’ Read PDFs alongside your notes. β€’ Work with related documents in one space. β€’ Link selected PDF text and regions to notes. β€’ Return directly to the source of an idea. β€’ Arrange your study materials visually. VIDEO REGION LINKS Pause a supported video at an important moment, select a region of the frame, and create a link to that exact timestamp. Return to the relevant video moment whenever you need to revisit the explanation. MORE THAN PDFs Keep supported reference files together, including: β€’ PDF documents β€’ Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files β€’ Text and Markdown β€’ Images and video β€’ ZIP archives Preview, editing, and annotation capabilities vary by file format. IMPORT & ORGANIZE Import files from your device and supported external sources. Depending on the connection and available features, PDF Beacon supports workflows involving cloud storage, WebDAV, SFTP, mail attachments, and direct transfers. Organize your library using folders, tags, favorites, and quick access tools. OFFLINE-FIRST & PRIVACY-FOCUSED Your imported documents, notes, and search indexes are stored locally. Many core reading, search, annotation, and study features work without an internet connection once the content is available on your device. Internet access may be required for external connections, downloads, synchronization, and purchases. PDF BEACON PREMIUM PDF Beacon Premium is an optional monthly auto-renewable subscription offering higher library limits and Premium study features. Eligible customers may receive a 3-day introductory free trial when offered by Apple. Subscription pricing appears in your local currency in the App Store. Restore Purchases and Manage Subscription are available in Settings. Previously imported documents remain accessible after your subscription ends. SUPPORT Questions, suggestions, or technical assistance: info@aerologx.net Privacy Policy: https://aerologx.net/legal/pdf-beacon-privacy Terms of Use: https://aerologx.net/legal/pdf-beacon-terms

About

DocFind

Features
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DocFind searches inside many PDFs at once on your iPhone or iPad β€” scanned PDFs included β€” and opens each result at the page where your words appear, highlighted. Nothing is uploaded: indexing, searching and reading scanned pages all happen on your device. Most PDF apps find a word on the page you are looking at. DocFind indexes your whole library, so one query returns every match in every document, ranked, with the page number and the surrounding sentence. SCAN A PAGE, THEN SEARCH IT Tap Scan Document at the top of your library, photograph one page or many, and DocFind saves one PDF, then reads and embeds its text, so it becomes searchable here and in other PDF apps. Scans are kept in Files under DocFind β€Ί Scans. SCANNED PDFs ARE SEARCHABLE TOO A scanned document is a picture of text. Ordinary search finds nothing in it, which is why so many of your files seem to be invisible. DocFind runs on-device OCR over scanned pages and folds the recognised words straight into the same index β€” so a word that exists only as pixels becomes a word you can find. Results found this way are labelled OCR, so you always know where a match came from. EVERYTHING HAPPENS ON YOUR DEVICE DocFind has no accounts, no sign-in, no servers and no ads, and it contains no networking code β€” searching, indexing, OCR and export never touch a connection β€” so your documents are never uploaded. The only web content it shows is its own website, its privacy policy and Apple's standard licence agreement, in a Safari sheet the app cannot read. Nothing is collected about you. WHAT YOU GET β€’ Search across a whole library of PDFs in one query β€’ Ranked results with page numbers and a snippet of the matching sentence β€’ Tap a result to open the page with the match highlighted, and step through matches β€’ On-device OCR for scanned PDFs and camera scans, with OCR-sourced hits labelled β€’ On iPad, a two-column layout: results in a sidebar, the matching page beside them β€’ Persistent libraries: index once, search any time β€’ DocFind tells you when a page is not searchable yet, and why β€’ Full VoiceOver support, Dynamic Type, and light and dark appearance TRY IT WITH NO SETUP Tap "Try the demo" on the first screen: DocFind creates sample documents on your device, indexes them, runs OCR on a scanned receipt and searches them. Leaving the demo removes every trace of it. FREE AND PRO DocFind is free to use as a complete keyword search: unlimited searches, unlimited search terms, and every result shown β€” never a truncated list. The free tier covers one library of up to 25 documents, and it includes 10 pages of OCR of imported PDFs and 10 exports every month β€” enough to watch a scanned file become searchable, and enough again next month, before you decide. Camera scans are not counted. DocFind Pro is available as a monthly or yearly subscription, or as a single payment, and adds: β€’ Unlimited documents and unlimited libraries β€’ Unlimited on-device OCR β€’ Unlimited exports β€” as CSV, as Markdown, as a formatted PDF report, or as a new PDF containing only the pages that matched SUBSCRIPTION TERMS The monthly and yearly plans are auto-renewable subscriptions. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. A subscription renews automatically for the same period unless auto-renewal is turned off at least 24 hours before the current period ends, and the account is charged for renewal within 24 hours of that. Manage your plan or turn off auto-renewal in your Apple Account settings at any time. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://docfindapp.com/privacy PRIVACY DocFind collects nothing: no analytics SDK, no advertising SDK, no networking code. Files are opened only when you choose them, through the system file picker. DocFind never uploads an export; it goes somewhere else only when you send it with the share sheet. Requires iOS 17 or later.

Screenshots

Pdf Beacon4 screens
DocFind4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: DocFind at every 2 days against Pdf Beacon's every 2 weeks. Pdf Beacon's advantage is iOS requirement (15.5 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

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

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

Both are free to download. Pdf Beacon sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $0.99 per month and DocFind 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 Beacon ships an update every 2 weeks, DocFind every 2 days. Both last shipped on November 6, 2026.

Scorecard2 real differences Β· 4 level
Pdf Beacon versus DocFind: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPdf BeaconDocFind
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 2 weeksEvery 2 days β€” better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod β€” betteriPhone, iPad
Requires iOS15.5 β€” better17.0
Further details β€” not scored
Size76 MB8 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperVOLKAN TURHANJyoti Burujpatte

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Pdf Beacon

Subscriptions1
  • PDF Beacon Premium Monthly3 Days trial$0.991 Month
3 purchases

DocFind

Subscriptions2
  • DocFind Pro Monthly$4.991 Month
  • DocFind Pro Yearly$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • DocFind Pro$29.99

Questions

Is Pdf Beacon free?
Pdf Beacon is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is DocFind free?
DocFind is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Pdf Beacon or DocFind have ads?
Neither Pdf Beacon nor DocFind shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Pdf Beacon or DocFind?
Pdf Beacon ships an update every 2 weeks, and DocFind every 2 days. Most recently, Pdf Beacon was updated on November 6, 2026 and DocFind on November 6, 2026.

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