# PDF Cabinet vs Highlights

The clearest difference is rating: Highlights at 4.5 against PDF Cabinet's 3.8. Highlights also leads on ratings volume (1.6K vs 56) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 5 weeks). PDF Cabinet's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and review sentiment (66% vs 53%). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Highlights sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. PDF Cabinet asks for nothing beyond the download.

Highlights holds the better App Store score, 4.5 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Highlights has 1.6K ratings behind it against 56, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 66% of PDF Cabinet's written reviews are positive against 53% of Highlights's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

PDF Cabinet ships an update every 5 weeks, Highlights fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 28, 2026 and October 1, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | PDF Cabinet | Highlights |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [3.8 (56 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-cabinet/id764366087/reviews) | **[4.5 (1.6K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | 56 | **1.6K** |
| Positive reviews | **66.1% of reviews** | 53.3% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | **No** | Yes |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | Every 5 weeks | **Fortnightly** |
| Monetization | **Free** | Freemium |
| Size | 75 MB | 37 MB |
| Requires iOS | **13.0** | 15.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Bright Nine SIA](https://appshunter.io/developer/1891636727) | [Jonas Myren Ribe](https://appshunter.io/developer/794854096) |

## What reviewers say

### PDF Cabinet

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-cabinet/id764366087)

This application offers a streamlined PDF experience for reading and annotating documents. It focuses on essential features with an intuitive interface, making it easy to mark up PDFs, share annotations, and collaborate in real-time with others. Optimized for performance, it handles large documents efficiently.

**Highlights:** Effortless PDF annotation, Intuitive user interface, Fast document review with thumbnails, Annotations sharing, Real-time collaboration, Quick note taking

**Features:** macOS Compatibility

**In-app purchases:** none

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Smooth performance
- 👍 Intuitive and user-friendly interface
- 💡 Excellent annotation tools
- 🚀 Fast and responsive
- 👍 Simple and clean design

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Occasional crashes and stability issues
- 💡 Limited highlighter and pen customization
- 💡 Lack of iCloud/cloud sync support
- 🐛 Text disappearing issue
- 🐛 Slow document loading and navigation

**Reported bugs**

- Randomly deleting files
- Sync issues causing loss of annotations
- Crashing when opening large documents
- Navigation problems when zoomed in
- Annotations not exporting properly

**Requested features**

- Add more highlighter and pen color options
- Implement palm rejection for Apple Pencil
- Add ability to resize and move annotation tools
- Improve cloud/sync functionality (iCloud, Dropbox, etc.)
- Implement vertical scrolling for continuous reading


### Highlights

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833)

This app is a fast and lightweight PDF reader designed for research. It allows users to read, highlight, and annotate documents, and then extract this information into organized notes. Advanced features include table data extraction, text recognition, and smart copying of annotations into various formats.

**Highlights:** Read and browse PDF documents, Highlight, underline, and strikethrough text, Add comments and sticky notes, Extract annotations into organized notes, Convert table data and recognize text, Smart copy annotations to various formats (CSV, BibTex), Lookup citation metadata and DOI links

**Features:** Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Highlights Pro: Monthly | $4.99 | per month |
| Highlights Pro | $29.99 | per year |
| Highlights Pro: Legacy Upgrade | $29.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great for highlighting and annotating PDFs
- 🔍 Effective for research and note-taking
- 📚 Useful for academic and professional work
- 👍 Clean and intuitive user interface
- 🔗 Good integration with other apps and cloud storage

**What reviewers complain about**

- 💰 Subscription model is too expensive
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔍 Limited search functionality
- 🔒 Lack of customization options
- 🔧 Poor customer support and unresponsive developers

**Reported bugs**

- Highlights and annotations randomly disappearing
- Text selection issues, especially with footnotes
- Compatibility problems with certain PDF files
- Syncing issues across devices
- Export functionality not working as expected

**Requested features**

- Add handwriting and freeform annotation support
- Implement a table of contents or bookmarking feature
- Allow editing of notes directly in the app
- Provide a one-time purchase option instead of subscription
- Improve search capabilities with visual results and navigation


## Frequently asked questions

### Is PDF Cabinet free?

PDF Cabinet is free to download, with no in-app purchases.

### Is Highlights free?

Highlights is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, PDF Cabinet or Highlights?

Highlights is rated higher. PDF Cabinet averages 3.8 out of 5 from 56 ratings, while Highlights averages 4.5 from 1.6K ratings.

### Do PDF Cabinet or Highlights have ads?

Neither PDF Cabinet nor Highlights shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, PDF Cabinet or Highlights?

PDF Cabinet ships an update every 5 weeks, and Highlights fortnightly. Most recently, PDF Cabinet was updated on September 28, 2026 and Highlights on October 1, 2026.

---

*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*