Comparison

PDFOptim vs Scoutabout

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

Head to head
About

PDFOptim

Easily compress and optimize PDF files on your iPhone and iPad. Reduce the size of large documents, saving storage space and transmission time. Offers both automatic and manual compression modes with advanced settings for image and vector graphics.

Highlights
  • Compress PDF documents
  • Optimize PDF files
  • Automatic compression mode
  • Manual compression mode
  • Adjust image resolution and quality
  • Optimize vector graphics
  • Support for password-protected PDFs
Features
Read full description

PDFOptim is a simple and intuitive way to compress, optimize and reduce PDF documents on iPhones and iPads. PDFOptim provides easy and effective ways to compress large image and graphics heavy PDF files. Inbuilt side-by-side preview to compare original and compressed PDF. * * * PDFOptim for Mac is also available on the Mac App Store. * * * Compressed PDF documents requires less disk space for storage and faster uploads and downloads saves transmission time and cost. PDFOptim rewrites the entire PDF documents using selected compression options as efficiently as possible without compromising the document's integrity. If your PDF documents are in another app (For Example Mail, DropBox or SkyDrive etc.) that uses the Open In… button, tap the button to open the PDF document in PDFOptim. You can also transfer PDF documents from your desktop computer via iTunes into PDFOptim application on your iPhone or iPad. KEY FEATURES: AUTO COMPRESSION MODE - PDFOptim analyze document’s contents and apply algorithm to generate a smallest possible PDF by maintaining the document’s visual quality. Choose one of the four predefined Auto compression methods and let the app do the hard work for you. No further user interaction required to provide technical compression options. MANUAL COMPRESSION MODE - Change compression options manually to generate optimum sized PDF of your need. You can choose compression options to set from Image Color Model, Image Resolution, JPEG Image Quality, Optimise vector graphics level and Advance option. - Image color model to choose from RGB, Gray and Mono. Selecting Monochrome color model option converts raster PDF contents into black and white which helps reduces PDF file size to greater extent. It is very helpful when compressing scanned books mainly containing text. - Image resolution ppi (pixels/inch) control to resize raster image contents. Downsampling at lower resolution decrease the file size dramatically. - Quality control. Set quality from lossless to least for resampling all raster images into PDF. It allows you to control compressed PDF size and viewing quality. -Advance options to remove PDF content properties like alternate images, page thumbnails, documents structure hierarchy and output intent. - Optimize vector graphics option removes superfluous information to reduce vector graphics heavy PDF. Increase in optimize vector from 'Level 1' to 'Level 5' reduces output PDF file size less to more respectively. This option is very useful when PDF content mainly consist of high precision vector graphics, Usually PDF drawing, note-taking and PDF markup apps creates large vector graphics heavy PDF files which can be compressed by this option efficiently. - Password protected PDF documents supported for compression using correct password. - Single or multiple compressed PDFs can be shared as single ZIP (*.zip) file. - Allows Compressed PDFs to Open In… another application, Mail, Message, Print, share PDFs to nearby iOS devices via AirDrop. - Use Copy to iTunes to save and share compressed PDFs on your desktop computer. PDF VIEWER: - Inbuilt PDF viewer with fully selectable and searchable text contents. Select and copy text to clipboard for further use. - Pinch out and Pinch in to ZoomIn and ZoomOut view and search feature to find a character, word and sentence. - Scroll through your document by thumbnail view or Go to page feature. Note: PDFOptim is standalone application running natively to compress PDF documents securely on your iOS device. You can refer User Manual for any assistance Or Contact Support. *The free version has limitation to export one compressed PDF per week. Get Premium to remove all restrictions and start exporting an unlimited number of compressed PDFs. Privacy Policy: http://rootrisetech.com/pdfoptim-privacy-policy Terms of Use(EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Scoutabout

This app helps you create professional notes and reports for tradeshows. Document suppliers, their products with pictures, and share your findings easily via PDF through various methods. It's designed for professional usability on iPads.

Highlights
  • Create tradeshow and supplier information
  • Document products with pictures
  • Import supplier data via QR code
  • Share reports via AirDrop, email, or cloud
  • Print and open reports in other apps
  • Professional usability design
Features
Read full description

Welcome to Scoutabout, the powerful app to create notes and professional reports of tradeshows. You can use iPad, iPad Air and iPad mini to report easily the tradeshows, the suppliers you visited and document their products. Create: • tradeshows and type in the information which will be shown on your report • supplier information and type in contact details • detailed product information and add pictures • use the QR Code (needs internet connection) to import all information provided from supplier (if supplier also use scoutabout) and add pictures Share: • send your PDF with Air Drop to others near you • send your report by email • open your PDF in other Applications • print your report • save your report in iBooks, dropbox or in any other cloud Scoutabout was carefully designed to experience a professional usability.

Screenshots

PDFOptim4 screens
Scoutabout3 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Scoutabout at none against PDFOptim's 3. Scoutabout also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 76%) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 5 months). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement 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

Both are free to download. PDFOptim sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $0.99 per month. Scoutabout asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDFOptim ships an update every 5 months, Scoutabout every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 21, 2026 and September 16, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
PDFOptim versus Scoutabout: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDFOptimScoutabout
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (292 ratings) — better—
Positive reviews75.6% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings292 — better—
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 2 months — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS15.615.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size8 MB11 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperRootRise Technologies Pvt. Ltd.Mi Appsolutions KG

Customer experience

PDFOptim

All ratings292 ratings
Positive93.5%
Neutral1.7%
Negative4.8%
Written reviews82 reviews
Positive75.6%
Neutral3.7%
Negative20.7%

Scoutabout

Written reviews2 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

PDFOptim

Reported bugs

11 issues
  • App not launching on iOS 18.0.1
  • App freezes during launch
  • App won't take purchases
  • Cannot optimize certain PDFs
  • Compression not effective on marked-up PDFs
Show 6 more
  • App no longer works after updates
  • File compressed to a slightly smaller size with no significant reduction
  • Graphics become unreadable or highly degraded
  • App crashes
  • Multitasking, drag and drop not working
  • Doesn't use full screen on new iPads

Requested features

6 requests
  • Support for iOS shortcuts
  • macOS version integration/cross-platform compatibility
  • Improved handling of specific file types like GoodNotes
  • Better optimization for handwritten notes within PDFs
  • Cloud storage for compressed documents (iCloud)
Show 1 more
  • Update for latest OS versions and multitasking features

Scoutabout

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

3 purchases

PDFOptim

Subscriptions2
  • Premium : Monthly Access$0.991 Month
  • Premium : Yearly Access3 Days trial$2.991 Year
One-time1
  • Premium : Lifetime Access$4.99
None

Scoutabout

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PDFOptim free?
PDFOptim is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Scoutabout free?
Scoutabout is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do PDFOptim or Scoutabout have ads?
Neither PDFOptim nor Scoutabout shows ads.
Which is updated more often, PDFOptim or Scoutabout?
PDFOptim ships an update every 5 months, and Scoutabout every 2 months. Most recently, PDFOptim was updated on September 21, 2026 and Scoutabout on September 16, 2026.

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