Drawboard PDF vs PDF Expert (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Drawboard PDF grades higher than PDF Expert: 2.6 against 2.4 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 9, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 9, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Drawboard PDF grades higher on the free plan and platforms. PDF Expert grades higher on value for money and ease of use. They get the same grade on features.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Drawboard PDF
PDF markup app with pressure-sensitive ink and measurement tools
PDF Expert
PDF reader and editor for Mac, iPhone and iPad from Readdle
Which one is for you
Pick Drawboard PDF if
- Fits if you mark up plans and drawings with a pen or stylus
- Works for students and site teams who need measurement on a PDF
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free, because it holds 10 cloud documents of 40 MB each
- Watch out: the 7-day Pro trial needs a credit card up front on Windows and iOS
- Pricey if you need Pro Unlimited at $159.99 a year, and everything paid is a subscription
- Skip it if you want to change the text of a PDF, as it is built for markup
- Watch out: Drawboard Projects is a separate team product at $29 to $39 per user a month
Pick PDF Expert if
- Fits if you work on a Mac and an iPad and want one $79.99 subscription for both
- Works for students who mostly read, highlight and sign, on the free app
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you or your team use Windows, Android or a browser at all, as it's Apple only
- Not for you if you build fillable forms or send for signature, as neither is on record
- Tight if you need OCR on an iPhone or iPad, as it's listed for the Mac
- Watch out: the free app won't edit, convert or merge, and the Premium trial is a week, through the App Store
- Watch out: the student discount is 30% in one place and 50% in another, and the $139.99 Lifetime license is Mac only, with new features possibly extra
How we grade them
| 2.6GPADrawboard PDFGood | 2.4GPAPDF ExpertFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPro Plus is $83.92 a year, about $7 a month, which is inside the middle of the PDF category at $7.99. Pro Unlimited is $159.99 a year. | BPremium is $79.99 a year and covers your Mac, iPhone and iPad in one go, right in the middle of what PDF editors charge. A Lifetime license is $139.99 once, under two years of the category's middle subscription, but it covers the Mac version only. Business is $80 a seat a year. |
| Free plan and trial | BEssential markup tools and 10 cloud documents of up to 40 MB are free for good, which one person can live on. The paid trial is 7 days. | CThe free app reads, highlights, adds notes, and fills and signs forms. But editing text, converting, merging and the AI all need Premium. The 1-week trial runs through the App Store. |
| Features | CInk and text markup, measurement, redaction, OCR, signatures and page tools. It is a markup app, so editing the text of a PDF is not what it is for. | CEdits text like a word processor, converts to Office, merges, compresses, redacts and measures drawings, with an AI assistant. The gaps: OCR is listed for the Mac only, and there's no form builder or sending for signature on record. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating is on record, and an app built around pen markup and drawing scales takes a little learning. | B4.67 from 216,183 App Store ratings, a whisker off the top grade. It's an app you open and use, and it's made for marking up with an Apple Pencil on an iPad. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWindows, Mac, iPhone, Android and web, with Revit, Procore and Autodesk Forma links, so it covers every device type. | CMac, iPhone and iPad only. No Windows, no Android, no browser version, and no integrations on record. If you're not all on Apple, it's no use. |
| Best for | marking up drawings and PDFs with a pen | PDF editing across a Mac, iPad and iPhone |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Drawboard PDF and PDF Expert. How we grade
Price against what you get
Drawboard PDF starts at $6.99 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. PDF Expert starts at $6.67 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.3.
Drawboard PDF scores higher, and starts $0.32 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other PDF editors on the chart, 6 score higher than Drawboard PDF for less, and 9 score higher than PDF Expert for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Drawboard PDF also covers documents and file sharing.
- PDF Expert also covers forms.
At a glance
| Drawboard PDF | PDF Expert | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $83.92 per year (Pro Plus) | $79.99 per year |
| Free plan | Essential markup tools plus Store+Share with 10 cloud documents (40 MB limit per document) and unlimited contributors. | The free app reads PDFs, highlights and marks them up, adds notes and stamps, and fills and signs forms; editing, converting and AI need Premium. |
| Free trial | 7-day free trial of any Pro plan; Windows and iOS ask for a credit card up front | 1-week free trial of Premium through the App Store |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Drawboard Pty Ltd | Readdle |
| Price read from | drawboard.com | pdfexpert.com |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 9, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Drawboard PDF
- Paid features are subscription-only; the pricing FAQ says there is no one-time purchase except the 3-year education offer.
- The pricing page shows Pro Plus and Pro Unlimited individual rates only as the usual yearly rates in the education block.
- Drawboard Projects is a separate team product, $29 per user a month (Team) or $39 (Growth), $22.50 and $30.83 billed yearly.
PDF Expert
- Runs on Apple devices only: there is no Windows, Android or browser version.
- Editing, converting, merging, compressing, redaction and PDF Copilot all need Premium; the free app reads, annotates and signs.
- The education discount is stated as 30% off the annual plan in one place on the pricing page and as 50% in another.
- The $139.99 lifetime license covers the Mac version only; new features may cost extra, and Premium on iPhone and iPad still needs the yearly plan.
Key features
Drawboard PDF
- Pen-style ink and text markup
- Pressure-sensitive digital ink, highlight, underline and strikethrough, with touch and stylus support (Surface, Apple Pencil) or a mouse.
- Measurement
- Pro tools include calibrated length, rectangular area and polygon area measurements on drawings.
- Store+Share
- Upload annotated PDFs to the cloud and mark them up with others in real time. Reviewers do not need a paid plan.
- Redaction, OCR and signatures
- Pro adds redaction, OCR, unlimited signatures, custom templates and a text review export.
- Page tools
- Insert, rotate and delete pages, merge and split documents, and flatten annotations to export or shrink a file.
- Team licence admin
- An Admin Portal lets a team buy more licences, disable users and manage billing in one place.
PDF Expert
- Text and image editing
- Premium edits text in a PDF much like a word processor, adds, replaces and resizes images, and adds links and outlines.
- Convert, merge and compress
- Creates PDFs from Word files and images, converts PDFs to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images and text, and merges, splits and shrinks files.
- Annotate, fill and sign
- Highlight, draw, add notes, stamps and audio notes, and fill and sign forms, including AcroForms and static XFA forms, in the free app.
- PDF Copilot
- Premium's AI assistant lists main points, summarizes, answers questions with references and explains words or phrases in a document.
- OCR and scan clean-up
- Recognizes text in scanned documents on Mac, and an AI Enhance feature removes shadows and distortion from scans.
- Measuring and redaction
- Scale and measure drawings with polygon, polyline and redline tools, and permanently black out sensitive text.
Plans
Drawboard PDF
Free$0
Text review, digital ink, shapes, signatures, bookmarks, search and page insert, rotate and delete.
Pro Plus$83.92
per user / year, price shown as the usual rate
More tools and cloud space for regular reviewers. Students and educators pay $10 once for 3 years.
Pro Unlimited$159.99
per user / year, price shown as the usual rate
Unlimited cloud documents. Students and educators pay $20 once for 3 years.
PDF Expert
Free$0
Read, annotate, fill and sign PDFs on Mac, iPhone and iPad.
Premium$79.99
per year
Edit text, images and links, convert, OCR, merge and compress, redact, translate and PDF Copilot, on iPhone, iPad and Mac, with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Business$80
per seat / year, before tax
Premium for teams bought online, each seat covering up to 3 devices, with a Business Manager to add, remove and reassign seats.
Lifetime$139.99
one-time
The Premium features for the Mac version only, paid once with a 30-day money-back guarantee; later new features may cost extra.
Ways to pay less
Drawboard PDF
- Education
3 years of Pro for a one-off $10 or $20
Students, teachers and school staff with a school email pay $10 for Pro Plus or $20 for Pro Unlimited, valid for 3 years, with no renewal.
PDF Expert
- Lifetime license
Lifetime Mac license for $139.99
A one-time payment of $139.99 buys the Mac version for good, with bug fixes and support; Readdle says new features may come at extra cost.
- Education
Discount for students and educators
Verifying a school email on the pricing page sends a discount on the annual plan, given there as 30% and also as 50%; the App Store lists an education purchase at $39.99.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Drawboard PDF or PDF Expert?
As of Nov 13, 2026, PDF Expert is cheaper to start with: $6.67 a month when paid by the year, against $6.99 a month when paid by the year for Drawboard PDF. Drawboard PDF starts at $83.92 per year (Pro Plus), and PDF Expert starts at $79.99 per year.
Which has a free plan, Drawboard PDF or PDF Expert?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Drawboard PDF and PDF Expert have a free plan.
Which platforms do Drawboard PDF and PDF Expert run on?
As of Nov 13, 2026, only Drawboard PDF lists a web app and Windows and Android apps. Both list macOS and iOS apps. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.