PDF Expert vs UPDF
We give PDF Expert a 2.2 GPA and UPDF a 3.0, out of 4.0. UPDF grades higher on value for money, features and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
PDF Expert
PDF reader and editor for Mac, iPhone and iPad from Readdle
UPDF
PDF editor with AI chat, one license across desktop and mobile
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAPDF ExpertFair | 3.0GPAUPDFVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CPremium is $79.99 a year and covers your Mac, iPhone and iPad in one go. That's right in the middle of what PDF editors charge: fair, nothing special. Business is $80 a seat a year. | A$49.99 a year on the US App Store, among the cheapest paid editors here, and one license covers every platform. The $79.99 perpetual license, spread over three years, is cheaper still, though the AI isn't in it and updf.com may charge differently. |
| Free plan and trial | CThe free app is genuinely useful: read, highlight, add notes, fill and sign forms. But editing text, converting, merging and the AI all need Premium. The 1-week trial runs through the App Store. | CThere's a free version, but it's 2 conversions a day, AI on 5 files and a watermark on anything you save. Fine for a look around, not for real work. |
| Features | 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. | BEdits text and images, converts to Office and PDF/A, OCRs in 38 languages, builds forms, redacts, compares and batch-processes, with Bates numbers. It covers the whole job. The Mac App Store edition leaves out OCR; the updf.com download has it. |
| Ease of use | 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. | BNo store rating on record. It's an app you install and start editing in, with nothing to set up first. |
| Platforms and integrations | CMac, iPhone and iPad only. No Windows, no Android, no browser version, and no integrations on record. Lovely if you're all-in on Apple, no use if you're not. | BWindows, Mac, iPhone and Android, synced through UPDF Cloud, plus Dropbox. No browser version and a short integration list, so it stops at B. |
| Best for | PDF editing across a Mac, iPad and iPhone | one cheap license for computer and phone |
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: PDF Expert and UPDF. How we grade
Price against what you get
PDF Expert starts at $6.67 a month when paid by the year and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. UPDF starts at $4.17 a month when paid by the year and scores 3.0.
UPDF scores higher and starts $2.50 a month lower. Of the other PDF editors on the chart, 5 score higher than PDF Expert for less, and none scores higher than UPDF 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
- PDF Expert starts at $79.99 per year. UPDF starts at $49.99 per year (US App Store).
- PDF Expert has a free plan. UPDF does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only UPDF lists Windows and Android apps.
- UPDF can be bought with a one-time purchase.
At a glance
| PDF Expert | UPDF | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free trial |
| Starts at | $79.99 per year | $49.99 per year (US App Store) |
| Free plan | 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. | None |
| Free trial | 1-week free trial of Premium through the App Store | Free version: 2 conversions a day, AI on 5 files, and a watermark on saved changes |
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | Readdle | Superace Software Technology Co., Ltd. |
| Price read from | pdfexpert.com | apps.apple.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
PDF Expert
- Mac, iPad and iPhone users who want one subscription across all three
- iPad users who annotate PDFs with Apple Pencil
- Students and readers who mostly read, mark up and sign PDFs for free
UPDF
- People who work on PDFs across a computer, a phone and a tablet
- Buyers who want a perpetual license at a lower price than Acrobat
- Students and researchers who summarize and translate long PDFs
Worth knowing
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 Mac App Store also sells an in-app purchase named PDF Expert for $139.99 without saying what it covers; pdfexpert.com does not list it.
UPDF
- updf.com answered with a bot check, so prices are from the US App Store, where some purchases carry no billing period; website prices may differ.
- The AI assistant is a separate subscription; free AI use stops at 5 files and 100 questions.
- The Mac App Store edition lacks OCR; the edition downloaded from updf.com includes it.
- The free version limits conversions to 2 a day and adds a watermark when saving changes.
Key features
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.
UPDF
- Text and image editing
- Change the font, size and color of existing text, resize, crop, replace or extract images, and add or remove links.
- AI assistant
- Chats with a PDF to summarize it, translates whole files while keeping the layout, turns PDFs into mind maps and answers questions about images.
- Convert and OCR
- Converts PDFs to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF/A, images, text and HTML, and recognizes text in scans in 38 languages.
- Forms, signatures and redaction
- Create fillable forms, fill and sign them, add digital signatures, redact sensitive text, compare two PDFs and set passwords.
- Batch processing
- Converts, merges, compresses, encrypts and runs OCR on many files at once, and adds watermarks, headers and Bates numbers in bulk.
- UPDF Cloud
- Syncs files and saved signatures across Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, with 10GB for paid users and 1GB free.
Plans
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.
UPDF
Annual Subscription$49.99
per year (US App Store)
UPDF Pro on every platform with 10GB of UPDF Cloud; the stores also list Monthly ($9.99) and Quarterly ($19) subscriptions.
Perpetual License$79.99
one-time purchase (US App Store)
UPDF Pro paid once, without the AI assistant, which is sold only as a subscription.
Ways to pay less
PDF Expert
- 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.
UPDF
- Lifetime license
Perpetual license
UPDF sells a perpetual license as a one-time purchase, listed at $79.99 on the US App Store; it does not include the AI assistant.
