PDF24 Tools vs PDFgear
We give PDF24 Tools a 3.0 GPA and PDFgear a 3.4, out of 4.0. PDFgear grades higher on features and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
PDF24 Tools
Free online PDF tools paid for by ads, plus an offline Windows app
Free
How we grade them
| 3.0GPAPDF24 ToolsVery good | 3.4GPAPDFgearVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree for home and business use, with no limits, and ads on the website pay for it. Creator is a program anyone can download. That's a lot of tool for nothing, though bear in mind it can't rewrite existing text. | ANothing to pay, and it edits existing text, converts, OCRs and has AI. The maker says investment pays for it, not ads or selling data. Hard to beat free for a full editor, though some advanced bits may become paid later. |
| Free plan and trial | AEverything is free online and in Creator, with no artificial limits and no account. The only cost is the ads on its web pages. | AEvery feature on every platform, with no signup, no ads and no caps on record. A free tool that edits text properly is rare in this category. |
| Features | CMerges, splits, compresses, converts, OCRs, signs, redacts and compares, plus a virtual PDF printer. Plenty. But the editor only adds text and shapes on top: changing existing text means converting to Word first, and that's the core job here. | BEdits text, images and form fields like a word processor, batch-converts to Office, OCRs in 30-plus languages, annotates and has an AI copilot. It covers the whole job. Sending for signature is on eSignGear, its separate site. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating on record. Pick a tool in the browser and go, with no install or account. It's built to be simple. | BNo store rating on record. No account to make and nothing to set up: install it and start editing. |
| Platforms and integrations | CThe web, plus Creator for Windows. Mac, Linux and phones get the browser only, and there are no integrations on record. | BWindows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, the web and a browser extension. That's everywhere bar Linux, but integrations stop at ChatGPT and its own eSignGear, so no top grade. |
| Best for | free everyday PDF jobs with no account | a full PDF editor that costs nothing |
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: PDF24 Tools and PDFgear. How we grade
Price against what you get
PDF24 Tools has no paid plan and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. PDFgear has no paid plan and scores 3.0.
PDFgear scores higher for the same starting price. Of the other PDF editors on the chart, none scores higher than PDF24 Tools for less, and none scores higher than PDFgear 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
- PDF24 Tools is free. PDFgear is free.
- Only PDFgear lists macOS, iOS and Android apps.
- Only PDFgear lists a browser extension.
- PDFgear also covers forms.
In commonFree planWebWindowsPDF editing
At a glance
| PDF24 Tools | PDFgear | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Starts at | Free | Free |
| Free plan | All tools are free without restrictions or artificial limits, online and in PDF24 Creator, for private and business use; the web pages carry ads. | Every feature is free on every platform with no signup; the maker says it shows no ads, does not sell data and covers its costs with investment. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | Geek Software GmbH | PDF Gear Tech Pte. Ltd. |
| Price read from | tools.pdf24.org | pdfgear.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
PDF24 Tools
- Anyone who needs common PDF jobs done for free with no account
- Windows offices that want a free PDF printer and offline tools
- Businesses allowed to use free software at work, which PDF24 permits
PDFgear
- Anyone who wants a full PDF editor without paying or signing up
- Windows and Mac users replacing a paid editor for everyday edits
- People who want to ask questions of long PDFs with built-in AI
Worth knowing
PDF24 Tools
- The online editor adds text and shapes but cannot change existing text; PDF24 suggests converting to Word for that.
- The offline app, PDF24 Creator, is for Windows only; on Mac, Linux and phones PDF24 works in the browser.
- The free web tools show advertising, which is how PDF24 says it pays for them.
- Online files are processed on PDF24's servers and removed after a short time; Creator keeps them on the computer.
PDFgear
- PDFgear says most features will stay free but some advanced options, such as cloud AI tools and special conversions, may become paid.
- Some advanced conversions upload files to its Amazon cloud servers; the maker says they are deleted straight after processing.
- There is no Linux version; the apps cover Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android.
- It is a young product: the first version came out in 2022.
Key features
PDF24 Tools
- Merge, split and compress
- Combine, split, compress and web-optimize PDFs, and rotate, remove, extract or rearrange pages.
- Convert and OCR
- Converts files and images to and from PDF, saves web pages as PDFs and makes scanned PDFs searchable with OCR.
- Sign, protect and redact
- Sign PDFs, add or remove passwords, black out sensitive content, add watermarks and page numbers and compare two PDFs.
- Annotation-style editor
- Write on pages, insert images, shapes and arrows, draw freehand and add form fields; existing text is edited by converting to Word.
- PDF24 Creator offline
- A Windows app with all the tools working offline, so files stay on the computer, plus virtual PDF printers that turn any printable file into a PDF.
PDFgear
- Text and image editing
- Edits existing text, images, shapes, links, signatures and fillable form fields in a PDF, much like a word processor.
- Batch conversion
- Converts between PDF and Word, Excel, PowerPoint, text and images, with a batch mode for many files at once.
- OCR
- Pulls text out of scanned pages and turns scans into editable Word or text files, in more than 30 languages.
- AI copilot
- Answers questions about a document and summarizes it; the maker says it pays for the ChatGPT API behind it from its own funding.
- Annotation
- Highlight, underline and strike through text, and add notes, comments, stamps, shapes and text boxes.
- Online tools and eSignGear
- Browser tools for editing, merging, splitting, compressing and signing, plus eSignGear, a separate site for sending documents for e-signature.
Plans
PDF24 Tools
PDF24 Tools$0
The online tools and the PDF24 Creator Windows app, free for private and business use, paid for by ads on the website.
PDFgear
PDFgear$0
Editing, conversion, OCR, signing and the AI copilot on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and the web, with no account needed.
