PDFgear vs UPDF
We give PDFgear a 3.4 GPA and UPDF a 3.0, out of 4.0. PDFgear grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
UPDF
PDF editor with AI chat, one license across desktop and mobile
How we grade them
| 3.4GPAPDFgearVery good | 3.0GPAUPDFVery good | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | 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. | 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 | 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. | 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 | 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. | 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 | BNo store rating on record. No account to make and nothing to set up: install it and start editing. | BNo store rating on record. It's an app you install and start editing in, with nothing to set up first. |
| Platforms and integrations | 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. | 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 | a full PDF editor that costs nothing | 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: PDFgear and UPDF. How we grade
Price against what you get
PDFgear has no paid plan and scores 3.0 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.
They score the same, and PDFgear starts $4.17 a month lower. Of the other PDF editors on the chart, none scores higher than PDFgear 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
- PDFgear is free. UPDF starts at $49.99 per year (US App Store).
- PDFgear has a free plan. UPDF does not, though it has a free trial.
- Only PDFgear lists a web app.
- Only PDFgear lists a browser extension.
- UPDF can be bought with a one-time purchase.
At a glance
| PDFgear | UPDF | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free trial |
| Starts at | Free | $49.99 per year (US App Store) |
| Free plan | 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. | None |
| Free trial | None listed | Free version: 2 conversions a day, AI on 5 files, and a watermark on saved changes |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Browser extension | ||
| Made by | PDF Gear Tech Pte. Ltd. | Superace Software Technology Co., Ltd. |
| Price read from | pdfgear.com | apps.apple.com |
| Checked | Oct 18, 2026 | Oct 18, 2026 |
Who each one suits
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
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
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.
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
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.
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
PDFgear
PDFgear$0
Editing, conversion, OCR, signing and the AI copilot on Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and the web, with no account needed.
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
PDFgear
No public discounts listed.
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.
