Edit, fill, sign, convert and redact any PDF free — no install, no subscription, and no upload to edit. Below is the honest comparison, including the things Acrobat still does better.
Green means we do it better for most people. Amber means Acrobat wins — those rows are here on purpose.
| EZ PDF Editor | Adobe Acrobat Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free · Pro $9.99/mo · Pro Signing $19.99/mo | Paid subscription |
| Install | Nothing — runs in your browser | Desktop application |
| Works on iPhone / iPad / Android | Yes, same editor in the phone browser | Separate mobile app, limited |
| Files uploaded to edit? | No — the PDF is opened on your device | Cloud features upload |
| Fill a non-fillable form | Yes — click anywhere and type, or let Detect Fillable Fields add the fields | Yes |
| Add text, images, signatures | Yes | Yes |
| True inline editing of existing PDF text | Edit Text turns each printed line into an editable box (no paragraph reflow); OCR Pages for scans | Yes — edits the original text with reflow |
| Redaction that removes the text underneath | Yes — the page is re-rendered, and the download stops if it cannot be | Yes |
| Convert to Word / Excel / images | Yes, free | Yes |
| Merge, split, compress, rotate | Yes, free | Yes |
| OCR a scanned page | Yes — make it searchable or editable, English & French; 5 pages/month free, unlimited on Pro | Yes |
| E-signature requests by email | Yes — reminders, CC recipients, reusable templates with tags, a signer preview on desktop and phone, Email Copy of the signed PDF, and an Audit Trail with a Certificate of Signing | Yes, via Acrobat Sign |
| Live video signing room with ID check | Yes, on Pro Signing — sign together on camera, signing opens only when you open it, with a compliance audit trail | No |
| Certify a document so anyone can verify it | Yes, free — anyone checks a copy at /seal in a browser | Certify with a Digital ID; checked in Acrobat or Reader |
| PDF/A & PDF/X validation, preflight | No | Yes |
| Bates numbering for legal discovery | No | Yes |
| Canadian data residency | Yes — servers in Canada | US / global |
Meet your signers on camera, verify who they are, watch them sign, and keep a recording plus a compliance audit trail. Acrobat has no equivalent — remote online notarisation platforms charge separately for this. It is part of Pro Signing.
Your PDF is opened and edited on your own device. For contracts, IDs, medical and tax documents that is a different security posture from a cloud editor — there is no copy of the file on a server to leak.
A redacted page is re-rendered rather than copied, so the words underneath are gone from the downloaded file. If that cannot be completed, the download is stopped rather than handing you a file that only looks redacted.
Register a finished file so anyone can check at /seal that it has not been altered since — in any browser, with no account, no Acrobat and no Digital ID to buy.
The parts that do use a server run on servers in Canada, which matters for PIPEDA and Quebec Law 25 work.
Editing is free forever with no watermark. Pro and Pro Signing exist for unlimited signature sending and the signing room, not to unlock basic editing.
Three steps — there is nothing to migrate.
Drag any PDF, Word, Excel or image file into the editor. Nothing installs and no account is needed to start.
Type on the page, fill the form, insert images, redact, merge or split, then sign it yourself or send it for signature.
Download the finished PDF with no watermark, or email it to signers and track it from your dashboard.
Yes. EZ PDF Editor does the everyday Acrobat jobs — filling forms, editing, signing, merging, splitting, converting and redacting — free in your browser with no install and no subscription. Your file is opened and edited on your own device, so nothing is uploaded. Pro adds unlimited e-signature requests and Pro Signing adds the Video Signing Room, but the core editing is free.
Yes. Open the PDF in your browser and type anywhere on the page — you do not need form fields and you do not need Acrobat. To change wording that is already printed on the page, Edit Text on This Page turns each printed line into an editable box, and for a scan, OCR Pages reads the page in English or French and either makes it searchable or turns it into text you can edit directly.
Acrobat still wins on true inline editing of a digital PDF's existing body text with reflow, on print production standards such as PDF/X and PDF/A validation, on preflight, and on Bates numbering for legal discovery. If your work depends on those, Acrobat Pro is the right tool and we will not pretend otherwise.
Editing happens in your browser — the PDF is opened locally and is not sent to a server to be edited. Features that are inherently online do involve the server: sending a document for signature, the Video Signing Room, and identity verification. Those are the only paths where a file leaves your device, and they are the ones you start deliberately.
No. There is no watermark, badge or logo on anything you download, on any plan.
Properly. A page carrying a redaction is re-rendered rather than copied, so the text underneath is gone from the downloaded file rather than hidden beneath a rectangle. If that re-render cannot be completed the download is stopped rather than handing you a file that looks redacted but is not.
The editor is free. Pro is $9.99/month and Pro Signing is $19.99/month. Adobe Acrobat Pro is a paid subscription; see Adobe's site for its current price. Check both before deciding — ours are on the pricing section of the home page.
No. It runs in Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad or Android. There is no download, no plug-in and no account needed to start editing.
Free, no sign-up, no watermark. If it does not do what you need, you have lost two minutes.
Open the editor →ADOBE®, ADOBE ACROBAT® and ACROBAT® are trademarks of Adobe Inc. EZ PDF Editor is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Adobe Inc. Comparisons reflect publicly listed features at the time of writing and may change — check both products before deciding.