Adobe Acrobat may be the best-known PDF reader, but that doesn’t automatically make it the best one for every user. There are many alternative Mac PDF reader apps that offer unique features, improved performance, and other benefits. This list takes a look at the best free and freemium options to help you take your PDF reading experience to the next level.
1. Apple Preview
Price: Free (included in macOS)
All Mac users already have a capable Mac PDF reader installed on their computers. We’re talking, of course, about the Apple Preview app, which is more capable than it seems at first, offering tools for annotating, editing, and signing documents.
With Apple’s Preview app, you can highlight, underline, or strike out text in a variety of colors, add text boxes, shapes, or digital signatures, and more. However, it’s worth noting that Preview does not write annotations to the file using standard protocols. If you annotate a PDF in Preview, then open it in another app, the text layer may become corrupt.
Despite this potential shortcoming, Apple Preview is a powerful tool for individual users who need a reliable Mac PDF reader and editor. It’s easy to use, packed with features, and best of all, deeply integrated into the macOS operating system.
2. PDFgear
Price: Free
PDFgear is the best third-party Mac PDF reader that you can find in the Mac App Store and on the Internet in general. It’s completely free, yet offers a range of features for viewing, converting, form filling, page reorganizing, and more.
Do you need to merge two PDF files into one? Or maybe you have one long document that you would like to split into two? These are both easy tasks to accomplish with PDFgear. You can also rotate pages or replace them. The latest version of the app integrates an AI chatbot, allowing you to ask questions about your PDF files.
If you stumble upon a PDF file with text that can’t be easily selected, use PDFgear’s OCR feature to extract the text from the images in the PDF. The feature supports multiple languages, and the results can be exported with a click or copied into the clipboard.
3. PDF Expert
Price: Free with premium options
PDF Expert is arguably the most powerful PDF editor for Mac. Among the features that make PDF Expert stand out are its ability to edit PDF text, images, and links, fill out and sign forms, redact sensitive information, annotate documents with highlights and notes, and merge and split PDF files.
These and other features are designed with usability in mind, so even Mac users who aren’t particularly savvy can use them without any issues. The app also integrates seamlessly with other Apple devices, allowing you to view and edit PDFs on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, and sync your documents across all your devices.
Unfortunately, the free version of this PDF reader for Mac can’t edit PDF document text and doesn’t include the OCR feature. However, the app does offer a seven-day free trial of its Premium subscription, so you can test out all of its features before deciding whether to upgrade.
4. Skim
Price: Free and open source
Skim is a PDF reader for Mac that is specifically designed for people who read and annotate scientific papers and reports. It offers a range of highlighting tools, including one-swipe highlight modes, to help you quickly and easily mark important text. Additionally, Skim allows you to create “snapshots” of important sections of a PDF, which can be saved for easy reference later.
Another useful feature of Skim is its navigation tools, which include a table of contents and thumbnails, as well as a visual history, that allows you to easily track your progress through a document. Skim also offers a convenient full-screen mode for distraction-free reading, as well as a powerful presentation mode with built-in transitions.
Skim is completely free and open source, developed exclusively by a team of volunteers from around the world. As a result, the pace of development is slower, compared to commercial software, and technical support is limited to community forums and documentation. I personally don’t find this to be a problem in practice, however.
5. Foxit Reader
Price: Free with premium options
Foxit Reader is a popular PDF reader for Windows that’s also available for Mac users. The app shares many similarities with Adobe Acrobat in terms of design and general usability, so it should be easy for you to make it your default PDF viewer.
Besides the expected assortment of features for viewing, annotating, and signing PDF files, Foxit Reader offers impressive collaboration tools. You can add and manage annotations and stamps in PDF files, measure and scale distances, and share PDF files by email or through popular cloud services like Google Drive. It also supports digital signatures and certifications, making it a great option for business users.
While Foxit Reader is a free app, there are some limitations to the free version. The biggest two are that you can’t edit PDF document text or use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to extract text from scanned documents.
6. Sioyek
Price: Free and open source
Sioyek is another free PDF reader for Mac that’s aimed specifically at those who immerse themselves in technical books and research papers. It excels in managing complex documents by offering features such as searchable highlights, smart jumps to references, and the capability of generating tables of contents for documents that lack one.
One of Sioyek’s most innovative features is the “Portals” function, which allows users to create links between different parts of a document displayed in a second window. You can refer to a figure, table, or any other reference without losing your place in the text.
Sioyek is controlled via keyboard shortcuts and commands, which are accessible via a searchable command palette. The keyboard-centric design makes it highly efficient, but it also introduces a steep learning curve that takes a lot of effort to overcome.
There are numerous Mac PDF reader alternatives to Adobe Acrobat, each with its own unique features and benefits. Whether you’re looking for a simple and integrated solution like Apple Preview or a powerful tool like PDF Expert, there’s a PDF reader for Mac that fits your needs. To handle PDF files on Mac even more efficiently, we recommend managing PDF files via the Notes app.
Image credit: DALL-E. All screenshots by David Morelo.
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