Alternatives to LightPDF
Online and desktop PDF editor and converter with OCR and AI document chat. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.
The original
LightPDF
Online and desktop PDF editor and converter with OCR and AI document chat.
Replacements
Listings that take over the same core job as LightPDF.
Adobe Acrobat
Adobe's PDF software: the free Acrobat Reader for viewing and commenting, and paid Acrobat plans for editing and conversion.
Adobe Acrobat offers a free Reader on desktop, web and mobile, with editing and conversion requiring a Standard or Pro subscription and AI Assistant sold separately.
UPDF
A cross-platform PDF editor with annotation, OCR, conversion, redaction and built-in AI tools.
UPDF also covers editing, OCR, conversion and AI chat across desktop and mobile, adding redaction and batch processing, with full features behind a paid plan.
PDFelement
A commercial PDF editor for creating, converting, editing, annotating, protecting and signing PDF files.
PDFelement covers editing, conversion, protection and signing on desktop, mobile and web, and its mobile app doubles as a document scanner, with paid-only pricing.
PDFgear
A free PDF reader, editor and converter for desktop and mobile, with online tools and an AI assistant.
PDFgear provides editing, conversion, merging and signing free with no sign-up on desktop, mobile and web, though AI features send content online.
PDF Reader Pro
A commercial PDF reader and editor for annotating, converting, signing and organizing PDFs on desktop and mobile.
PDF Reader Pro offers editing, OCR, forms and signing on Windows, macOS, Android and iOS, without a web version, and uses credits for AI features.
Xodo
PDF reader and editor across web, desktop and mobile.
Xodo offers the same annotation and signing tools on web, desktop and mobile with Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive integration, but no macOS app.
KDAN PDF
PDF reader and editor across Windows, macOS, Android and iOS.
KDAN PDF offers editing and annotation with cloud sync on Windows, macOS, Android and iOS, lacks a web version, and needs a subscription for editing.
Smallpdf
Browser PDF tools for compressing, converting, editing and signing.
Smallpdf is mainly a browser toolkit with desktop and mobile apps for compressing, converting and signing, with free use capped at a couple of documents daily.
Similar software
Related functionality, not a direct replacement.
ChatPDF
An AI tool that summarizes PDFs and answers questions about them, with citations to the source.
HiPDF
Wondershare's online PDF suite for converting, editing, compressing, merging and summarizing PDF files.
Humata
An AI tool for asking questions about your documents, with cited answers and summaries.
iLovePDF
Browser PDF toolkit for merging, splitting, compressing and converting.
