Adobe Acrobat Reader Alternatives for Mac

There are many alternatives to Adobe Acrobat Reader for Mac if you are looking for a replacement. The best Mac alternative is Foxit PDF Reader. It's not free, so if you're looking for a free alternative, you could try Foxit PDF Reader or Xournal++. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Adobe Acrobat Reader and many of them are available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting Mac alternatives to Adobe Acrobat Reader are Linwood Butterfly, ABBYY FineReader PDF, Sioyek and Preview.

filter to find the best alternatives

Adobe Acrobat Reader alternatives are mainly PDF Readers, but if you're looking for PDF Editors or Note-taking Tools you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Windows, Open Source, Linux, Windows + Free, PDF Editor, Android and Windows + Open Source. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Adobe Acrobat Reader.
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Alternatives list

  1. Foxit PDF Reader icon
     1381 likes

    Foxit Reader offers a lightweight PDF viewing experience across multiple platforms with features such as annotation, form filling, signing, cloud storage integration, collaborative review options, heightened security via Trust Manager, and organizational tools like Group Policy and XML Configuration.

    135 Foxit PDF Reader alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free Personal
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Alerts

    • Bundleware

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • ReactOS
     
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    14
  2. Xournal++ icon
     196 likes

    Handwritten note-taking and PDF annotation using pen input and pressure sensitivity, shape drawing, customizable toolbar layouts, image insertion, audio recording, multi-language options, LaTeX integration, and complete export in PDF or PNG formats across all platforms.

    64 Xournal++ alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Snapcraft
    • Flathub
     
  3. PDFgear icon
     63 likes

    Read, edit, convert, merge, and sign PDF files across devices, for completely free and without signing up.

    64 PDFgear alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
     
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    1
  4. Butterfly is a note-taking app where your ideas come first. You can paint, add texts, and export them easily on every device. This app works on android, windows, linux, and in the web.

    49 Linwood Butterfly alternatives

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • Self-Hosted
    • Snapcraft
    • AltStore
    • Flathub
    • F-Droid
    • Linux Mobile
     
  5. Optical recognition software boasting unmatched text accuracy converts scanned documents to editable Word, Excel, or searchable PDFs while preserving layout. Supports 190 languages, simplifies processes with automated tasks, and includes PDF editing tools.

    93 ABBYY FineReader PDF alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • iPhone
    • iPad
     
  6. Sioyek icon
     24 likes

    Sioyek is a PDF viewer with minimal interface optimized for reading research papers and technical books.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
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    1
  7. Preview icon
     123 likes

    Native macOS app for viewing, annotating, and editing images and PDFs, featuring tools for cropping, rotating, resizing images, rearranging pages, full-screen viewing, markup, document merging, batch conversion, and export in multiple formats.

    175 Preview alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • iPhone
    • iPad
     
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    2
  8. Create, Convert, Review and Edit PDF Documents on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

    180 Qoppa PDF Studio alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Chrome OS
     
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    1
  9. Skim icon
     96 likes

    PDF viewer for macOS supports scientific papers, annotations, highlights, bookmarks, split view, exporting notes, AppleScript, multiple annotation types, bibliography integration, full-screen, search, and compatibility with various macOS versions.

    99 Skim alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
     
  10. Drawboard PDF icon
     15 likes

    The top AEC PDF app to markup and manage drawings and documents. Ideal for replacing pen and paper, avoid printing documents again by using our intuitive feature set that makes marking up a PDF easy. Open or create a new PDF, markup using our extensive array of tools, then save...

    64 Drawboard PDF alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • iPad
    • Android Tablet
     
  11. LEKTRA icon
     14 likes

    High-performance viewer for documents and images offering split tabs, customizable single or book layouts, portals for side-by-side sections, instant search, line highlight, annotation tools, link hints, searchable highlights, session management, and TOML config.

    45 LEKTRA alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  12. zathura icon
     44 likes

    Zathura is a highly customizable and functional document viewer. It provides a minimalistic and space saving interface as well as an easy usage that mainly focuses on keyboard interaction.

    76 zathura alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (Zlib)

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • MacPorts
    • Homebrew
     
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