Open Source 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 open source Mac alternative is Xournal++. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Adobe Acrobat Reader and 12 are open source and available for Mac so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source Mac alternatives to Adobe Acrobat Reader are Linwood Butterfly, Sioyek, Skim and zathura.

filter to find the best alternatives

Adobe Acrobat Reader alternatives are mainly PDF Readers, but if you're looking for Note-taking Tools or PDF Editors you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Open Source, Windows, Windows + Open Source, Linux, Android, PDF Editor and Free. 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.
Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
Adobe Acrobat Reader alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. Xournal++ icon
     194 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.

    62 Xournal++ alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  2. 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.

    48 Linwood Butterfly alternatives

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • Self-Hosted
    • Snapcraft
    • AltStore
    • Flathub
    • F-Droid
     
  3. Sioyek icon
     24 likes

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

    41 Sioyek alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
    |
    1
    Sioyek vs Adobe Acrobat Reader Comments
    Barrett
    Positive
    1

    It's a minimalist PDF reader for programmers and other such nerds. Includes dark mode, keyboard navigation, and a minimalist UI that allows for great focus.

    • Sioyek is Free and Open SourceAdobe Acrobat Reader is Freemium and Proprietary
  4. Skim icon
     93 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.

    93 Skim alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
     
  5. zathura icon
     45 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.

    73 zathura alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (Zlib)

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
    • BSD
    • MacPorts
    • Homebrew
     
  6. Xpdf icon
     12 likes

    Xpdf is a free PDF viewer and toolkit, including a text extractor, image converter, HTML converter, and more. Most of the tools are available as open source.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
     
  7. NightPDF icon
     4 likes

    Dark Mode PDF reader.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
     
  8. SpeedyNote icon
     2 likes

    SpeedyNote is a fast, open-source note-taking application designed for stylus users who need iPad-quality annotation on budget hardware. Built with native C++ and Qt, it delivers 360Hz stylus input on hardware as modest as an Intel Celeron N4000 at 1.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
    • Android Tablet
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak
    • iPad
     
  9. A PDF Editing tool that ensures your privacy. Open source, available on Windows, MacOS and Linux. Available in 4 Languages (English, Bengali, Chinese and Japanese). Ambient vibes are also included....

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux
     
  10. Free, open-source desktop app for legally binding PDF digital signatures. Sign with PKCS#11 hardware tokens, USB dongles, smart cards, PFX certificates, or Windows keystore. Adobe-compatible, RFC 3161 timestamped, fully offline — no cloud, no subscription.

    Cost / License

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Mac
     
  11.  1 like

    A small .pdf management tool with a command-line UI.

    Cost / License

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Linux
     
  12. modern computer flatboat is a mobile pdf viewer written in Qt and using MuPDF's libfitz.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Android
     
12 of 12 Adobe Acrobat Reader alternatives