AlternativeTo LogoLoginSign up 
AlternativeTo Logo

Open Source PDF Expert Alternatives

The best open source alternative to PDF Expert is Okular. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 50 alternatives to PDF Expert and 13 is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to PDF Expert are Xournal++, Evince, PDF Arranger and xournal.

PDF Expert alternatives are mainly PDF Readers but may also be PDF Editors or Note-taking Tools. Filter by these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of PDF Expert.
This page was last updated
PDF Expert iconPDF Expert
  33
  • Mac
  • iPhone
  • iPad

PDF Expert lets you read and annotate PDF documents, highlight text, make notes and save these changes being compatible...

Learn more about PDF Expert
  1. Okular icon

    Okular

    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • BSD
    101 alternatives to Okular 

    Multi-platform, fast and packed with features, Okular allows you to read PDF documents, comics and EPub books, browse images, visualize Markdown documents, and much more.

     Suggest and vote on features
    Features
    1.  PDF annotationOkular support PDF Annotation for highlighting, notes etc
    2.  LightweightOkular consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
    3.  Dark ModeOkular supports dark mode for comfortable usage in low light conditions.
    4.  Text to SpeechOkular allows you to transform written text into spoken text.
    5.  Privacy focusedOkular is considered a privacy friendly alternative.
    6.  Fill PDF FormsOkular supports forms in PDF files.
    Screenshot
    Screenshot
  2. Xournal++ icon

    Xournal++

    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • Chrome OS
    • Android Tablet
    • Self-Hosted
    33 alternatives to Xournal++ 

    Xournal++ (a fork of Xournal) is a handwriting Notetaking software with PDF annotation support. Written in C++ with plattform independent GTK, supporting Linux, e.g. Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Suse, macOS and Windows 10. Supports Pen input like Wacom Tablets.

     Suggest and vote on features
    Features
    1.  Handwritten NotesXournal++ supports writing by hand (or a stylus) and your text will be converted to text.
    2.  PDF annotationXournal++ support PDF Annotation for highlighting, notes etc
    3.  Works OfflineXournal++ can be used without the need to connect to the internet.
    4.  Pressure SensitivityXournal++ can change attributes like thickness or opacity, based on how much force you apply to your stylus/finger.
    5.  Support for LaTeXXournal++ supports LaTeX for text and math equation formatting.
    6.  Ad-freeXournal++ doesn't contain any form of external advertising.
    7.  PortableXournal++ can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
    Screenshot
    Screenshot
  4. Evince icon

    Evince

    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
    • Linux
    • PortableApps.com
    107 alternatives to Evince 

    Evince (or GNOME Document Viewer) is a document viewer for multiple document formats: PDF, Postscript, djvu, tiff, dvi, XPS, SyncTex support with gedit, comics books (cbr,cbz,cb7 and cbt) and others. See Supported Document Formats for details.

     Suggest and vote on features
    Features
    1.  LightweightEvince consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
    2.  PDF annotationEvince support PDF Annotation for highlighting, notes etc
    3.  PortableEvince can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
    Screenshot
    Screenshot
    Screenshot
    Evince vs PDF Expert opinions
    pros, cons and recent comments
    Guest

    You can't edit or create pdf documents.

    Negative comment• ago
    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard   
    If this Comment contains spam or other abuse, notify admins about it.   
    -1
  5. PDF Arranger icon

    PDF Arranger

    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
    • Windows
    • Linux
    54 alternatives to PDF Arranger 

    Small python-gtk application, which helps the user to merge or split pdf documents and rotate, crop and rearrange their pages using an interactive and intuitive graphical interface.

     Suggest and vote on features
    Features
    1.  Combine PDFCombine, merge and arrange PDF files into one document.
    2.  Split PDF filesPDF Arranger can split PDF files into multiple documents.
    3.  Dark ModePDF Arranger supports dark mode for comfortable usage in low light conditions.
    Export selection only. Export each selected page to a file. Export all pages to files.
    Edit properties
  6. xournal icon

    xournal

    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
    • Windows
    • Linux
    47 alternatives to xournal 

    Xournal is an application for notetaking, sketching, keeping a journal using a stylus. It is free software (GNU GPL) and runs on Linux (recent distributions), Windows and other GTK+/Gnome platforms.

     Suggest and vote on features
    Features
    1.  PDF annotationxournal support PDF Annotation for highlighting, notes etc
    2.  Handwritten Notesxournal supports writing by hand (or a stylus) and your text will be converted to text.
    3.  Drawing Tablet Supportxournal supports the use of external drawing tablets as input devices.
    Discontinued

    It hasn't been updated since 2017, but there is an active fork Xournal++ icon Xournal++

    Screenshot
  8. PDFTK Builder icon

    PDFTK Builder

    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
    • Windows
    • PortableApps.com
    73 alternatives to PDFTK Builder 

    PDFTK Builder is a free graphical interface to for PDFtk, making it much easier to use. It is a easy to use tool to collate (merge), split, encrypt, decrypt, stamp and rotate (only 90°, 180° or 270°) pdf documents.

     Suggest and vote on features
    Features
    1.  LightweightPDFTK Builder consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
    2.  Combine PDFCombine, merge and arrange PDF files into one document.
    3.  PortablePDFTK Builder can be used from a USB stick or similar with no prior installation.
    Screenshot
  9. Butterfly icon

    Butterfly

    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Android
    • Android Tablet
    • F-Droid
    • Self-Hosted
    28 alternatives to Butterfly 

    Butterfly is a note 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.

     Suggest and vote on features
    Features
    1.  Dark ModeButterfly supports dark mode for comfortable usage in low light conditions.
    2.  No registration requiredYou can use most of the features in Butterfly without registration.
    3.  Handwritten NotesButterfly supports writing by hand (or a stylus) and your text will be converted to text.
    4.  Ad-freeButterfly doesn't contain any form of external advertising.
    5.  No TrackingButterfly will not track you or use your personal data.
    6.  LightweightButterfly consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
    7.  DecentralizedButterfly is based on a decentralized infrastructure with no single entity controlling it.
    8.  Cloud SyncSync your data (notes, documents, bookmarks, etc.) across your different devices and to the cloud.
    9.  End-to-End EncryptionButterfly has E2E Encryption, for entire or parts of the app.
    Screenshot
    Screenshot
  10. qpdfview icon

    qpdfview

    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
    • Linux
    • Haiku
    • Qt
    69 alternatives to qpdfview 

    qpdfview is a Qt-based tabbed document viewer using the Poppler library for PDF rendering and CUPS for printing. Support for the DjVu and PostScript formats can be added via plugins.

     Suggest and vote on features
    Features
    1.  Lightweightqpdfview consumes less device resources compared to similar apps.
    2.  Fill PDF Formsqpdfview supports forms in PDF files.
    3.  PDF annotationqpdfview support PDF Annotation for highlighting, notes etc
    Screenshot
  11. Atril icon

    Atril

    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
    • Linux
    • BSD
    101 alternatives to Atril 

    Atril is a simple multi-page document viewer. It can display and print PostScript (PS), Encapsulated PostScript (EPS), DJVU, DVI, XPS and Portable Document Format (PDF) files. When supported by the document, it also allows searching for text, copying text to the clipboard...

     Suggest and vote on features
    Features
    1.  Dark ModeAtril supports dark mode for comfortable usage in low light conditions.
    2.  Ad-freeAtril doesn't contain any form of external advertising.
    3.  PDF annotationAtril support PDF Annotation for highlighting, notes etc
     Add a screenshot
  12. PDFedit icon

    PDFedit

    Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
    • Windows
    • Linux
    80 alternatives to PDFedit 

    Free (and open source) editor for manipulating PDF documents. GUI version + commandline interface. Scripting is used to a great extent in editor and almost anything can be scripted, it is possible to create own scripts or plugins.

     PDFedit has no features, suggest some!
    Discontinued

    The project is no longer developed. Last version, 20140526_1531, released in May 2014, can be still downloaded from SourceForge.

    Screenshot
Showing 10 of 13 alternatives
AlternativeTo

AlternativeTo is a free service that helps you find better alternatives to the products you love and hate.

The site is made by Ola and Markus in Sweden, with a lot of help from our friends and colleagues in Italy, Finland, USA, Colombia, Philippines, France and contributors from all over the world. That's right, all the lists of alternatives are crowd-sourced, and that's what makes the data powerful and relevant.

Feel free to send us your questions and feedback at hello@alternativeto.net, in our forums or on social media.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or chat with us on Discord. This is build Docker_20230127.1 , .