Compare
BergPDF vs paid PDF editors
How does a free, open-source PDF editor stack up against Adobe Acrobat Pro, Bluebeam Revu, Foxit, Nitro, PDF-XChange and PDFelement? Here are the prices, the platforms and the trade-offs, including what BergPDF cannot do yet.
Prices as of October 2026
What does a PDF editor cost over time?
Move the sliders. For each paid editor this uses its cheapest listed plan for the period: a subscription, a one-time licence or a multi-year licence.
Total over 3 years for 1 user
You would save up to $780.00 with BergPDF.
Side by side
Licence, price, platforms and the things that set BergPDF apart.
| Editor | BergPDF | Adobe Acrobat Pro Vendor pricing page | Bluebeam Revu Vendor pricing page | Foxit PDF Editor Vendor pricing page | Nitro PDF Pro Vendor pricing page | PDF-XChange Editor Vendor pricing page | Wondershare PDFelement Vendor pricing page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Licence model | Free, GPLv3 | Subscription | Subscription | Subscription or one-time purchase | Subscription or 3-year licence | One-time purchase | Subscription or one-time purchase |
| Indicative list price (USD, individual) | Free | $239.88 per year | $260.00 per year | $129.99 per year $209.99 one-time | $180.00 per year $270.00 for 3 years | $79.00 one-time | $79.99 per year $129.99 one-time |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux | Windows, macOS | Windows | Windows, macOS | Windows, macOS | Windows | Windows, macOS |
| Free for full use, no trial | Yes | No | No | No | No | Limited free version | No |
| Open source (code you can read and build) | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| AI assistant | Optional, your own key or a local model | Paid add-on or higher plan | Paid add-on or higher plan | Included, through the vendor's cloud | ? | ? | Included, through the vendor's cloud |
| Measuring and counting on drawings | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
? means we could not verify it. Check the vendor before you decide.
Want AI without bringing your own key? BergPDF Pro includes it.
Where paid editors are ahead today
BergPDF is young. These are standard features of mature paid editors that BergPDF does not offer yet:
- Secure redaction (permanently removing text and images)
- Opening password-protected PDFs
- Printing
- Designing new form fields
- Page numbers, headers, footers and watermarks
- Certified and long-term signatures, trusted timestamps
- Code-signed installers, commercial support and enterprise deployment tools
- Mobile apps and cloud collaboration
Is BergPDF right for you?
BergPDF is a good fit if you
- want a capable PDF editor without paying, ever, and without watermarks or limits
- value open source: reading the code, building it yourself, no vendor lock-in
- work on Linux, or on a mix of Windows, macOS and Linux
- measure on drawings, annotate, sign, OCR scans or use AI with a provider of your choice
You can also use both: BergPDF is free, so it costs nothing to keep next to your current editor.
Frequently asked questions
Is BergPDF a free alternative to Adobe Acrobat?
For many everyday jobs, yes: editing text and images, annotating, filling forms, signing, OCR, measuring and optimising files. It does not yet offer redaction, printing or password-protected PDFs, which Acrobat does.
Why is BergPDF free?
It is open-source software under the GNU GPL v3 or later, built and maintained as a community project and supported by donations. No feature is locked behind a payment.
Can I use BergPDF and keep my current editor?
Yes. BergPDF opens and saves standard PDF files, so you can use it alongside any other editor and pick the right tool for each job.
Try BergPDF for free
No account, no trial, no watermark. Download it and see if it covers what you need.
Prices are indicative US-dollar list prices without tax, gathered from public sources in October 2026. Vendors change prices, run promotions and price by region, so check the vendor before you buy. Statements about other products refer to their standard desktop editions and may be out of date. Adobe, Acrobat, Bluebeam, Revu, Foxit, Nitro, PDF-XChange, PDFelement and Wondershare are trademarks of their respective owners, used only to identify their products; BergPDF is not affiliated with or endorsed by them. Spotted a mistake? Open an issue and we will correct it.