[Free Download] 2024 Top 8 Best Free Open Source PDF Editor

Finding the best open source PDF editor that meets your unique requirements isn't easy. We understand that, and that's why we came up with this guide. It entails a brief review of the top 8 open source PDF editors for both Windows and Mac to help you make the right choice.

PDF files are the most preferred type for business. Thanks to a number of best PDF reader out there, viewing and sharing PDFs is straightforward. Moreover, you can even share a PDF file as an email attachment or via instant messaging.

The hardest part is editing PDF files. A good solution to edit PDF files is using the best free open source PDF editor. With a PDF editor, you can avoid the hassle of converting PDFs into a different format to edit them. Here, this post introduces the top 8 best PDF open source editing software for both Windows and Mac.

Comparison - 8 Best Open Source PDF Editor Free Download^[Hot]

To help you get the desired PDF editor freeware, here is a comparison chart of all the PDF editing programs mentioned below. Just move ahead to explore the core functionalities. Select a suitable one to enrich your PDF files. 

★★★ Best PDF Editor for Windows - EaseUS PDF Editor ★★★

Compatibility: Windows 11/10/8/7

For those who look for easy-to-use PDF editing software on Windows PC, EaseUS PDF Editor is a great option. With this Windows PDF editing software, you can edit the PDF as you like. It supports numerous basic and advanced editing tools, allowing you to add, remove text, images, and add hyperlinks to PDF, or insert, delete, extract, crop pages, etc.

Key Features:

• Remove Signature from PDF
• Allow you to merge, compress, and optimize PDF
• Edit the text, image, and forms in the PDF file
• Print PDF without margins in a simple clicks
• Capable of adding/removing watermark from a PDF

Best PDF editing software on Windows PC! Free download and No registration is needed. 

Although EaseUS PDF Editor is not open-source, it still provides you with fantastic PDF editing functions. In the following, you can view the top 8 best open source PDF software one by one with their core functionalities.

#1. LibreOffice Draw

Compatibility: Windows, Mac & Linux

LibreOffice Draw is one of the most powerful office suites out there and a free open source PDF reader on Mac and Windows. This PDF editor was designed to be like Microsoft Word to launch and edit PDFs without facing any hassle.

Editing PDF files is pretty straightforward, thanks to LibreOffice Draw functionality. It is essentially a diagram creator but comes with a strong capability to create and edit PDF files. It entails all the fundamental features you would like to have from a free, decent PDF editor, though its interface is a bit outdated.

Key Features:

• Edit images and text and white-out some regions to add text
• Capable of adding desired annotations on PDFs
• Support for file conversion for different formats
• Best open source PDF editor free download

#2. Inkscape

Compatibility: Windows, Mac & Linux

Like Adobe Illustrator, Inkscape is a vector graphics editor while is open source. It is the best open source PDF software and is handy for many designers, illustrators, or anybody who likes to craft some vector imagery. Also, it can read, edit and extract data from PDF files. When you require basic editing functions for PDFs, then Inkscape is a handy PDF editor.

Key Features:

• Edit all parts of PDF file, including removing or adding images, links, etc.
• Able to split pages, add comments, annotations, etc.
• Save documents in PNG format with ease
• Entail a lot of image-editing tools for PDFs
• Able to manipulate graphics in a PDF file as well

#3. PDFSam Basic

Compatibility: Windows, Mac & Linux

PDFSam Basic is a free open source and cross-platform PDF maker on Mac, Windows, and Linux. It can sign and merge PDF. Also, you can split, and rotate PDF files with its assistance. It allows PDF files to remain private on your system.

Being a professional user, you can take advantage of the two commercial solutions – Enhanced and Visual. You can edit, convert, sign, fill forms, reorder pages and visually combine files using this freeware. If you want to convert VCE to PDF, don't miss this software.

Key Features:

• Merge and split PDF without efforts
• Rotate and save single/ multiple pages
• Add annotations, content editing, and digital signature
• Support converting files to PDF easily
• Add pages or hyperlinks in the document

#4. PDF Architect Free

Compatibility: Windows 10/8/7

PDF Architect Free is an open source PDF editor Windows 10 developed by PDF forge. With its help, you can create a PDF from Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and other file formats. It is a fully functional PDF editing software. Also, it provides you with complete control over your PDFs and enables you to modify them. Moreover, it demands no export or copy of the content to another file format in order to perform modifications.

Key Features:

• Support editing pictures, text, and the diagram on PDF files
• Merge all the files into one PDF file
• Convert PDF files into numerous other formats
• Capable of adding annotations on Windows 10
• Sign documents using a digital signature

#5. Apache OpenOffice Draw

Compatibility: Windows, Mac & Linux

Apache OpenOffice Draw is another great open source PDF creating software available out there. With it, creating PDFs from scratch and exporting them to different formats is straightforward. Moreover, it comes with a lot of tools for editing PDFs. It can provide you with basic needs for editing purposes. It's useful when working on pie charts or complex assignments.

Key Features:

• Add styles or formatting to PDFs
• Come with an in-built spell checker
• Add annotations, merge or append the file
• Edit, add, rotate and delete images and graphics
• Windows 10 best free PDF editor

#6. Okular

Compatibility: Windows, Mac & Linux

Okular is a PDF editor open source that is straightforward to use. It comes with a lot of modern features that you will only find in enterprise PDF editors. One great part is that it can create custom markers, making it easy to navigate in your large PDFs. Therefore, this option is handy for those who work on PDF-based eBooks.

Key Features:

• Come with basic PDF editing features
• Support creating custom markers
• Cross-platform PDF editor on Windows/Mac
• Best free open source PDF editor
• Able to edit text and other parts of your PDF file with ease

#7. Skim

Compatibility: Mac

Skim is the best open source PDF maker for Mac, which can preview PDFs with comment features. This, in turn, enables to make snapshots for quick reference, highlight crucial text and navigate between pages using a table of contents along with a visual history. To find a PDF editor open source for Mac, choose Skim, which has got everything you need to edit PDFs.

Key Features:

• Publicly accessible to view and edit files
• PDF highlighter to add important content
• Come with smart cropping tools
• Make snapshots for quick reference

#8. PDFedit

Compatibility: Windows

PDFedit is a simple open source PDF editing software you can have. It implies that you can use it to do simple modifications to your PDFs. In order to edit the files, you need to draw new items over the already existing template. You can also choose which sections or parts you need to edit and then perform changes accordingly. 

Key Features：

• Delete specific text, pictures, or charts from PDF without much hassle
• Come with a simple PDF editing interface that is acceptable by the public
• Fast PDF editor that operates smoothly on Windows PC
• Debug functionality to eradicate errors to increase efficiency

The Bottom Line

The 8 best open source PDF editing tools on Mac and Windows PC are mentioned here. Most of them can be used as PDF readers, viewers, and even converters. So, it's time to pick the desired one that can meet your unique editing requirements.

If you want to use a simple and effective PDF editing software on Windows, try EaseUS PDF Editor! Even though it's not open source, it still provides full capabilities to deal with PDF files. Most importantly, no registration is required!

Best Open Source PDF Editor FAQs

Some frequently asked questions are gathered here. 

1. Is there an open source PDF editing tool?

Of course, Yes! They usually provide functions that are publicly accessible. Most of them are free-paid. In this article, you can view 8 open source PDF editing tools as well as their core functions. 

2. Can you edit PDF with OpenOffice?

Yes, you can, but it requires installing the PDF extension for OpenOffice. If you don't want to install the extension, try effective software like EaseUS PDF Editor.

3. Can I edit a PDF for free?

Yes, you can! Most of the PDF editor open source mentioned here are free to use and free to download. Therefore, with the help of them, you can easily edit PDF files for free.

4. Is there a free alternative to Adobe Acrobat?

You can certainly edit PDF files using Adobe Acrobat, but the catch is that the editing feature available in Adobe Acrobat is not free. Therefore, it makes sense to look out for a free Adobe Acrobat alternative. Fortunately, there are many great free alternatives available out there for Adobe Acrobat. Open source software is usually free to use.