is there a free online pdf editor?

If you want it free with no sign-up and no limits

PDFgear says it is 100% free, online and desktop: no sign-up, ads, watermarks, premium versions or in-app purchases, and you can load PDFs up to 100 MB online. The online editor lets you add text, images, comments, shapes and signatures, and organise pages, and there are free apps for Windows, Mac, iOS and Android too. What you give up is changing text that is already in the document. The online editor adds text boxes on top, and PDFgear says only its desktop app, which is also free, can change or replace existing text.

If you would rather your file is not uploaded

PDFgear again, for a separate reason. It says files are processed locally in your browser and stay on your device instead of being uploaded to a server. If you are handling something you would rather not hand over, that matters. The cost is the same as before: the browser version adds to a PDF rather than rewriting what is there.

If you need to change existing text online for free

Sejda lists editing existing PDF text among its features, along with filling and signing forms and adding text, links, images and shapes. Its free service needs no signup and covers documents up to 200 pages or 50 MB, which is generous per file. The catch is 3 tasks per hour, so it suits the occasional fix, not a pile of documents. Your file is uploaded, and Sejda deletes it after 2 hours.

If you want lots of PDF tools in one free place

PDF24 Tools is a free set of online PDF tools, an editor among them. PDF24 says all its tools are free of charge and without restrictions, with no artificial limits, and that includes merging. There is also a Windows desktop app with similar functions if you would rather not use the browser. The trade is that advertising on its pages pays for it, and your file is uploaded to servers in Germany, then deleted after one hour. You accept ads and an upload in return for breadth.

If you also edit on your phone

Smallpdf is an online PDF editor and set of 30+ document tools, with mobile apps for iOS and Android, though its pricing page lists only limited mobile app access on the free plan. PDFgear, which says it is entirely free, also has iOS and Android apps. With a free Smallpdf account you can add text, images, highlights and drawings and organise pages. Adobe's page says its online editing is available on desktop and web, not mobile, so it does not cover this need. Smallpdf's limits are that the free plan has limited document downloads, and direct editing of existing text needs a Pro subscription, with a 7-day free trial. Smallpdf's Pro prices did not load in the page we could read, so we cannot tell you what it costs.

Adobe's own free online editor is for quick mark-up: adding text boxes, comments, highlights and signatures to a PDF in a browser, from the company behind the PDF format. Its online editor page does not state a price for anything beyond that.

When paying is worth it

The pattern across these tools is that free online editors mostly add things on top of a PDF. Smallpdf says direct text editing needs Pro, and PDFgear says only its desktop app can change existing text. Sejda's free tier is generous per file but stops at 3 tasks per hour.

Pay when the free limits block real work, for example more than 3 tasks an hour on Sejda. A one-time 7-day Web Week Pass was shown to us at €5.50, and it does not renew automatically. We saw euro prices from outside the UK, so the UK price may differ. Sejda's other plans were shown to us as Web Monthly at €8.50 per month and Desktop+Web Annual at €71 per year. If you only need to add a signature or a comment, the free options cover it.

Most of these editors upload your document; PDFgear's online editor is the exception. Sejda deletes files after 2 hours and PDF24 after one hour, but for that time it is still a copy on someone else's server, so think before uploading anything sensitive.

Adobe says files edited online are deleted unless you sign in to save them, so if you close the tab expecting your work to be waiting, it may not be. Download your file before you leave.

Smallpdf's Pro trial lasts 7 days. Smallpdf says that if you cancel during the trial, your account drops back to the free plan.