Compare the Top PDF Annotators for Windows as of January 2026

What are PDF Annotators for Windows?

PDF annotation tools are pieces of software designed to allow users to add notes and highlight text on PDF documents. They can be used by students or professionals to mark up documents, make comments, and organize information in an intuitive way. Annotations may also include drawing shapes or adding images. The annotations can then be saved with the document for easy sharing and future reference. Compare and read user reviews of the best PDF Annotators for Windows currently available using the table below. This list is updated regularly.

  • 1
    Apryse PDF SDK
    Apryse (formerly PDFTron) powers the future of document technology. We help businesses, developers, and enterprises handle documents with unmatched speed, accuracy, and security. Whether running in secure server environments or delivering seamless web-based experiences, Apryse makes document workflows smarter and easier. With Apryse, you can: Embed powerful document features directly into your apps — from viewing and editing to collaboration and compliance. Run at enterprise scale on secure server infrastructure, ensuring reliability without cloud dependencies. Deliver seamless in-browser document experiences with responsive, accessible, and feature-rich web capabilities. Trusted globally, Apryse empowers organizations to simplify operations, enhance productivity, and create exceptional document experiences.
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  • 2
    Nutrient SDK
    Nutrient is the comprehensive solution for all your PDF needs, offering tools that effortlessly integrate and operate PDF functionality across any platform. 1. SDK PRODUCTS Integrate robust PDF functionality into iOS, Android, Windows, web (JavaScript), or any cross-platform technology, providing capabilities such as PDF viewing, markup, collaboration, and more. 2. LIBRARIES Utilize our potent .NET and Java libraries to boost your backend applications with batch processing of redactions and PDF forms, OCR’d scanned text, and editing of PDF documents, directly from your application server. 3. PROCESSOR Our dynamic PDF microservice, Processor, enables swift generation of PDFs from HTML, including HTML forms, along with Office-to-PDF conversions, OCR, redaction, and XFDF merging and exporting. 4. PDF API Use hosted PDF API to generate, convert, and modify PDF documents in your workflows. We manage the development and server administration, letting you focus on what you do best.
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  • 3
    MobiPDF (formerly PDF Extra)
    MobiPDF (formerly PDF Extra) is an intuitive and powerful PDF editor and reader designed for today’s modern user - the cost-efficient alternative to Adobe Acrobat Pro you’ve been looking for. FEATURES OVERVIEW: PDF Viewer and Reader: Switch between page views or use "Read Mode" for distraction-free reading. Create and Edit PDFs: Modify text and images or start with a blank PDF. Convert to Office Formats: Easily turn PDFs into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and image files. Leverage OCR: Transform scanned documents into searchable PDFs. Organize PDFs: Combine, split, reorder, and compress documents. Markup and Comment: Highlight, annotate, and add bookmarks or stamps. Fill PDFs: Seamlessly fill forms or create ones from scratch. Sign PDFs: Sign your documents anywhere—no ink required! Secure Your Work: Protect files with passwords, digital signatures, and 256-bit encryption. Offline Mode: Full functionality without internet access. Translate PDFs
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    Starting Price: $49.99
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  • 4
    PDF Studio
    PDF Studio is a powerful and affordable PDF editor that effortlessly caters to both simple and complex PDF tasks. From adding text, various annotations, watermarks, and digital signatures to filling out forms and converting MS Office to PDF, it covers all your needs. The PDF editor is perfect for companies and organizations looking to seamlessly automate their PDF editing and eliminate repetitive daily tasks with batch processing of multiple documents. Empower your team with perpetual PDF software at a fraction of the cost compared to competing subscription-based solutions like Adobe® Acrobat®. NEW: Qoppa PDF Studio 2023 released! The latest version, PDF Studio 2023, offers impressive enhancements, including support for Dropbox Team Spaces, improved enterprise deployments, expanded multi-document functions, a new highlighter marker tool, and optimization options for smaller document sizes. Available on Linux, Windows, macOS, and other major platforms.
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    Starting Price: $99.00
  • 5
    Adobe PDF Library SDK

    Adobe PDF Library SDK

    Datalogics Inc.

    Developers rely on Datalogics to provide the most comprehensive PDF SDKs in the industry. We are SOC 2 Type 2 certified. Global OEMs, SaaS and enterprise end-users rely on Adobe PDF Library to automate the creation, editing and management of PDFs. An Adobe partner, our SDK uses the same source code as Acrobat for stability, reliability and quality results. Flexible programming language and platform options include .NET, .NET Framework, Java and C/C++ on Windows, Linux, MacOS; NuGet & Maven; pdfRest API Toolkit Container option. Our extensive documentation includes getting started guides, API references, and hundreds of sample code examples on GitHub to help developers precisely create and define PDF workflow solutions. Free trial with proof of concept support, join us on Discord or use our AI assistant for help, or set up a time to talk to one of our engineers about your project. Our expertise and support is the reason we have a 91% customer retention rate.
    Starting Price: $5,999
  • 6
    SwifDoo PDF

    SwifDoo PDF

    SwifDoo Software

    SwifDoo PDF is a comprehensive, all-in-one PDF tool that offers features that most users often require. This free software comes with a user-friendly interface where most of its main features layout and can be easily recognized and accessed on the main screen of the program. SwifDoo PDF - the most functional PDF editor that can be successfully used by novice users and experienced professionals. Beginners will enjoy the simplicity and certain intuitiveness of the interface, as well as the ability to edit PDF files without much effort. SwifDoo PDF has a number of special features for scanning copy convert. Besides many convert features. PDF Reader PDF Annotation (Including Stamp) Picture/image Extraction (only need copy and paste from PDF) PDF Edit PDF Compress PDF Merge PDF Split PDF Signature System Requirements: Windows 10/7/8/vista/XP Edition: SwifDoo PDF 2.0.0.6
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    Starting Price: $0
  • 7
    Drawboard PDF

    Drawboard PDF

    Drawboard

    Drawboard PDF is the most intuitive PDF editing and markup app for Windows, iOS, macOS, android and web. Powerful PDF tools that feel good to use. Drawboard PDF – Get all the essential free. Mark up and edit any PDF with the ease of pen and paper. Drawboard Pro toolset - Upgrade to use advanced tools and Store+Share with your team. MARK UP AND DRAW All the drawing tools you need to mark and collaborate with the feel of pen and paper. INSERT Insert elements into your documents like, text, notes, callouts, signatures, images, audio notes, and more. MEASURE Take accurate measurements of elements on-page with technical measurement tools and calibration. MANAGE Local and Clouds PDFs in one place. Merge, split, reorder and compress COLLABORATE Real-time collaboration on-page in real time with instant syncing CROSS-PLATFORM Work from anywhere on any device, in real-time!
    Starting Price: $5.99 per month
  • 8
    Systweak PDF Editor

    Systweak PDF Editor

    Systweak Software

    Systweak PDF Editor is a powerful, easy-to-use PDF management tool for Windows that lets you view, edit, convert, merge, split, compress, and secure PDF files effortlessly. Whether you're a student, professional, or business user, this all-in-one PDF solution covers everything you need. You can edit text and images directly in your PDF, convert files to and from formats like Word, Excel, and JPG, and organize pages with drag-and-drop ease. With built-in OCR, you can extract editable text from scanned documents. Add annotations, comments, watermarks, and protect your files with password encryption or digital signatures. Batch processing makes handling multiple PDFs quick and efficient. Systweak PDF Editor is compatible with Windows 11, 10, 8.1, and 7, and offers a clean, intuitive interface ideal for all user levels. Experience a smarter, faster, and more secure way to work with PDFs.
    Starting Price: 34.98
  • 9
    PDNob PDF Editor
    PDNob PDF Editor is an advanced, AI-powered solution designed to simplify and enhance PDF management for users on Windows and Mac. Offering a comprehensive suite of tools, it empowers users to view, annotate, edit, convert, perform OCR, organize, protect, and summarize PDFs effortlessly. Its intuitive interface makes navigating and managing documents a breeze, whether you’re working with simple files or complex projects. One of its standout features is AI integration, enabling intelligent document summarization and translation for seamless global communication. The Optical Character Recognition (OCR) tool converts scanned documents and images into fully editable and searchable files, turning paper-based workflows into digital efficiency. PDNob PDF Editor also excels at file organization, allowing users to merge multiple PDFs, split documents, compress file sizes, and rearrange pages with ease. Security is a priority, offering password protection and encryption.
    Starting Price: $35.99/year/1 user
  • 10
    PDFgear

    PDFgear

    PDFgear

    PDFgear is an all-in-one PDF solution that helps users view, edit, protect, convert, sign, annotate, organize, OCR, Copilot, organize PDF files, and make more possibilities on Windows, MacOS, iOS, and iPadOS. PDFgear offers all expected functions in its clean and straightforward interface so users could enjoy their document reading and editing experience without disturbance. PDFgear Copilot provides more possibilities as a personal document assistant. As it's powered by AI, users could easily manipulate all PDFgear functions and chat with PDFs by asking PDFgear Copilot. Get lost in various functions and comprehensive document content? Don't worry! Just ask Copilot! It will cover everything. With PDFgear and Copilot in it, processing PDF is like a walk in the garden.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 11
    novaPDF

    novaPDF

    Softland

    Using novaPDF Pro you can easily create high quality searchable PDF files in an affordable and reliable way from any Windows application. It installs as a printer driver and helps you generate the PDF files by simply selecting the "print" command from any application (you can convert Word documents, Excel sheets, PowerPoint presentations, AutoCad drawings, emails or web pages). You can password protect the PDF files you create and permissions can be restricted to prevent the document from being viewed, printed, modified, copied or annotated. Your PDF files will be secured with 40-bit and 128-bit encryption algorithms. Features include: customizable resolution, PDF security, PDF links, PDF bookmarks, text/image compression, profiles and more. novaPDF also includes a PDF SDK for developers that want to integrate PDF creation capabilities in their software.
    Starting Price: $19.99 (one time payment)
  • 12
    LiquidText

    LiquidText

    LiquidText

    Review documents faster. Find facts effortlessly. See the connections others miss. Go past the limits of paper with LiquidText. Note-taking and document analysis tools have changed little from the margin notes, highlighting, and sticky notes we have used forever. Most apps today try to duplicate paper, but, in spite of this, over 80% of knowledge workers still prefer paper at work and school. LiquidText moves beyond paper. It captures your reading, notes, highlights, annotations and observations just like paper; but goes further to reveal their connections, to source materials and each other in a way that documents and maps your project in a clear and shareable form. We connect related notes into ideas, and we connect your ideas into reports. Every note, idea and observation can be connected to others, and a single tap can show those relationships and original context.
    Starting Price: $7.99 per month
  • 13
    LightPDF

    LightPDF

    Wangxu Technology Co.,Ltd.

    LightPDF is an all-in-one, AI-powered PDF productivity platform designed to help users create, understand, and manage documents more efficiently across devices. It integrates advanced AI tools such as an AI PDF Generator, AI presentation creation, PDF-to-mind-map conversion, document translation, and an AI Agent—with a complete set of PDF capabilities including watermark removal, file conversion, encryption, compression, and other essential document-processing features—enabling users to handle complex PDF tasks more efficiently in one place. With both intelligent automation and reliable PDF tools, LightPDF helps users work smarter and faster whether they are studying, working, or collaborating.
    Starting Price: Free
  • 14
    CoolNew PDF

    CoolNew PDF

    CoolNew Software

    CoolNew PDF offers all-in-one experience to awesomize your PDF experience. All the tools you’ll need to be more productive and work smarter with documents.21 tools to convert, compress, and edit PDFs . Conversion features include CAD, office, image, texted and scanned copy conversions. Editing features include text, image, eraser, page number, size, watermark, paragraph and more. Users can combine or split PDFS, extract contents and optimize pdfs. merge and compress PDF. Reading and annotation features included. It edits, annotates, converts and combines file by one click, makes your tasks finish faster. CoolNew PDF offers you a familiar experience for editing PDF, just like you did it in Office.
    Starting Price: $6.49
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