Why EaseUS PDF Editor remains our favorite cheap PDF editor
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Full set of editing tools
- Annotation options enable easy collaboration
- Straightforward interface
Cons
- Windows only
- Needs subscription to remove usage limits
Our Verdict
EaseUS PDF Editor is a full-featured Acrobat Alternative that gives you complete control of PDF documents.
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Editor’s note: This review was updated April 10, 2025 to reflect the most current features and pricing.
EaseUS Software is primarily known for its disk management solutions, which makes the quality of its PDF editor a bit of a pleasant surprise. The Windows-only app — aptly named EaseUS PDF Editor — has all the tools you need to work with PDF documents and stacks up well against the top picks in our best PDF editors buying guide.
PDF editors have widely adopted a Microsoft ribbon-style interface, but the EaseUS editor’s UI is comparatively sparse. The first time you launch the app, you’re presented with a simple toolbar that enables five basic PDF functions — open, create, edit, converge, and merge — as well as a large empty workspace. There’s an inconspicuous “tools” button in the left sidebar that opens a wider array of capabilities, including security options, when clicked.
When you open a PDF, it’s launched directly in the editing interface. Eight tabs across the top are clearly labeled according to function — read, comment, edit, and so on — and each one displays its own toolbar when clicked. Running down the left side are buttons for viewing thumbnails, bookmarking pages, and searching document text.
Selecting a block of text makes it editable with options similar to a word processor.
Michael Ansaldo/Foundry
Simply clicking on a box of text makes it editable, and you can add or remove text and change font type, size, color, and other elements as easily as working in a word processor. Images can be inserted by clicking the “add image” button, selecting a file from your drive, and dragging it into place inside the document. You can also add links, watermarks, backgrounds, and headers and footers.
The editor includes a variety of annotation tools for commenting on documents, including callouts, sticky notes, stamps, a highlighter, and a pencil tool for free-form drawing. It also supports merging and splitting files and converting PDFs to Microsoft Office formats, plain text, HTML, image formats, and searchable and editable text via OCR, all of which worked well in my tests.
EaseUS PDF Editor gives you the necessary control of your documents without straining your budget.
The editor allows password protection for opening files and enabling editing permissions, which can be set independently of each other. You can tailor permissions by choosing from several preset changes and encryption options. You can further protect documents by marking sensitive text for redaction. Digital and handwritten signatures are supported as well.
EaseUS PDF Editor is offered in a fully functional free version that has some usage restrictions and watermarks on your exported files. It’s functional enough to get a feel for the editor; you’ll need a paid subscription to remove the usage limitations. A single license for one computer costs $29.95 a month, $49.95 annually, or $79.95 for a lifetime license, and each plan includes free upgrades of the length of the subscription.
You can annotate PDF documents with callouts, sticky notes, shapes, and other elements.
Michael Ansaldo/Foundry
Considering the cost of some of our top picks, that’s a pretty good deal. If you regularly work with PDFs, you can be confident that EaseUS PDF Editor will give you the necessary control of your documents without straining your budget.
