My Unfiltered PDF-XChange Review 2026

People are comparing PDF-XChange to Adobe Acrobat and have read many positive reviews about this PDF editor. But I wanted to test it personally to see if it really is that good, what its real strengths are, and, most importantly, its limitations that no one mentions.

In this PDF-XChange review, I will break down it’s key features, pricing, my experience during testing, and pros & cons.

Let’s dive in!

What is PDF-XChange?

PDF-XChange is a Windows-based PDF software developed by Tracker Software. It has advanced features to read, edit, sign, protect, and annotate PDF documents.

While it offers a free version, the more advanced features are locked behind a paywall. Let’s take a closer look at the features I tried during my PDF-XChange review!

Key Features

Let’s dive into PDF-XChange’s key features!

PDF reading

PDF-XChange Viewer offers robust PDF reading features. In addition to the regular tools like zoom in and out, you can use multiple layout options to read your PDF documents. For example, a two-page, two-page continuous, or ribbon layout.

Furthermore, PDF-XChange provides night mode, transparency grid, page translations, and more. I especially found its reading feature unique. With this feature, PDF-XChange will start reading your document, and you can adjust the volume and pace. It is quite monotonous, but some of you might use this feature.

PDF editor

Using PDF-XChange, you can edit text, images, and other elements in your PDF document. When editing text, you can choose from numerous font types, colors, widths, and alignments, but you can also add bullet points. For this, you only need to click on the “Format” option.

One nice touch is that you can copy the style you use from one text box to another, making text editing faster.

In addition to editing text, you can also add new text boxes to your PDF files. It works the same as editing existing text. Furthermore, PDF-XChange allows you to attach files to your PDF documents.

During my PDF-XChange review, I discovered that you can smoothly add and edit images in your PDF files. To add an image, you need to draw a box where you want to insert it, then drag and drop the picture or change its size.

Overall, I was satisfied with PDF-XChange’s PDF editing features, and it’s among the most advanced ones I tried so far.

Annotation tools

Under the Comment tab, you can find the annotation tools of PDF-XChange. During my PDF-XChange review, I discovered that you have plenty of options to annotate your PDF files.

Besides the basic tools like callouts, sticky notes, and highlighting, you can utilize advanced features as well. You can leave sound comments, video files, 3D annotations, and more.

After testing more than 30 PDF editors, PDF-XChange surprised me with its wide range of annotation tools. It really has everything, even its free version that you need for PDF annotation.

PDF organization

PDF-XChange provides PDF organization features as well. You can insert, move, extract, delete, split, and duplicate pages. However, you will find more options, such as replacing, cropping, or adding a watermark.

What I missed here is a function to view all pages in one place, making it easier to move pages. Nonetheless, in terms of features, PDF-XChange did a great job here as well.

Forms and electronic signatures

You can fill and create forms with the Pro version of PDF-XChange. Similar to the previous features, PDF-XChange offers robust tools.

That said, you can insert text boxes, buttons, check boxes, radio buttons, drop-down menus, and more. Moreover, you can sign your documents easily with PDF-XChange. You can find these tools under the “Home” tab.

PDF-XChange allows users to create digital signatures and sign documents to validate authenticity. It is compliant with eIDAS standards via CAdES and supports password-protected signatures. You can add setup details like reason for signing, location, contact info, permission, and so on.

PDF security

When it comes to the PDF protection, I want to highlight two key features here that I mostly used during my PDF-XChange review.

First, you can redact documents. For this, you can mark the content for redaction, then click “apply all” to remove all the content marked for redaction. If you are looking for a specific term, you can use the “Find and Redact” feature to easily collect and bulk-redact the sensitive information.

Secondly, you can apply passwords to your PDF documents with PDF-XChange. Just go to the document properties, and select if you want to use password or certificate security.

Overall, PDF-XChange has powerful security features, making it an excellent PDF editor for enterprise users as well.

Conversion features

With PDF-XChange, you can convert your PDF documents into images, Word, Excel, and PPT easily. The conversion is fast and accurate.

You can add further parameters, whether the output should include comments, tables, links, and whether PDF-XChange should retain the page layout or flowing text.

In addition, you can convert images, text, markdown, CSV, and MS Office files by dragging and dropping them into PDF-XChange.

Review features

PDF-XChange review features make it a serious contender to Adobe Acrobat. It lets you compare documents, spell check, and more. With this function, you can also manage the comments easily.

Such review features can be particularly useful for larger organizations looking for a cheaper Adobe Acrobat alternative.

OCR

Using this PDF editor, you will access its OCR features to convert scanned images into searchable and editable documents. It supports over 150 languages, and its batch OCR feature enables rapid processing of multiple PDF files simultaneously.

I found the OCR mostly accurate and fast, although it did not make it to my list of best OCR tools.

PDF-XChange user interface

PDF-XChange’s user interface is a bit similar to Adobe Acrobat. What I did not prefer here is that the UI is full of icons and options. I understand it is a feature-rich PDF editor, but the way it organizes its features can be a bit overwhelming.

Also, I did not find all the features I wanted to use first. For example, it took me a few minutes to find where I could add passwords, since it wasn’t under the “Protect” tab, which didn’t make sense to me.

To summarize, PDF-XChange’s user interface can be overwhelming and has a relatively steep learning curve compared to other PDF editors.

PDF-XChange pricing

The pricing of PDF-XChange is similar to its user interface: overwhelming. Nevertheless, I will break down each of the paid versions for you in short.

Just a heads-up: all the paid plans are perpetual licenses, so you have no option to buy a monthly or yearly plan.

PDF-XChange Editor

This plan includes the essential features to manipulate your PDF documents. Except for the features included in the Plus plan, it has everything and costs $62 per user.

PDF-XChange Editor Plus

The difference between the Plus version and the simple PDF-XChange Editor is that this plan covers fillable forms, enhanced OCR, and dynamic stamps. You can get this plan for $79 per user.

PDF-XChange Printer Standard

PDF-XChange Printer Standard is a virtual printer that allows users to create, optimize, and secure PDF files. If you want to access this plan, it will cost you $58 per user.

PDF tools

This plan was designed for high-volume batch processing and includes 80+ pre-built tools, folder monitoring, and advanced features for OCR. Its price is $89 per user.

PDF-XChange Pro

The Pro version is a bundle service that includes the PDF-XChange Editor Plus, PDF tools, and the PDF-XChange Printer Standard plan. If you choose this plan, you need to pay $131 per user.

My experience with PDF-XChange

PDF-XChange is one of the most powerful PDF editors I tried so far. In addition to Nitro PDF and Adobe Acrobat, it offers an extensive feature set ideal for business use.

Whether we talk about PDF editing, reading, annotating, security, or converting documents, PDF-XChange is a top PDF software. The one feature I missed here is an in-built AI assistant to summarize my documents.

The main limitations I found during my PDF-XChange review are its pricing model and user interface. The pricing page is simply confusing. Although it offers a reasonable price, it’s just tough to see what the paid plans include and what features they offer. Also, it only offers a perpetual license, which may not be ideal for many of you.

Regarding its user interface, I think it is just too “busy”. You will see icons, functions, and options everywhere, which make the learning curve longer.

After my PDF-XChange review, I realized that it is one of the most powerful PDF editing software programs currently. If you can get used to its overwhelmed user interface and pricing model, it can be a top choice, especially for businesses.

Pros and cons I discovered during my PDF-XChange review

After my PDF-XChange review, I found these pros and cons you should know about this PDF software.

PDF-XChange’s pros

PDF-XChange’s cons

PDF-XChange alternatives

If you feel like PDF-XChange is not the perfect one for you, here are the best alternatives:

• EaseUS PDF Editor: It is an all-in-one PDF software to read, edit, annotate, and convert your documents.
• Tenorshare PDNob: It is an easy-to-use AI-powered PDF editor that offers many features to edit, read, organize, and annotate your documents.
• PDF Expert: It is a PDF editor for Mac, iPhone, and iPad users. PDF Expert offers all the tools you need to manage your PDF files, from annotation tools to signing PDFs. This is my personal favorite for PDF editing on Mac.
• Xodo PDF Studio: Xodo PDF Studio is a straightforward offline desktop PDF editor for Windows, Linux, and iOS devices. I particularly loved its PDF reading and editing tools.
• UPDF: One of my favorite PDF editors with advanced AI features and budget-friendly pricing.
• Foxit: A PDF editor with an intuitive user interface at an affordable price for Mac and Windows users.
• Nitro: A feature-rich PDF editor with a strong focus on PDF editing.
• Adobe Acrobat: The most popular PDF editor with solid features, but an extremely high price.
• Smallpdf: It is an online PDF software with numerous tools to convert, compress, and edit PDF files for free.
• LightPDF: LightPDF is an AI-powered PDF editor that lets you edit, convert, OCR, sign, annotate, chat with PDFs, and more.
• pdfFiller: It offers a signing and editing solution that lets users sign and edit documents, send them for signature, and manage the full electronic document workflow in one place.
• PDFgear: A free PDF editor offering solid editing, annotation, conversion, OCR, and AI tools without any subscription.

Wrap-up: PDF-XChange review

To summarize my PDF-XChange review, I believe it is a top PDF editor for businesses looking for a budget-friendly alternative to Adobe Acrobat or Nitro. It may take some time to learn where you can find the features you need, but after that, I am sure that PDF-XChange will not let you down.

Related articles:

• The 8 Best Adobe Acrobat Alternatives: 30+ PDF Editors Tested
• The 10 Best PDF Editors In 2026 | 30+ Personally Tested PDF Tools
• The 6 Best PDF Readers For 2025 (Only FREE Options)
• 6 Best OCR Software For 2026 | 30+ Personally Tested Tools
• 6 Best PDF Converter For 2026 | 30+ Personally Tested Tools

Hope I was able to help you find the best PDF editor for you. As always, I will update this PDF-XChange review over time so you guys have up-to-date information about this PDF software.

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Frequently asked questions

How good is PDF-XChange?

PDF-XChange is a feature-rich PDF editor with advanced features to manage your PDF documents. It has a similar feature set to Adobe Acrobat or Nitro, but comes with a more budget-friendly price.

Is PDF-XChange safe to download?

Based on my experience and the available information, PDF-XChange is a safe PDF editor to download.

Which is the safest PDF editor?

There are numerous safe PDF editors, but my top pick would be Adobe Acrobat here.