A free PDFelement alternative for Mac

Why people look for a PDFelement alternative

Usually it is the watermark. PDFelement, from Wondershare, offers a free trial, but files saved during the trial carry a watermark, and some features are limited until you buy. That is a reasonable way to sell software, though in our view it is a lot of friction if you only needed to sign one lease.

PDF Unlimited has no trial because there is nothing to upgrade to. Every feature is free, and nothing is stamped on your files.

How they compare

For the everyday jobs, signing, forms, highlighting, merging, page edits, compression, OCR and passwords, both apps get it done. PDF Unlimited adds a dedicated Redact mode with an explicit Apply Redactions step, so you know when content is truly removed. See how to redact a PDF on Mac.

PDFelement goes further in a few areas, and it is fair to say so. It edits existing text and images, converts PDFs to Office formats, and has form-creation tools. If you convert to Word or build fillable forms every week, it may be worth paying for.

Native feels different

PDF Unlimited is built with SwiftUI and Apple's PDFKit, the same engine behind Preview. It uses standard Mac shortcuts (⌘F to search, ⌘+ and ⌘− to zoom, ⌘Z to undo), opens quickly, and keeps menus where Mac users expect them. It works fully offline with no telemetry.

Need to edit original text?

This is the honest gap. PDF Unlimited adds text with text boxes but does not retype the existing words yet. For the occasional fix, LibreOffice Draw can edit original text for free, if a little clumsily. For frequent edits, a paid editor is the right tool. Our free PDF editor roundup explains the options.

For everything else, download PDF Unlimited and keep your files watermark-free.

What switching looks like

Nothing about your documents changes. PDFs edited in PDFelement open in PDF Unlimited with their annotations, form entries and signatures intact, because both apps save standard PDF.

Download PDF Unlimited, then make it your default PDF app: select a PDF in the Finder, choose File > Get Info, pick PDF Unlimited under Open With, and click Change All. If you keep PDFelement installed for text editing, you can still open a file in it with Control-click > Open With.

Common jobs, step by step

If you came here with a specific task, these guides show exactly how to do it in PDF Unlimited, and in Preview where it can help:

PDFelement is a trademark of Wondershare. It is named here only to identify the product. PDF Unlimited is not affiliated with or endorsed by Wondershare.

• Sign a PDF or fill out a form.
• Combine PDFs or split one apart.
• Compress a PDF for email.
• Make a scan searchable with OCR.

Questions