Best Open-Source PDF Editors 2026: 7 Options Compared

Editing a PDF is harder than editing a Word file, because the format describes where each glyph sits on a page instead of storing paragraphs. Open-source tools therefore split the job. Stirling PDF is the closest thing to a one-stop shop, with a browser, desktop and self-hosted version that edits, merges, splits, signs and redacts. PDFsam and PDF Arranger focus on page-level work such as merging, splitting, rotating and reordering, and they do it well without touching the text. LibreOffice Draw can open a PDF and let you change text boxes, but fonts and layout often shift. Scribus and Inkscape treat pages as layout or vector art, which helps for design touch-ups but is clumsy for editing paragraphs. Okular lets you annotate, highlight and fill forms without rewriting the document. For a changed typo in a contract, expect imperfect results and keep the original. For rearranging pages, use PDF Arranger or PDFsam, which are faster and safer. Hosted editors cost a monthly fee for polish; here the trade is time spent finding the right tool for each small job. Licences and free plans below were taken from each project's pages as of the check date.

Stirling PDF

MIT with some directories under separate licences. Free plan includes 60+ PDF tools across web, desktop and self-hosted use, with 1,000 monthly credits.

Price: Free (Free plan at $0 with no card: web, desktop and self-hosted use, 60+ PDF tools and 1,000 monthly credits); paid from $99 per month (Team, 100 users) (Stirling PDF pricing, checked 2026-10-23).

Platforms and license: Web browser, Desktop app, Self-hosted (Docker). MIT, with some directories under separate licenses (open source) (license source).

Project activity: 95.2k GitHub stars · latest release v3.2.2 (Oct 24, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026

Best for: General editing and redaction.

Worth knowing: LICENSE file says MIT except app/proprietary and other directories with their own licenses. Repository README lists edit, merge, split, sign, redact, convert, OCR and compress.

LibreOffice

MPL-2.0 suite whose Draw component opens PDFs for text and layout changes. Results vary with fonts, so check the output.

Price: Free (download and use at no cost per its site) (LibreOffice pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux. MPL-2.0 (open source) (license source).

Best for: Fixing text in simple PDFs.

Worth knowing: Desktop suite of Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Base and Math; it has no built-in cloud storage or email.

PDFsam Basic

AGPL-licensed desktop tool to split, merge, rotate and extract pages. Does not change the page text itself.

Price: Free (PDFsam Basic is free and open source; an Enhanced edition with a full editor is a yearly subscription) (PDFsam Basic pricing, checked 2026-10-23).

Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux. AGPL (open source) (license source).

Best for: Page-level changes.

PDF Arranger

GPL-3.0 Python-GTK app for merging, splitting, rotating, cropping and rearranging pages with a visual layout.

Price: Free (Free and open source desktop app) (PDF Arranger pricing, checked 2026-10-24).

Platforms and license: Desktop (Python/GTK). GPL-3.0 (open source) (license source).

Project activity: 6k GitHub stars · latest release 1.14.0 (May 23, 2026) · last commit Oct 1, 2026

Best for: Reordering pages by sight.

Scribus

GPL desktop publishing program that can import PDF pages for layout work. A layout tool, not a text editor for existing PDFs.

Price: Free (Free and open source; no paid tier) (Scribus pricing, checked 2026-10-23).

Platforms and license: Windows, macOS, Linux. GPL (v2 or later per package listings) (open source) (license source).

Project activity: 644 GitHub stars · last commit Oct 22, 2026

Best for: Layout touch-ups.

Inkscape

GPL-3.0 vector editor that imports PDF pages for graphics edits. Text may come in as separate shapes.

Price: Free (Free software under GPLv3; the site asks for donations and lists no paid tier) (Inkscape pricing, checked 2026-10-22).

Platforms and license: Linux, macOS, Windows. GPL-3.0 (open source) (license source).

Project activity: 4.1k GitHub stars · No commits since Mar 3, 2022

Best for: Editing artwork inside a PDF.

Worth knowing: SVG vector editor. The site links to the GPLv3 guide; the GPLv3 license name is taken from that link.

Okular

GPLv2+ KDE document viewer with annotation and form-filling features. Marks up files rather than rewriting content.

Price: Free (Free software; no paid tier) (Okular pricing, checked 2026-10-23).

Platforms and license: Linux, Windows (Microsoft Store), macOS (nightly builds only). GPLv2+ (open source) (license source).

Best for: Highlights, notes and forms.

Which one to pick

• You want an Acrobat replacement for varied small jobs: Stirling PDF
• You only need to reorder, rotate or merge pages: PDF Arranger
• You fix a typo in a simple, text-based PDF: LibreOffice
• You review a paper and want highlights and comments: Okular