PagewingThe best PDF editor extensions for Chrome
If you need to rewrite the text inside a PDF, OCR scans or redact, Adobe Acrobat Pro is still the one to pay for, and Smallpdf does most of that for less. If your PDFs are forms, contracts and reports you annotate, fill in, sign, merge, compress and occasionally convert, Pagewing does all of it in your browser without uploading the file, with unlimited free viewing and editing, and the same subscription covers its screen recorder, screenshots and short links. iLovePDF is the cheapest full toolbox, Kami fits classrooms, and Chrome's built-in viewer is enough for reading and filling in forms.
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Adobe Acrobat
Best for: anyone who edits the text and images inside PDFs or works with scanned documents
The reference PDF editor. The free Acrobat Chrome extension views, comments on and fills and signs PDFs; the Acrobat Standard and Pro subscriptions add text editing, conversions, OCR, redaction and e-signature requests.
- Price
- Acrobat Pro $19.99 a month on a yearly commitment billed monthly (the page shows local currency outside the US; Standard costs less, month-to-month more)
- Free plan
- View, print, comment, fill in and sign forms with the Acrobat extension and Reader
- Runs on
- Chrome extension, web app, Windows and Mac apps, and iOS and Android apps
- Edits the text and images already in a PDF, with OCR and redaction
- Reliable conversions to and from Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- Fill and sign is free in the extension
- The yearly commitment carries a cancellation fee after 14 days
- Most tools beyond viewing and signing need the subscription
- Heavier than a browser tool for a quick merge or compress
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Smallpdf
Best for: people who need OCR, text editing or redaction without paying for Acrobat
A set of more than 30 PDF tools on the web, with a Chrome extension that opens the PDF you're viewing in them: compress, convert, merge, edit, sign, OCR and AI summaries, with Windows and mobile apps.
- Price
- Free plan with a daily download limit; Pro $15 a month billed monthly (less billed yearly, and less from outside the US)
- Free plan
- Every tool, with a daily limit on downloads
- Runs on
- Web app with a Chrome extension, plus Windows, iOS and Android apps
- Covers OCR, text editing and redaction
- Converts Office files to PDF and back
- Sign.com e-signatures are bundled with Pro
- Files are uploaded to Smallpdf's servers to be processed
- The free plan's daily download limit runs out fast
- Pro is priced for a PDF-only subscription
- 3This site
Pagewing
Best for: people who annotate, sign, organize and compress PDFs and don't want to upload them, and who also pay for other browser tools
A PDF editor that runs in your browser: open the PDF in your tab or on your computer from the side panel, then highlight, comment, draw, fill in and sign it, reorder and merge pages, compress, protect and convert. Files never leave your computer unless you save them to your Pagewing cloud.
- Price
- Free plan; Premium and Pro cover every Pagewing tool in one subscription
- Free plan
- Unlimited viewing, annotating and page tools, with 3 saved PDFs a day
- Runs on
- Chrome extension plus the Pagewing web app
- Everything happens in your browser, so a confidential PDF stays on your computer
- Forms, drawn or typed signatures, merge, split, compress, passwords and conversions to Word, Excel and PowerPoint in one editor
- One subscription also covers a screen recorder, screenshots, short links and more
- No OCR, no redaction, and it can't rewrite the text already in a PDF
- Signatures need Premium and Office conversions need Pro
- Chrome only, no desktop or mobile app, and a young product
- 4
iLovePDF
Best for: occasional heavy jobs like batch conversions and OCR on a budget
A web PDF toolbox with a Chrome extension: merge, split, compress, convert, OCR, edit, sign, redact and more, with a limited free tier and the cheapest Premium plan here.
- Price
- Free plan; Premium $7 a month billed monthly ($4 a month billed annually, $47 a year)
- Free plan
- Every tool with per-tool task and file-size limits and ads
- Runs on
- Web app with a Chrome extension, plus desktop and mobile apps on Premium
- The lowest-priced paid plan on this list
- OCR, redaction and digital signatures on Premium
- Desktop and mobile apps included
- Files are processed on iLovePDF's servers
- The free tier limits most tools to one or a few tasks and shows ads
- Less polished for reading and annotating than a dedicated editor
- 5
Kami
Best for: teachers and schools, or anyone who annotates PDFs with other people
A PDF annotator built for classrooms: students and teachers mark up, comment with text, voice and video, and hand work in through Google Classroom and other learning platforms.
- Price
- Free Basic plan; Pro $12 a month billed monthly ($85 a year) for individuals; Teacher $149; schools by quote
- Free plan
- Essential annotation tools, Google Drive and OneDrive, unlimited collaborators
- Runs on
- Chrome extension and web app
- Live collaboration and feedback by text, voice and video
- Google Classroom, Schoology, Canvas and Teams integrations
- Text recognition, split and merge on paid plans
- Aimed at education; the business plans skip the classroom integrations
- No signing tools are listed
- Fewer page and conversion tools than the general-purpose editors here
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Chrome's built-in PDF viewer
Best for: reading and filling in a form, when you don't need to change the file
The viewer every PDF link opens in Chrome: read, print, save and fill in form fields with nothing to install.
- Price
- Free with Chrome
- Free plan
- Yes
- Runs on
- Built into Chrome on every desktop
- Nothing to install or sign in to
- Opens instantly and prints well
- Fills in form fields
- No merging, splitting, compressing or converting
- No signatures or text editing
- Annotations are limited next to a real editor
Prices and features as read on each app's own site in October 2026, billed monthly in US dollars unless said otherwise. They change: check there before you decide.
Pagewing against each PDF editor
Every feature in a table, where the other app does more, and what your whole stack costs.
Questions
Something else? Write to us from the Support link below.
Which PDF editor for Chrome is free?
Chrome's viewer is free and so is Adobe's extension for viewing, commenting and signing. Pagewing's viewing, annotating and page tools are free with 3 saved PDFs a day. Smallpdf, iLovePDF and Kami have free tiers with daily or per-tool limits and, on iLovePDF, ads.
Which PDF editors keep my files on my computer?
Pagewing and Chrome's viewer process the PDF in your browser, so it isn't uploaded unless you choose to save it to your account. Smallpdf and iLovePDF upload the file to their servers to run each tool, and Acrobat and Kami store documents in their clouds for sharing and collaboration.
Can I sign a PDF in Chrome for free?
Yes. Adobe's extension fills and signs for free, Chrome's viewer fills in form fields, and iLovePDF's free tier allows a few signing tasks. In Pagewing, drawn, typed or uploaded signatures come with Premium.
Which one converts PDFs to Word, Excel and PowerPoint?
Acrobat, Smallpdf and iLovePDF convert in both directions on their paid plans. Pagewing converts PDFs to DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, images or text on Pro, and turns images or text into a PDF; it doesn't convert Office files to PDF. Kami and Chrome's viewer don't convert.
Which PDF editor does OCR on scanned documents?
Acrobat Pro, Smallpdf Pro, iLovePDF Premium and Kami's paid plans recognize text in scans. Pagewing and Chrome's viewer don't, so if most of your PDFs are scans, pick one of those four.
Is Pagewing free?
Yes. Every tool works on the free plan, with a few limits. Premium removes the limits and adds features like share links, PDF signatures and cloud storage, for every tool at once. Pro adds Office conversions, bookmark cleanups and AI summaries and branding for recordings on top. You only add a card if you decide to upgrade.
The best extensions for other jobs
Each list weighs the leading apps the same way, with Pagewing among them.
Try Pagewing next to what you use now.
Every tool works on the free plan, so run it alongside the app you have, then keep whichever you still need.
Add to Chrome, freeThe other apps named here are trademarks of their owners, who aren't affiliated with or endorsing Pagewing. We name them only to compare.