PDFelement vs. PDF Expert
Individuals, SMBs, and enterprises use PDF editors to create, edit, and convert PDFs. In a market filled with many different types of PDF editors, it can be difficult to choose the best one for you or your business.
We’ve written this guide to help you understand the main differences between PDFelement and PDF Expert. Below, we describe how each solution differs in terms of features, pricing, usability, and the customer type each is best suited for.
All of our recommendations are based upon extensive research, and dozens of hours spent hand-testing the leading PDF editor software platforms. The details of our research process can be found on our PDF editor category page.
Comparison Summary
PDFelement and PDF Expert are two well-known PDF editor solutions. We rated PDFelement 86 out of 100, and PDF Expert 82 out of 100, respectively.
PDFelement was rated higher because its platform is more well-rounded in terms of feature-richness than PDF Expert. PDF Expert was rated lower because its features are not as intuitive or robust.
This breakdown shows our review criteria and the ratings that PDFelement and PDF Expert received for each category.
| Criteria | Analyst Rating | Features | Usability | Pricing | Customer Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDFelement | 86 | 8 | 9 | 8.75 | 9.5 |
| PDF Expert | 82 | 8 | 9 | 8.5 | 7 |
Overall, PDFelement is more affordable than PDF Expert. PDFelement offers a half-yearly plan that costs $49.99 per user, which averages out to ~$8.33 per user per month. In contrast, PDF Expert costs $12.49 per user per month.
PDFelement and PDF Expert are both intermediate solutions that offer standard PDF editor features. This includes tools for creating, converting, editing, reviewing, and annotating PDFs. Overall, PDFelement is slightly more feature-rich than PDF Expert, and its features are slightly more robust.
Overall, PDFelement is a well-rounded, intermediate PDF editor solution. We recommend it to those who only need a PDF editor for personal use. Also, if you only own a PC or non-Mac device, you should use PDFelement because PDF Expert is only available on Mac.
Overall, PDF Expert is an intermediate PDF editor solution. We recommend it to those who need a solution that’s better for personal use, and prefer to pay a monthly subscription.
Here’s a few key differences between the solutions to determine which is best for you:
- You want a free PDF editor plan
- You want to create PDF templates
- You want to convert your PDFs into Word documents, PowerPoints, or Excel spreadsheets
- You want to create PDFs from a variety of document types — Word document, JPEGs, and PNGs
- You prefer to pay a monthly subscription
- You want to replace images in your PDF without it interfering with the rest of your content
Table of Contents
- Comparison Summary
- PDFelement & PDF Expert Price Comparison
- PDFelement & PDF Expert Feature Comparison
- PDFelement & PDF Expert Top Feature Comparison
- Bottom Line
PDFelement & PDF Expert Price Comparison
Overall, PDFelement is slightly more affordable than PDF Expert. This is because PDFelement offers a half-yearly plan that costs $49.99 per user. This averages out to ~$8.33 per user per month. PDFelement also offers a free PDF editor plan. In contrast, PDF Expert costs 12.49 per user per month.
PDFelement Pricing Details
PDFelement’s pricing depends on whether you are an individual, business, or purchasing for education, or a bundle pack. It also depends on whether you are purchasing a yearly, half-yearly, or perpetual license for PDFelement products.
However, right now you can save up to 50% if you purchase PDFelement products. PDFelement also offers a limited free version of its PDF editor.
| Plan Type | Yearly Plan Pricing | Perpetual License |
|---|---|---|
| Individual |
| PDFelement Pro: $129.99 |
| Team | PDFelement Pro: $109 per year | PDFelement Pro: $139 |
| Education |
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| Bundle |
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PDF Expert Pricing Details
PDF Expert’s pricing ranges from $12.49 per month to $99.99, which is a one-time payment. You can also save up to ~67% if you purchase the annual plan. PDF Expert also offers a 7-day free trial.
| Plan | Pricing |
|---|---|
| Monthly | $12.49 per month |
| Lifetime | $99.99 one-time payment |
PDFelement & PDF Expert Feature Comparison
Both PDFelement and PDF Expert offer standard PDF editor features. This includes tools for PDF creation and conversion, content editing, and review and annotation.
For a full analysis of each solution’s features, read our PDFelement review and PDF Expert review.
As you can see below, PDFelement is much more feature-rich when it comes to PDF creation and conversion, PDF review and annotation, and security features.
| Feature | PDFelement | PDF Expert |
|---|---|---|
| Converting PDFs into Word documents, PowerPoints, and Excel spreadsheets | Yes | No |
| Callout boxes | Yes | No |
| PDF template library | Yes | No |
| Scanning documents into PDFs | Yes | No |
| Splitting PDFs | Yes | No |
| Watermarks | Yes | No |
| Freehand drawing tools | Yes | Yes |
| Creating PDFs from scratch | Yes | Yes |
| Stamps | Yes | Yes |
| Merging PDFs | Yes | Yes |
| Editing & Resizing text | Yes | Yes |
| Editing & Resizing images | Yes | Yes |
| Adding e-signatures | Yes | Yes |
| Commenting | Yes | Yes |
| Highlighting | Yes | Yes |
| Password protection | Yes | Yes |
| Redacting sensitive information | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile PDF editor | Yes | Yes |
| Requesting e-signatures | No | No |
| Tracking e-signatures | No | No |
| Integrations | No | No |
PDFelement & PDF Expert Top Feature Comparison
Below we analyze in-depth the three primary PDF editor feature categories included in PDFelement and PDF Expert – PDF creation, conversion, content editing, review, and annotation. Overall, PDFelement is slightly more feature-rich and its features are either of similar quality or higher quality to PDF Expert’s features.
Creating & Converting PDFs
It’s key that your PDF editor solution lets you create and convert PDFs in one central location. This is especially true if you manage a large number of PDFs at once. Overall, PDFelement is slightly more robust than PDF Expert for PDF creation and conversion.
PDFelement and PDF Expert let you create PDFs from scratch and merge your PDFs into one file. PDFelement however, lets you also scan, and split your PDFs and convert your PDFs into Word documents, PowerPoints, and Excel spreadsheets.
PDFelement also offers its own PDF template library of a variety of document templates — including resume, newsletter, invoice, and letter. Using a template from this library includes form field recognition, which saves you time.
An advantage of PDF Expert is that you can upload a variety of document types in order to create a PDF. This includes Word documents, JPEGs, and PNGs.
Content Editing PDFs
Content editing a PDF involves editing its text, images, including headers and footers, and including e-signatures. Overall, PDFelement is slightly superior to PDF Expert in this category.
Text Editing
Your PDF editor should be able to accommodate your text editing needs. Overall, PDFelement and PDF Expert’s text editing tools are very similar in terms of quality. We do not recommend basing your decision on the tools’ text editing features.
You can use PDFelement and PDF Expert to change the font, color, size, and typographical emphasis of your text. However, both solutions only let you adjust the size of your text box based on the left and right margins. This is very limiting in terms of customizability and means that the shape of your text box relies heavily on how you decide to input your text.
Image Editing
Images enhance the readability of your PDFs because they offer visual breaks and are great at supporting sections of text. Overall, PDFelement’s image editing features are slightly more robust than PDF Expert’s.
PDFelement and PDF Expert both let you rotate, crop, and replace images without it interfering with the structure of your PDF. However, unlike PDF Expert, PDFelement lets you alter the size of your image using numbers. This is very useful for maintaining consistent image sizing.
Electronic Signatures
Many PDF editors let you insert, request, and track electronic signatures into your PDFs. Overall, PDFelement is better for electronic signatures than PDF Expert. However, if electronic signatures are an integral part of your PDF editor, then we recommend checking out Adobe Acrobat Pro DC or pdfFiller.
Both platforms let you insert your own e-signature into your PDF document. However, unlike PDF Expert, PDFelement lets you insert various e-signature fields – including those for signature, text, checkbox, and dropdown.
Page Organization
Page organization can affect how those who read your PDF interpret your content. Overall, both solutions offer semi-robust page organization capabilities, however, PDFelement is technically more feature-rich in this category.
PDFelement and PDF Expert both let you drag & drop pages to reorder them, and insert, rotate, and extract individual pages to save as separate files. However, only PDFelement also lets you split PDFs to save them into separate files.
Reviewing & Annotating PDFs
After you’ve finished editing your PDF’s content, you’ll need to review and annotate it. PDFelement and PDF Expert offer similar quality review and annotation tools, but PDFelement is slightly more feature-rich in this category.
Commenting
Commenting is an easy way you can collaborate on a PDF with those in your organization. Overall, we do not recommend comparing PDFelement and PDF Expert based on their commenting tool.
PDFelement and PDF Expert only offer text boxes as commenting tools. While you can change the font, color, and font size of your comments, you cannot @mention or reply to any other comments in your PDF document. Therefore, these commenting tools are best if you only need to make simple comments that only need to be seen by you.
Highlighting
Highlighting can be used to easily indicate what information is important in your PDF. Overall, PDFelement and PDF Expert offer similar quality highlighting tools.
PDFelement and PDF Expert only let you highlight text that you’ve embedded into your PDF using each platform — neither platform offers a freehand highlighting tool. Therefore, if you need to highlight any text that is already embedded in your PDF, you should highlight it before you upload your PDF into your PDF editor.
Callout Boxes
Unlike PDF Expert, PDFelement offers callout boxes as a review and annotation tool. You can use callout boxes to make important pieces of information stand out visually, more so than highlighting. This feature is dynamic and robust in PDFelement.
As shown above, you can use PDFelement to resize, move, and adjust the length of your callout box arrows. This is extremely useful if you need to call out a very small piece of text or a piece of text that is located in an inconvenient area in your PDF, like in the middle of a paragraph.
Freehand Drawing Tools
Both PDFelement and PDF Expert offer a freehand drawing tool that lets you handwrite notes or markings onto your PDF. Overall, these features are of similar quality and best for inserting small notes into your PDF.
PDFelement and PDF Expert let you adjust the color, opacity, and size of your freehand drawing tool. However, a disadvantage of this feature in both solutions is that you cannot resize or move you drawing after you’ve made them.
Bottom Line
Overall, PDFelement is a well-rounded PDF editor that is best for those who prefer an intermediate solution for personal use. We recommend it to those who need the widest range of review and annotation tools. Also, it should be noted that PDF Expert is only available for Apple product users, so if you use a PC or Android device, we recommend looking into PDFelement.
PDF Expert is also an affordable, intermediate solution. We recommend it to those who prefer a more basic tool and prefer to pay a monthly subscription for their PDF editor.
If you’re interested, visit PDFelement or PDF Expert today to get started.