PDFCraft
Ranked 2 of 3 PDF editors by recommenders
People recommend PDFCraft as a fast, free replacement for Acrobat Pro that handles scanned documents, LaTeX formulas and complex layouts. Critics say it handles tables less well and offers no signing.
People recommend PDFCraft as a fast, free replacement for Acrobat Pro that handles scanned documents, LaTeX formulas and complex layouts. Critics say it handles tables less well and offers no signing.
13 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 85%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 5.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Replaces Acrobat Pro and paid subscriptions
“Latest version is a good enough replacement for Acrobat Pro already.”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “PdfCraft v0.8.0” “PdfCraft works well enough for me that I cancelled my subscription.”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 on Hacker News Better than other online PDF sites
“the pdfCraft is so much better than every pdf site on the internet.”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “An open-source, clean-room reimplementation of Microsoft Word in pure Rust” “Pdfcraft is far superior to all those stupid pdf sites”
Comment from 13 Oct 2026 in “An open-source, clean-room reimplementation of Microsoft Word in pure Rust” Mature, stable and regularly updated
“Haven't seen any bugs on it and the updates are still coming.”
Comment from 10 Oct 2026 in “ArtCraft Apps – open-source Adobe compatible suite written in Rust” “one of the more mature apps”
Comment from 10 Oct 2026 in “REA Reverse – Engineer Anything”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Weaker at tables and signing
“isn't going to handle tables as well or offer signing”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 on Hacker News
Other PDF editors people recommend
The two most recommended other PDF editors, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Acrobat | 20 | 41 | 33% | 8 | — | — |
| PDFCraftThis page | 11 | 2 | 85% | 3 | — | — |
| Nano PDF | 9 | 4 | 69% | 2 | — | — |
What people said
11 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Latest version is a good enough replacement for Acrobat Pro already.”
“I am astonished by its' speed.”
“Pdfcraft is far superior to all those stupid pdf sites”
“PdfCraft works well enough for me that I cancelled my subscription.”
“isn't going to handle tables as well or offer signing”
“the pdfCraft is so much better than every pdf site on the internet.”
“Haven't seen any bugs on it and the updates are still coming.”
“one of the more mature apps”
“left me pondering the ethics of it”
“Look at printcraft or pdfcraft.”
“handles the hard parts: scanned documents, LaTeX formulas, and complex layouts”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.