Most people don't need everything Adobe Acrobat offers; they need to fill in a form, sign a contract, highlight a passage, or add a comment to a PDF before sending it back. Several free tools handle these day-to-day tasks well, without a subscription and without watermarking the finished document, which is a trap some "free" PDF tools still fall into.
Key takeaway: PDF-XChange Editor and Xodo both let you fill forms, add real signatures and annotate documents for free, with no watermark on the saved file.
PDF-XChange Editor
PDF-XChange Editor for Windows is one of the most capable free PDF tools available. The free version covers form filling, highlighting, freehand drawing, adding stamps and comments, and inserting a signature image or a drawn signature. It also has genuinely useful extras like OCR (turning scanned pages into searchable, selectable text) and basic page editing such as rotating or reordering pages. A small watermark is added only when you use its "Save As" to convert or heavily edit certain document types, not on routine annotation and form filling.
Xodo
Xodo is free, cross-platform (Windows, macOS, Android, iOS and web), and syncs annotations across devices if you sign in. It's simpler than PDF-XChange Editor but very good for the essentials: filling interactive forms, adding a signature, highlighting text and leaving sticky-note comments. Its clean interface makes it a good choice for anyone who just wants to sign and return a document quickly on a phone or tablet.
Signing documents properly
Both tools let you create a signature by drawing it with a mouse or touchscreen, typing it in a script font, or uploading a photo of your handwritten signature on paper. This produces a visual signature suitable for most everyday paperwork. It is not the same as a legally certified digital signature with cryptographic verification, which matters for certain contracts and government forms — check what the recipient actually requires before assuming a drawn signature is sufficient.
Before you start: Download PDF-XChange Editor and Xodo only from their official websites or official app store listings. Free PDF tools are a common target for installers that try to bundle browser toolbars or adware alongside the real program.
Filling in forms that aren't interactive
Some PDFs, especially scanned government or council forms, have no fillable fields at all. Both PDF-XChange Editor and Xodo let you add plain text boxes anywhere on the page as a workaround, so you can still type your answers directly onto a flat scanned form rather than printing it out to fill in by hand.
Tip: If a scanned PDF's text won't select or search, run it through PDF-XChange Editor's built-in OCR first — it makes the document searchable and often makes annotation and copying text far easier.
Merging, splitting and compressing
Both tools offer basic page management for free: merging multiple PDFs into one, splitting pages out, and reordering. For heavy compression of large scanned files, dedicated free online tools such as Smallpdf's free tier can help, though for privacy-sensitive documents it's safer to keep everything on your own machine using desktop software instead of uploading files to a third-party website.
| Tool | Platforms | OCR | Signature tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDF-XChange Editor | Windows | Yes, free | Draw, type, image |
| Xodo | Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, web | No | Draw, type, image |
Frequently asked questions
- Is a signature made in these apps legally binding?
- It functions as an electronic signature suitable for most everyday documents, but it is not a certified digital signature. Check what the recipient specifically requires for contracts with legal weight.
- Will my saved PDF have a watermark on it?
- Not for routine annotating, form filling or signing in either PDF-XChange Editor or Xodo. Watermarks in free PDF tools generally only appear during certain conversion or advanced editing operations.
- Can I edit the actual text of a PDF for free?
- Both tools allow light text editing, but heavily reflowing paragraphs or making major structural changes is still better suited to a paid tool or editing the original source document if you have it.