Part of the LibreOffice suite, which serves as a reliable alternative to Microsoft Office, Draw is technically not a PDF editor. It is primarily a vector graphics editor. However, it offers several functionalities that enable manipulation of PDF files.

As a vector graphics editor, Draw interprets PDF files as drawing objects, allowing you to modify text boxes, images, and shapes. If you're working with a graphics-heavy PDF that requires adjustments, Draw can be quite useful.

You can also utilize it to add new text, edit images, insert new images, delete pages, and rearrange them.

However, as previously noted, it's not a dedicated PDF editor and cannot open PDF files as editable documents in the traditional word processing sense. It may also face challenges with complex layouts and fonts. This issue is common among most PDF editors, particularly when dealing with uncommon or non-English fonts.

LibreOffice is compatible with all major platforms.

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Inkscape is another open-source vector graphics editor capable of editing PDF files. Designed for professional-grade vector illustration and graphic design, it generally excels at precision editing of vector objects and text manipulation compared to LibreOffice Draw.

It also handles converting graphics-intensive PDFs into editable vector objects more effectively than Draw. Therefore, if you aim to make detailed design edits to a PDF file, Inkscape is an excellent choice.

Another standout feature of the app is its comprehensive list of PDF import options, enabling you to decide how to handle missing fonts, visible boundaries of the PDF content, gradient meshes, and more, resulting in a much more editable PDF structure.

Since it isn't a dedicated PDF editor, it lacks many features found in commercial PDF editors. For instance, there's no built-in OCR support, advanced PDF security, or interactive PDF capabilities. Additionally, it's not ideal for smaller PDF organization tasks like those handled by PDFsam Basic and PDF Arranger, which are included in my recommendations.

Inkscape can be downloaded for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

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PDF Arranger, as the name implies, is not a full-fledged PDF editor. Rather, it helps you rearrange and organize PDF files. You can use it to reorder pages, merge files, split PDFs, extract images, and edit metadata. The tool allows you to delete, rotate, crop, duplicate, and add new blank pages. Moreover, it supports adding new images as pages and creating new pages from existing ones.

Traditional content editing isn't possible. However, numerous other PDF manipulation features make PDF Arranger a valuable open-source tool in your toolkit.

It's a continuation of PDF-Shuffler and boasts a reasonably user-friendly interface, making it easy to navigate. PDF Arranger is available for Windows and Linux.

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PDFsam Basic has many similarities with PDF Arranger. It is also not a complete PDF editor. However, it can perform various PDF manipulation tasks, such as merging, splitting, rotating, extracting pages, and editing metadata. It also enables encryption of PDFs with password protection.

Unfortunately, it's unsuitable for direct text or image editing within PDF files. It also lacks annotation and markup tools, form creation or filling, OCR functionality, and conversion to editable documents.

PDFsam Basic is accessible on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

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It's an extra step worth taking.

Stirling PDF is arguably the most comprehensive open-source PDF editor available. Although often recommended as a PDF editor that can be hosted on your own server, it also includes simpler desktop clients for installation on your computer without the need for complicated server setup. These clients essentially package the web application along with a local server into a neat native app for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Stirling PDF provides a wide range of features, including the ability to add new text, images, annotations, and markup. It also supports page manipulation and file format conversion. Additionally, you can compress, repair, compare, and watermark PDFs. There are simply too many features to mention here.

However, unlike Adobe's PDF editor or vector graphics programs supporting PDF manipulation, it cannot edit existing text and images. So, if you need to correct a typo, modify existing text, or resize an embedded image, Stirling PDF isn't suitable.

Stirling PDF works across all major platforms, and as mentioned, it can be hosted on Docker. You can also try it out before installing via a fully functional public web version.

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The Swiss Army knife for PDFs.

While there aren't any direct open-source replacements for Adobe's comprehensive PDF suite, the options I've explored can perform specific tasks, acting as capable alternatives to Adobe's paid offering. These tools are also privacy-conscious and operate locally on your computers to keep your data secure.

If you're seeking even more open-source tools, we have some excellent options available for Android, iPhone, macOS, and Windows.

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