Private and open-source alternatives to Adobe Acrobat Reader
8 PDF readers and editors rated against the same public privacy criteria as Adobe Acrobat Reader (Adobe Reader), with our picks first.
Why look for an alternative?
- Open source: no. Closed source.
- No trackers or telemetry: no. The Android app includes 9 trackers, including Facebook Analytics, Google AdMob and Google Firebase Analytics.
- No ads or data sales: no. Adobe discloses information about actions in its websites and apps to social media and advertising partners, and may share data with third parties for their own marketing.
- Independent audit: no. No independent audit of Acrobat Reader is published.
See the full Adobe Acrobat Reader rating.
The alternatives
Okular Grade B
KDE document viewer for PDF, EPUB, DjVu, comic books and other formats, with annotations, form filling and digital signatures.
Based in Germany (Fourteen Eyes). Okular scores 80 out of 100 (grade B) on the PDF readers and editors criteria. It meets 3 of 4 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry and no ads or data sales.
Papers Grade B
GNOME's document viewer for PDF, DjVu, TIFF and comic book files. It is the successor to Evince.
Based in the United States (Five Eyes). Papers scores 80 out of 100 (grade B) on the PDF readers and editors criteria. It meets 3 of 4 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry and no ads or data sales.
PDF Arranger Grade B
Desktop app for merging, splitting, rotating, cropping and reordering the pages of PDF documents through a drag-and-drop interface.
PDF Arranger scores 80 out of 100 (grade B) on the PDF readers and editors criteria. It meets 3 of 4 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry and no ads or data sales.
Xournal++ Grade B
Handwriting note-taking app that also annotates PDF files with pen, highlighter, text and shapes, with support for pressure-sensitive tablets.
Xournal++ scores 80 out of 100 (grade B) on the PDF readers and editors criteria. It meets 3 of 4 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry and no ads or data sales.
Zathura Grade B
Minimal, keyboard-driven document viewer with Vim-like key bindings. PDF, PostScript, DjVu and comic book support comes from plugins.
Zathura scores 80 out of 100 (grade B) on the PDF readers and editors criteria. It meets 3 of 4 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry and no ads or data sales.
SumatraPDF Grade C
Lightweight reader for PDF, EPUB, MOBI, XPS, DjVu and comic book files on Windows, available as an installer or a portable app.
SumatraPDF scores 65 out of 100 (grade C) on the PDF readers and editors criteria. It meets 2 of 4 criteria: open source and no ads or data sales.
MuPDF Grade D
PDF, XPS and e-book rendering library from Artifex, with a lightweight viewer, command-line tools and bindings for Python, JavaScript and .NET.
Based in the United States (Five Eyes). MuPDF scores 50 out of 100 (grade D) on the PDF readers and editors criteria. It meets 2 of 4 criteria: open source and no ads or data sales.
Stirling PDF Grade D
Open-core PDF toolkit that runs as a desktop app, in the browser or on a self-hosted server, with tools to merge, split, convert, OCR, sign and redact PDFs.
Based in the United States (Five Eyes). Stirling PDF scores 50 out of 100 (grade D) on the PDF readers and editors criteria. It meets 2 of 4 criteria: open source and no ads or data sales.