Pricing and free use
Pricing and free use
PDFescape's free online editor handles files up to 10 MB and keeps up to 10 files for 7 days. Its signup page lists Premium at $5.99 a month or $2.99 a month billed annually, and Ultimate at $8.99 or $5.99, with a 15-day money-back guarantee and a 7-day trial; paid plans raise file limits and add the Windows desktop editor. That signup page may not reflect the latest prices, so confirm at checkout.
PDFBetter's browser tools (merge, split, rotate, images to PDF and similar) run on your device and download free without an account. Downloading a document you edited in the editor needs a free account; the Free plan includes 3 such downloads a month with no watermark, plus 3 signature requests, 1 live form with 50 responses, 20 OCR pages and 20 AI credits. Pro costs $15 a month, or $10 a month billed yearly, and a $6 Day Pass gives 24 hours of Pro without a subscription.
What you can do in the browser
What you can do in the browser
PDFescape's online editor fills forms, adds text and annotations, and creates basic form fields. Editing existing text, Office conversion, compression and redaction appear in its paid plans, several of them through the Windows desktop app.
PDFBetter does all of its work in the browser on any operating system: editing existing text, conversion, OCR, compression, redaction, form publishing with responses, and signature requests. Free desktop apps for Mac and Windows do the same with the same account.
Signing and AI
Signing and AI
PDFescape lets you sign with a scanned signature online, and Ultimate adds certificate-based digital signing and sealing. We did not find a way to request signatures from others.
PDFBetter's signature requests include signing order, reminders and a completion certificate, with 3 a month on Free. Every signer signs with their own cryptographic key. Every completed PDF is digitally sealed and independently time-stamped, with the evidence built into the file. The seal certificate comes from PDFBetter's own certificate authority, which is not on Adobe's trust list yet, so Acrobat shows the signer identity as not verified; change detection still works. Signing your own PDF adds a visual signature only. It also offers AI summaries, translation and questions answered with page citations, which PDFescape does not list.