Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

PyPDF2 VS PDF-XChange Editor

Compare PyPDF2 VS PDF-XChange Editor and see what are their differences

PyPDF2 logo PyPDF2

PyPDF2 - A utility to read and write pdfs with Python

PDF-XChange Editor logo PDF-XChange Editor

The smallest, fastest, most feature-rich PDF editor/viewer available
  • PyPDF2 Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-30
  • PDF-XChange Editor Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-03

PyPDF2 features and specs

  • Open Source
    PyPDF2 is an open-source library, making it accessible for developers to use, modify, and contribute to its development without licensing costs.
  • Cross-Platform
    Being a Python library, PyPDF2 is cross-platform and can be used on any system that supports Python, including Windows, MacOS, and Linux.
  • Basic PDF Manipulation
    It allows basic PDF functionalities such as reading, merging, and splitting PDF files, providing a straightforward solution for simple PDF tasks.
  • Lightweight
    PyPDF2 is lightweight and easy to install with minimal dependencies, making it an ideal choice for projects that require a quick PDF solution without the need for a heavy framework.
  • Active Community
    It has an active community and regular updates, which help in improving the library's functionalities and addressing issues.

Possible disadvantages of PyPDF2

  • Limited Advanced Features
    PyPDF2 lacks advanced PDF manipulation features like editing content, handling annotations, and complex form operations, which might limit its use for more sophisticated tasks.
  • Performance
    Handling large PDF files or performing complex operations can be slow and resource-intensive with PyPDF2, which might not be suitable for high-performance applications.
  • Inconsistent Documentation
    While PyPDF2 has official documentation, users often find it lacking detail and examples, which can make it challenging for beginners to use effectively.
  • Limited Support for Encryption
    While it supports basic decryption, PyPDF2 has limited capabilities when it comes to handling encrypted PDFs, which may necessitate additional tools for handling secure documents.
  • Quality of Output
    Some users report issues with the quality of PDFs generated or modified, such as incorrect rendering or loss of content, which can be problematic in cases where precision is crucial.

PDF-XChange Editor features and specs

  • Feature-Rich
    PDF-XChange Editor offers a wide range of features including annotation tools, OCR, content editing, and more. This makes it a comprehensive solution for managing PDF documents.
  • Lightweight
    The application is relatively lightweight and performs efficiently even on less powerful systems, providing a smooth user experience.
  • User Interface
    The interface is intuitive and user-friendly, making it easy to navigate through various functions and features.
  • OCR Support
    PDF-XChange Editor includes robust Optical Character Recognition (OCR) capabilities, allowing users to convert scanned documents into editable and searchable text.
  • Customization
    It offers a high level of customization, allowing users to tailor the toolbars, menus, and other interface elements to meet their specific needs.
  • Cost-Effective
    The software provides a good balance of features and cost, making it an affordable option for both individual users and businesses.

Possible disadvantages of PDF-XChange Editor

  • Learning Curve
    Due to its extensive feature set, new users may find it challenging to learn and master all of the functions and tools available in the software.
  • Limited Free Version
    The free version of PDF-XChange Editor is limited in functionality, with many advanced features requiring a paid license to access.
  • Watermarks
    Free version annotations and some features will include watermarks on the documents, which could be inconvenient for professional use.
  • Occasional Bugs
    Some users have reported occasional bugs and software instability, which could interrupt workflow and reduce productivity.
  • Complexity of Features
    Some of the advanced features may be overly complex for users who only need basic PDF editing capabilities, making the user experience overwhelming.

PyPDF2 videos

Web Scraping : Extract tabular data from PDF with Python - Tabula, Camelot, PyPDF2

PDF-XChange Editor videos

PDF-XChange Viewer Tutorial

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to PyPDF2 and PDF-XChange Editor)
PDF Tools
8 8%
92% 92
PDF Editor
7 7%
93% 93
PDF Creator
10 10%
90% 90
Office & Productivity
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare PyPDF2 and PDF-XChange Editor

PyPDF2 Reviews

We have no reviews of PyPDF2 yet.
Be the first one to post

PDF-XChange Editor Reviews

The 13 Best Free PDF Editors (February 2024)
PDF-XChange Editor offers some great tools, but not all of them are free to use. If you use a non-free feature, the PDF will save with a watermark on every page.
8 Best Adobe Acrobat Alternatives In 2022 [Updated List]
PDF-Xchange Editor is one of the most inexpensive alternatives to Acrobat Pro. It has all the tools necessary for creating, editing, and annotating PDF files and also has OCR and tools for digitally signing the documents. It also allows you to export PDF files to MS Office formats.
10 Best PDF Expert Alternatives for Various Tasks in 2022
Thereby, PDF Xchange Editor comes before PDF Expert in the OCR technology. This PDF expert alternative provides you with the advanced OCR plug-in of ABBYY, which counts to be more precise, adaptive, and faster than the standard OCR engine (at work by PDF Expert), and be completed with features such as dynamic stamps, say, a stamp that adopts the system date in an automatic...
Source: fixthephoto.com
13 of the Best Free PDF Readers
For those users looking to add audio to their PDFs, PDF-XChange Editor could be the solution. Besides the having ability to add recordings and other audio, users can view and edit the PDF files, along with adding in a signature. The best feature of PDF-XChange, though, might be its Optical Character Recognition Tool. With this tool, users can scan in a printed document and...
Source: www.indeed.com
Top 5 Best Free Alternatives to Adobe Acrobat DC
PDF-XChange Editor offers amazing amount of features for free (about 80%). Some of them are free only in Editor (but not free in others competitors). And all free features in Editor are very precise and detailed. With the stable work and good support, PDF-XChange Editor is very user-friendly for high level professional documents
Source: whatvwant.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, PyPDF2 seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 1 time since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

PyPDF2 mentions (1)

  • How to convert SVGs containing text to a PDF?
    I still haven't needed to do that part in Rust yet, unfortunately. My mother is still using the pypdf-based concatenator I wrote for her years ago. Source: over 2 years ago

PDF-XChange Editor mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of PDF-XChange Editor yet. Tracking of PDF-XChange Editor recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing PyPDF2 and PDF-XChange Editor, you can also consider the following products

iSafePDF - iSafePDF is a free open source PDF protection software.

Adobe Acrobat DC - Make your job easier with Adobe Acrobat DC, the trusted PDF creator. Use Acrobat to convert, edit and sign PDF files at your desk or on the go.

PDF24 PDF Creator - Create PDF and convert documents to PDF for free with the free PDF24 PDF Creator.

Foxit Reader - Foxit Reader is a free and light-weight multi-platform PDF document viewer.

Foxit PhantomPDF - Edit PDF files with our feature-rich PDF Editor. Download Foxit PDF Editor to convert, sign, scan / OCR & more. A speedy PDF Editor alternative to Adobe Acrobat.

Sumatra PDF - Sumatra PDF is a slim PDF/DjVu/EPUB/XPS/CHM/CBR/CBZ/MOBI viewer for Windows.