# PDFelement vs PyMuPDF

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** PyMuPDF

| Attribute | PDFelement | PyMuPDF |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 38.1 (55% (medium)) | 57.2 (63% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 1,798 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 10,910 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A desktop application for editing PDF documents, including text and image modifications, creating fillable forms, recognizing text in scanned pages, reorganizing and combining pages, converting between formats, reducing file sizes, and removing sensitive information. It is indexed under PDF Editors.","source":"https://pdf.wondershare.com/","question":"What is PDFelement?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"PDFelement is a paid product; published pricing starts at $129.99. It is sold across 2 plans (PDFelement for Individuals and PDFelement for Team). There is no free tier. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://pdf.wondershare.com/business/acrobat-reader-enterprise-pricing.html","question":"How much does PDFelement cost?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"PDFelement supports Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://pdf.wondershare.com/","question":"What platforms does PDFelement support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for PDFelement, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://pdf.wondershare.com/business/acrobat-reader-enterprise-pricing.html","question":"Can PDFelement be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed ISO 27001 for PDFelement. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as PDFelement not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://pdf.wondershare.com/","question":"What security certifications does PDFelement have?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"PDFelement is available worldwide. Its primary market is the United States.","source":"https://pdf.wondershare.com/business/acrobat-reader-enterprise-pricing.html","question":"Where is PDFelement available?","confidence":0.5}]` | `[{"answer":"A Python library built on the MuPDF engine for reading, manipulating, converting, and annotating PDF and document files with integrated OCR support. Designed for local processing in air-gapped and regulated environments. It is indexed under PDF Editors.","source":"https://pymupdf.readthedocs.io/","question":"What is PyMuPDF?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"PyMuPDF offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://pymupdf.readthedocs.io/","question":"Is PyMuPDF free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"PyMuPDF supports Windows, macOS and Linux. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://pymupdf.readthedocs.io/","question":"What platforms does PyMuPDF support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. PyMuPDF can be deployed on-premise, air-gapped and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://pymupdf.readthedocs.io/","question":"Can PyMuPDF be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. PyMuPDF is published under the AGPL-3.0 licence, a copyleft licence, so check its terms before embedding it in a closed-source product. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF","question":"Is PyMuPDF open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A full-featured PDF editor that enables text and image editing, interactive form creation with fillable fields, page merging and splitting, file conversion, and intelligent redaction of sensitive data. It includes optical character recognition for scanned documents and is available across Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. | A Python library providing efficient, precise control over PDF documents for reading, editing, and converting their contents. Built on a lightweight C engine with both low-level control and high-level convenience functions. |
| features.capabilities | `{"iso_27001":true,"pricing_model":"one_time_purchase","deployment_model":"native_desktop","file_size_compression_engine":true,"interactive_form_field_creation":true,"password_protection_and_encryption":true,"permanent_blackout_redaction_engine":true,"microsoft_office_docx_xlsx_conversion":true,"page_merging_extraction_and_splitting":true,"base_text_and_image_editing_within_pdf":true,"ocr_optical_character_recognition_scanning":true,"digital_signature_certification_enforcement":true}` | `{"pricing_model":"freemium","deployment_model":"native_desktop","file_size_compression_engine":true,"interactive_form_field_creation":true,"password_protection_and_encryption":true,"permanent_blackout_redaction_engine":true,"microsoft_office_docx_xlsx_conversion":true,"page_merging_extraction_and_splitting":true,"base_text_and_image_editing_within_pdf":true,"ocr_optical_character_recognition_scanning":true}` |
| integrations.count | - | 1 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Tesseract","native":true,"category":"ocr"}]` |
| language.primary | - | Python |
| license.spdx | - | AGPL-3.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"ios":true,"mac":true,"android":true,"windows":true}` | `{"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"PDFelement for Individuals","summary":"$129.99 perpetual (12% discount from $159)","features":["Edit text and images","Annotate documents","Merge and split pages","OCR scanning","Convert to and from PDF","Compress file size","Create fillable forms","Digital signatures","Protect PDFs"],"components":[{"kind":"one_time","amount":129.99,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Edit, print, convert, eSign, and protect PDFs on Windows PC or Mac","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"PDFelement for Team","summary":"$139/user/month with custom services available (contact for details)","components":[{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"seat","amount":139,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Flexible team licensing with provisioning, tracking, and management across groups","contactSales":true}],"summary":"From $129.99 one-time for individuals or $139/user/month for teams. Free trial available.","currency":"USD","freeTier":false,"sourceUrl":"https://pdf.wondershare.com/business/acrobat-reader-enterprise-pricing.html","retrievedAt":"2026-08-25T15:45:56.513Z","startingPrice":{"amount":129.99,"currency":"USD"}}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://pymupdf.readthedocs.io/","retrievedAt":"2026-09-13T20:04:58.976Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | no | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | high | free |
| pricing.starting_price | `{"amount":129.99,"currency":"USD"}` | - |
| pricing.transparent | no | no |
| release.cadence_days | - | 35 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.28.2","date":"2026-08-06T22:16:34Z","type":"stable","version":"1.28.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.28.0","date":"2026-06-29T09:18:49Z","type":"stable","version":"1.28.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.27.2.3","date":"2026-04-24T14:23:34Z","type":"stable","version":"1.27.2.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.27.2.2","date":"2026-03-20T09:56:24Z","type":"stable","version":"1.27.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.27.2","date":"2026-03-10T13:11:38Z","type":"stable","version":"1.27.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.27.1","date":"2026-02-11T15:12:59Z","type":"stable","version":"1.27.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.26.7","date":"2025-12-11T23:17:03Z","type":"stable","version":"1.26.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.26.6","date":"2025-11-05T16:07:35Z","type":"stable","version":"1.26.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.26.5","date":"2025-10-10T14:07:18Z","type":"stable","version":"1.26.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.26.4","date":"2025-08-25T14:34:56Z","type":"stable","version":"1.26.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.26.3","date":"2025-07-02T21:52:37Z","type":"stable","version":"1.26.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.26.1","date":"2025-06-11T22:30:03Z","type":"stable","version":"1.26.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.26.0","date":"2025-05-22T16:30:32Z","type":"stable","version":"1.26.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.25.5","date":"2025-03-31T23:25:00Z","type":"stable","version":"1.25.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.25.4","date":"2025-03-14T19:16:56Z","type":"stable","version":"1.25.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.25.3","date":"2025-02-06T13:12:40Z","type":"stable","version":"1.25.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.25.2","date":"2025-01-17T16:36:36Z","type":"stable","version":"1.25.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.25.1","date":"2024-12-11T22:51:35Z","type":"stable","version":"1.25.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.25.0","date":"2024-12-05T20:45:10Z","type":"stable","version":"1.25.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/pymupdf/PyMuPDF/releases/tag/1.24.14","date":"2024-11-19T11:21:54Z","type":"stable","version":"1.24.14"}]` |
| security.certifications | `[{"name":"ISO 27001","level":"Information Security Management","status":"active"}]` | - |
| security.iso27001 | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | - | 5.2 |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"count":1,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=pymupdf&per_page=100","last_12m":1,"max_severity":"MODERATE"}` |

## Capabilities (PDF Editors)

| Capability | PDFelement | PyMuPDF |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Capabilities** |  |  |
| Deployment model | Native desktop | Native desktop |
| Base text and image editing within PDF | ✓ | ✓ |
| Page merging extraction and splitting | ✓ | ✓ |
| OCR optical character recognition scanning | ✓ | ✓ |
| Permanent blackout redaction engine | ✓ | ✓ |
| Password protection and encryption | ✓ | ✓ |
| Interactive form field creation | ✓ | ✓ |
| Digital signature certification enforcement | ✓ | - |
| Microsoft office docx xlsx conversion | ✓ | ✓ |
| File size compression engine | ✓ | ✓ |
| SOC2 type ii | - | - |
| ISO 27001 | ✓ | - |
| Pricing model | One time purchase | Freemium |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:03:09.301Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*