Foxit is two very different products under one name. The Foxit PDF Reader is free, and it's genuinely good at reading, commenting, filling forms and signing. Foxit PDF Editor is the paid one, and it starts at $129.99 a year. Most people searching for an alternative hit the Editor's price when all they wanted was to merge a few files or squeeze a PDF under an email limit. For those jobs you don't need either. Our Merge PDF and Compress PDF tools run in your browser, so nothing gets uploaded and there's no cap.
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Foxit PDF Reader | $0 | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android and web. Read, annotate, fill forms, sign |
| Foxit online tools | $0 | No account. Merge caps each file at 20 MB, compress at 150 MB |
| PDF Editor (subscription) | $129.99 per user a year | Paid in full or billed monthly over the year |
| PDF Editor+ (subscription) | $159.99 per user a year | The higher tier, same billing choices |
| PDF Editor 14 (perpetual) | $209.99 once, per user | One-time licence for the current version |
| AI Assistant add-on | $49.99 a year | 2,000 credits a month. Every account gets 300 free credits a month |
| Volume licensing | Quote | 30 or more licences, discounts of up to 30% |
Those figures come from foxit.com's pricing page as of October 2026. Its FAQ also mentions monthly billing "from $10.99" without saying which plan that covers. There's a 14-day free trial on every plan, and Foxit says you don't need a credit card to start it. That's rarer than it should be, and it means you can't get charged by forgetting to cancel.
It depends on how long you'll keep it. Here's the running cost, using the list prices above and assuming no price rise:
| Option | After 1 year | After 2 years | After 3 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDF Editor subscription | $129.99 | $259.98 | $389.97 |
| PDF Editor+ subscription | $159.99 | $319.98 | $479.97 |
| PDF Editor 14 perpetual | $209.99 | $209.99 | $209.99 |
| Free tools only | $0 | $0 | $0 |
The perpetual licence pulls ahead early in year two. The catch is that it's for version 14, so you're buying today's feature set rather than whatever Foxit ships next. If you really edit PDFs every week, that's still a decent deal. If you only open an editor a few times a year, the free options below cover almost everything.
| Option | Where your file goes | Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| ToolAspect PDF tools | Stays in your browser | Free, no cap | Merge, split, compress, OCR, redact and sign without uploading |
| Foxit PDF Reader | Your device | Free | Reading, comments, forms (including XFA) and signing |
| Adobe Acrobat Reader | Your device | Free | Forms and signing, especially awkward government forms |
| PDF24 Creator | Your Windows PC, offline | Free, including business use | A full offline toolbox |
| Mac Preview | Your Mac | Free with macOS | Merging, reordering, markup and signing |
| LibreOffice Draw | Your computer | Free, open source | Changing existing text in simple PDFs |
| Okular | Your computer | Free, open source | Annotating on Linux and Windows |
| Xodo PDF Reader | Your computer | Free | Markup and forms on Windows, Mac and Linux |
Notice what's missing. There isn't a free tool that does everything Foxit PDF Editor does in one window, because editing existing text in a PDF is genuinely hard. LibreOffice Draw handles simple documents fine but can shift the layout on complex ones. If text editing is the whole reason you want Foxit, the trial or the perpetual licence may honestly be the right call.
| Foxit Editor feature | Free swap | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Combine files | Merge PDF | No file or size cap. Pages are copied, not re-rendered |
| Optimize / reduce size | Compress PDF | Lossless clean-up, or pick a DPI from 72 to 300 |
| Split and extract | Split PDF | Ranges, every N pages, or one file per page |
| Organize pages | Organize PDF | Drag to reorder, rotate or delete |
| OCR | OCR PDF | Turns a scan into searchable text in your browser |
| Redact | Redact PDF | Black-box sensitive text before you share |
| Fill and sign | Sign PDF or Foxit Reader | Ours places a drawn or typed signature. No audit trail |
| Protect | PDF Password Tools | AES-256 with an open password |
| Flatten forms | Flatten PDF | Bakes filled fields into the page so they can't be changed |
| Edit existing text | LibreOffice Draw | Fine for simple layouts; complex ones may reflow |
Yes, for most people. It's free for personal and business use, it runs on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, and it fills both standard AcroForm fields and XFA forms. That last point matters more than it sounds. XFA forms are the ones that show a "Please wait..." message in Chrome, and plenty of government and bank forms still use them. Our guide on filling out PDF forms explains how to spot one.
Where the Reader stops is editing. Changing a paragraph, swapping a logo or converting to Word all push you toward the paid Editor, and the Reader's download page advertises that 14-day trial right next to the free download.
For ordinary files, it's reasonable. Foxit's merge and compress pages don't ask for an account, and both say files are deleted automatically after processing. What they don't say is where the servers are or how long "after processing" lasts in practice. If you work under GDPR or a client contract that names a region, that gap is worth noticing.
There's also a small inconsistency: the merge page's title says files can be up to 10 MB, while the upload box says 20 MB. Either way, a scanned contract can blow past that quickly. Browser-based tools sidestep both problems, because there's no upload and no server-side limit. For a wider look at retention policies, see is it safe to upload PDFs online.
Keep the free Foxit PDF Reader for reading, forms and quick signatures. Use a browser tool for one-off merges, splits and compression, especially with private documents. Only pay for Foxit PDF Editor if you edit existing text often, and if you do, run the numbers: by the second year, the $209.99 perpetual licence beats the subscription. Comparing other paid editors too? Our Adobe Acrobat alternatives and Xodo alternatives guides cover the two names that usually come up next.
Foxit PDF Reader is free for personal and business use on Windows, macOS, iOS and Android, and it reads, annotates, fills forms and signs. Foxit's online merge and compress tools are also free with no account. Foxit PDF Editor, which edits existing text and converts files, is paid and starts at $129.99 a year.
As of October 2026, Foxit PDF Editor costs $129.99 per user a year and PDF Editor+ costs $159.99 per user a year. A perpetual licence for PDF Editor 14 is $209.99 once. The optional AI Assistant add-on is $49.99 a year.
No. Foxit's pricing FAQ says every plan starts with a 14-day free trial and no credit card is required, so the trial can't roll into a paid plan by itself.
No. The free Reader handles reading, comments, highlights, form filling and signatures. Editing existing text, images or layout needs the paid Foxit PDF Editor. For simple documents, LibreOffice Draw can edit PDF text for free.
Foxit's merge and compress pages say files are deleted automatically from its servers after processing. They don't give a retention time or say where the servers are, so use a browser-based tool that doesn't upload for sensitive documents.