See how Scrivar stacks up against the most popular PDF tools. We built everything you need into a single desktop app — at a fraction of the cost.
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| Feature | Scrivar Lite | Scrivar Pro | Adobe Acrobat | SmallPDF Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||||
| Price | $49 once | $70 once | $240/yr | $108/yr |
| Payment model | One-time | One-time | Subscription | Subscription |
| Works offline | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Windows + Mac | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Web only |
| Free trial (no credit card) | ✓ | ✓ | — | ✓ |
| View & Organize | ||||
| View PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Merge PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Split & extract pages | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Rotate pages | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Delete pages | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Edit | ||||
| Edit text in PDFs | — | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Edit images in PDFs | — | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Annotations (highlight, draw) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Advanced annotations (shapes, notes, eraser) | — | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Fill PDF forms | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Add page numbers | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Watermark | — | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Crop pages | — | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Sign & Protect | ||||
| Sign documents | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Password protect PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Unlock PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Redact sensitive content | — | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Flatten PDFs | — | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Convert & Compress | ||||
| Compress PDFs | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Convert images to/from PDF | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Convert Word/Excel/PPT to PDF | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Convert PDF to Word/Excel/PPT | — | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| OCR (scanned documents) | — | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Business Tools | ||||
| Invoice builder | — | ✓ | — | — |
| Batch processing | — | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Re-editable saved documents | — | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Privacy & Data | ||||
| Files stay on your device | ✓ | ✓ | Optional | — |
| No cloud uploads required | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| No account required to use | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
Feature comparison based on publicly available information as of April 2026. Third-party pricing may vary by region and plan. SmallPDF is web-based and does not offer a native desktop application.
Adobe Acrobat is a subscription product with ongoing costs for cloud infrastructure, marketing, and enterprise features most people never use. Scrivar is built by a small team focused on the features small businesses actually need. We sell directly and keep costs low, so we can offer a one-time purchase price that covers our development.
Yes. Your purchase gives you perpetual access to the version you bought (e.g., Scrivar 2027), including all updates and patches for that version year. Future major versions (e.g., Scrivar 2028) are separate purchases at an upgrade price, but your existing version keeps working forever. Optional add-ons like cloud storage and AI features are separate monthly subscriptions.
When you open, edit, merge, sign, or convert a PDF in Scrivar, all processing happens locally on your computer. Your documents are never uploaded to our servers. This is different from web-based tools like SmallPDF, which must upload your files to process them. If privacy matters to you, Scrivar is the right choice.
Absolutely. Download the app and use all Pro features free for 7 days. No credit card, no account, no strings attached. If you like it, purchase a registration code. If not, the app simply stops working after the trial — no nagging, no leftover files.
Lite covers the basics: viewing, merging, splitting, compressing, converting images, signing, filling forms, basic annotations, and password protection. Pro adds everything in Lite plus text and image editing, invoice builder, batch processing, advanced annotations, watermark, crop, page numbers, redaction, flattening, OCR, and full Word/Excel/PowerPoint conversion. Most small business owners choose Pro for the invoicing and OCR alone.
Yes. Scrivar runs on Windows 10+ and macOS 10.13+. Each registration code activates on one device at a time, regardless of operating system. You can transfer your license between devices (including between Windows and Mac) at any time.
Download Scrivar and try every feature free for 7 days. No credit card. No account. No strings.