pdfFiller review

Fill in your PDF documents with relevant information

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(Image: © airSlate)

TechRadar Verdict

pdfFiller offers many functionalities for editing and managing PDF documents. It has many advantages, such as being web-based, allowing users to collaborate on edits, and allowing password-protected pages for security purposes. It also has drawbacks, such as its pricing being a bit expensive and a significant learning curve to use its advanced features.

Pros

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    Available on the web

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    Responsive customer support

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    Link sharing for collaboration

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    Password-protected documents

Cons

  • -

    Pricing is a bit expensive

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    Steep learning curve for advanced features

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    Cancelling a subscription can be confusing

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pdfFiller is an end-to-end document management software suite. It doesn’t just let you edit PDF documents but also save them online for easy retrieval, collaborate with others on the editing, lock documents in encrypted folders, and so on. 

pdfFiller is made by airSlate Inc, an American software company. airSlate maintains its headquarters in the city of Brookline, Massachusetts. pdfFiller is part of the airSlate Business Cloud, a software suite for enterprises to create and manage documents.

We’re reviewing pdfFiller based on specific criteria, including pricing, customer support options, user interface, compatibility, features, and so on.

Free Trial

airSlate offers a 30-day free trial so you can test out pdfFiller (Image credit: airSlate)

Plans and pricing

pdfFiller is available via recurring subscription plans. It has three main pricing tiers, starting from $8 per user per month on an annual basis. Its subscription tiers include;

Basic

Basic entails just one user. It’s the ideal plan for individual users. With this plan, you get basic PDF editing features, email customer support, and cloud storage for your PDF documents.

The Basic plan costs $20 per month on a month-to-month basis. However, if you’re to pay for an annual subscription in one stretch, there’s a hefty 67% discount applied, so you’ll end up paying $8 per month on a yearly subscription.

Premium

The pdfFiller Premium plan offers all the features of the Basic plan plus additional features including;

  • Creating reusable templates
  • Collecting and exporting data
  • Access to the USLegal Forms Library
  • Instant chat customer support
  • Collect payments with PDF invoices
  • Attachments
  • Electronic signature workflows

The Premium plan costs $40 a month on a monthly basis. However, there’s the hefty 67% discount if you pay for an annual subscription in one stretch, so you’ll pay $15 per month. The Premium plan allows up to 5 users.

airSlate Business Cloud

You can get pdfFiller and several other software tools as part of the airSlate Business Cloud subscription. This plan requires you to contact airSlate’s sales team directly for a quote. It also requires an annual commitment of at least $50 per user each month. 

It's worth noting that pdfFiller doesn’t let you download your edited documents without a subscription. You can play with it during a free trial but can’t get your final PDF without payment. 

Features

pdfFiller’s features include:

1. Edit PDF documents

pdfFiller lets you add or remove text in PDF documents, copy and paste, add images and other types of content where needed. It enables you to make significant changes to a PDF document as you’ll do to a Word document with word processing software such as Microsoft Word or Google Docs.

2. PDF Converter

With pdfFiller, you can convert documents from other formats such as Word, JPG, Excel, and Powerpoint to PDF and vice versa.

Paginate

Pick exactly where you want your page numbers to go as well as how big they appear (Image credit: airSlate)

2. Merge and paginate PDF files

pdfFiller lets you combine different PDF files into one single file. You can also add or remove pages, number pages, insert new pages, or rearrange pages.

3. Host fillable forms

pdfFiller lets you create and host fillable forms in PDF formats. For example, you’re a human resource manager in your company and need staff to fill in tax information required to collect payments. You can easily create a PDF form and send out links for the team to fill out. After the team fills in the required data, you can store it online or export it from PDF format to a CRM or Excel file for analysis.

Also, you can collect payments from clients through PDF forms with pdfFiller. It’s the same way you send out PDF forms for people to fill, but with a payment gateway linked to the form.

Encrypted Folders

Secure your shared folders with encryption (Image credit: airSlate)

4. Encryption & Security

pdfFiller has several encryption & security features that are beneficial for people dealing with sensitive data. These features include;

  • Locking documents in an encrypted folder and requiring two-factor authentication for access
  • Protecting medical records according to HIPAA security standards
  • Audit trails of document access within your organization

eSign

Easily sign legally-binding PDF documents (Image credit: airSlate)

5. E-signature

pdfFiller lets you sign legally-binding PDF documents with electronic signatures. This is a valuable tool for people working in legal departments.

Interface

pdfFiller's web interface is intuitive and nicely organized (Image credit: airSlate)

Interface and in use

pdfFiller is available through a web interface. That is, all you need is a browser like Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to use its full functionality. IOS & Android apps are available but with limited functionality compared to the web browser interface.

Video Tutorials

Video tutorials are available to help you navigate pdfFiller's interface and features (Image credit: airSlate)

Support

pdfFiller offers customer support either through e-mail or instant chat. Email support is available on the Basic plan, but you need the Premium plan or upwards to access instant chat customer support. Inquiries sent through e-mail are often responded to within a day or two, while Premium users can resolve their problems instantly via chat.

The competition

pdfFiller’s competitors include PDFelement, Adobe Sign, and Nitro PDF Pro. Compared to its competitors, pdfFiller offers much better functionality. For example, Adobe Sign only lets you sign PDF documents, while pdfFiller allows e-signatures and many other features. 

Likewise, Nitro PDF Pro lets you convert, sign, and edit PDF documents while pdfFiller offers that and additional features such as encryption.

Final verdict

Indeed, pdfFiller is a very versatile PDF document management system. It offers many PDF editing and management features attractive to individual and enterprise users. However, one feature we’d like to see is a native pdfFiller desktop app with all the functionality of the web browser interface.

We've also featured the best PDF editor and best free office software

Stefan Ionescu

Stefan has always been a lover of tech. He graduated with an MSc in geological engineering but soon discovered he had a knack for writing instead. So he decided to combine his newfound and life-long passions to become a technology writer. As a freelance content writer, Stefan can break down complex technological topics, making them easily digestible for the lay audience.