TechRadar Verdict
PDFZilla has been around for a while, and it enjoys a large user base. Lots of people have downloaded and discussed the application on various forums, and it does its job well enough for the price. It’s not the most advanced PDF editor on the market right now, with some competing tools offering a much broader range of options. But it more than makes up for that with its clean, fast interface, and its intuitive design. For those just looking to do some conversions here and there, it’s one of the best options.
Pros
- +
Lots of different features
- +
Lightweight
- +
Easy to use
Cons
- -
Free version is just a demo trial and can’t be used for any real conversions
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If you’ve never used a PDF editor before, it can be surprisingly complicated to find the right one on the current market. There are lots of different products available, and some of them are much more complex than others. Some PDF editors are intended for power users who do lots of conversions and other edits every day, while others are more for the average user who occasionally needs to convert a document for their own archiving.
PDFZilla is a nice middle ground between these two ends of the spectrum, offering a good range of features in a convenient, clean interface, but without overloading the user with too much functionality that most will never even touch. It’s stable and works very fast, making it a good choice for less powerful computers as well. However, it’s not a good option if you want to try out its full features for free, due to the way its free demo is structured. If you decide that you enjoy how PDFZilla works though, the premium version is definitely worth the investment.
Plans and pricing
The application comes with a free demo, but it’s only enough to get a basic preview of its functionality, because it limits your operation in certain ways. For example, you can only convert half of a document. Still, this should be good enough to get a sense of how well PDFZilla works and whether it fits the bill for your own specific requirements. You’re allowed to use most available features in the free version to check them out, but the above limitation (and a few others here and there) still applies.
The full version costs $49.95, though you should check the site frequently if you’re interested in buying it, because the developers regularly run various promotions. Sometimes you can get it for as low as 20% off, which is a nice bonus in the context of what the application has to offer. There aren’t any different pricing tiers though – at least not for individual users – so you can’t buy a cheaper subscription if you don’t plan on using all features. However, you can purchase multiple licenses at a discount.
Features
You are able to do various types of conversions and edits, all offered from a centralized main menu. You can convert a PDF to different formats, including Microsoft Word, images, plain text files, HTML pages, and even Flash, despite the fact that it’s deprecated at this point. You can also convert PDFs containing tables to Excel sheets, which can be very useful for accounting and other similar use cases.
Some additional features include the ability to split a document into multiple separate ones or, conversely, merge several PDFs into one. You can also convert an image to a PDF, which can come in handy if you ever need to submit documents to a site that only accepts PDF documents and nothing else. However, the conversion is a bit limited in this regard and you shouldn’t expect too much flexibility.
Interface and in use
The interface of PDFZilla is nice and clean, although it looks a bit outdated in places. The application hasn’t received any major UI updates in a while, but that’s not a problem since the current interface does a fine job at presenting you with all options you might need and making them easily accessible. There aren’t any flashy effects or animations, and the interface is kept very simple for the most part.
That doesn’t prevent PDFZilla from being a powerful tool though, and it lets you reach most options quickly and without having to dig through complicated menus. The tool can be perfect for those who need to do some quick work and want to streamline that process as much as possible.
Support
There’s an in-depth tutorial and help section available at the official website, and those cover most potential issues you might run into with the tool. The developers can be contacted through their site too, but their support leaves a little to be desired. They do respond fast in most cases, but more complicated issues can take longer to resolve, and it does seem like the company doesn’t have an extensive support department. Still, they’ve done a fine job covering most points in their help section.
The competition
PDFZilla has various competitors, including PDF24 and Adobe Acrobat, and it’s hard to make a good comparison between them because each application in that field typically shines with something unique. Where PDFZilla proves truly useful is for users who need something quick and convenient, and don’t mind paying a one-time fee for a lifetime subscription for the product. If you don’t mind the slightly outdated looking interface, it’s definitely a tool that can work well for most people’s needs.
Final verdict
PDFZilla is a great choice for a PDF editor and converter, and the application is offered at a reasonable price. It takes very little time to get used to how it works, and it comes with lots of features right out the box. If you don’t mind the somewhat slow customer support compared to other similar tools, this one is definitely worth checking out.
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