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A PDFgear alternative. Two free Mac PDF apps, compared.

PDFgear is a free PDF editor for Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android. Most of its tools work on your Mac, and it converts PDFs to Word and other formats. Its AI assistant needs the internet. Fyllyo’s PDF tools are free too, and it opens most XFA forms that show “Please wait…”. If you fill forms from your documents, Fyllyo’s AI does it on your Mac for $99 once.

Download free for MacFree and Paid

Every PDF tool free, with no account · AI form filling $99 once, no subscription · Apple silicon, macOS 13 or later

Fyllyo on a Mac with “Runs on this computer · nothing is uploaded” in the top bar: Form 1040-X filled for a test client, each answer beside the line in the client’s document it came from.

The short answer

Choose Fyllyo if

  • You fill forms from your own documents. Fyllyo Paid reads your documents and fills the form’s fields on your Mac, and leaves a field blank with the reason when it isn’t sure.
  • You want AI that runs on your Mac. PDFgear says its AI features need an internet connection.
  • You get government forms that show “Please wait…”. Fyllyo opens most XFA forms for free. PDFgear’s Mac page doesn’t mention XFA.
  • You want a redaction tool that also checks comments, fields and attachments for leftovers.

Choose PDFgear if

  • You need the same app on Windows, iPhone, iPad or Android.
  • You convert PDFs to Word, Excel or PowerPoint.
  • You use an Intel Mac or an older macOS. PDFgear supports macOS 10.14 or later.
  • You want everything free, including an AI assistant that summarizes, translates and runs commands on your PDFs.

Side by side

Everything we say about PDFgear comes from its own pages, checked October 24, 2026. Sources are below the table.

FeatureFyllyoPDFgear
PricePDF tools free; AI form filling $99 onceFree
PlatformsMac with Apple silicon, macOS 13 or laterMac (macOS 10.14 or later), Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android
Make scans searchable (OCR)Free, Apple’s text recognition
RedactionFree, with a check for leftovers
Sign with a certificateFree; later saves keep the signature valid
Edit existing textFree
Make PDFs smallerFree
Dynamic XFA formsFree, but the form’s own scripts don’t runNot mentioned on its Mac page
PDF tools work on your MacMost of them, PDFgear says
AIFills forms from your documents, 100% on your Mac (Paid)An assistant that summarizes, translates and runs commands. It needs the internet.
Convert to Word, Excel, PowerPoint

Sources: PDFgear for Mac · PDFgear Copilot · PDFgear home page (platforms)

Questions

Is PDFgear really free?

Yes. PDFgear says its Mac app is free, with no ads and no watermarks on saved PDFs.

Does PDFgear’s AI work offline?

No. PDFgear says its AI features need an internet connection, and its Copilot page says it’s powered by GPT-3.5. Fyllyo’s AI form filling runs 100% on your Mac. Once a form is set up, it works offline.

Why pay for Fyllyo when PDFgear is free?

You don’t have to. Every PDF tool in Fyllyo is free as well, including redaction with a leftover check, certificate signing, text editing and XFA forms. You pay only for AI form filling. AI form filling is $99 once. That buys a lifetime licence for one Mac at a time, with free updates and a 5-day free trial. Filling more forms never costs more. The one other charge is for setting up a form of your own. Credits cost $1 per 100, starting at $10, and never expire. Or you can use your own AI key. Setup sends the blank form and its instructions, never your documents. But price isn’t everything. PDFgear converts to Word, Excel and PowerPoint and runs on Windows, iPhone, iPad and Android. Fyllyo doesn’t convert to Office formats and runs only on a Mac.

See it for yourself

Each task page shows the real app doing the job. The comparisons cover the other PDF apps.

Download free for Mac