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Preview, or something more? What Fyllyo adds.

Preview is free, built in and good at the basics. Keep it for that. Fyllyo is for the PDFs Preview can’t handle: scans you can’t search, government forms stuck on “Please wait…”, and documents you need to redact or sign properly.

Download free for MacFree and Paid

Free, with no account · Fyllyo Paid is $99 once · Apple silicon, macOS 13 or later

The short answer

Choose Fyllyo if

  • You get scanned PDFs and want them searchable, with the text saved in the file. That’s free in Fyllyo.
  • You fill government forms built with XFA, which Preview shows as “Please wait…”.
  • You redact documents before sharing and want comments, fields and attachments checked too.
  • You sign with a certificate, edit text, or fill forms that calculate their totals.

Choose Preview if

  • You only read, highlight, sign by hand and move pages around.
  • You don’t want to install anything: Preview is already on your Mac.

Side by side

What Preview does comes from its own pages, checked October 2026. Sources are below the table.

FeatureFyllyoPreview
PriceFree, or $99 onceFree, built in
Read, comment and sign by handFree
Reorder, rotate, delete and combine pagesFree
Password-protect a PDFFree
Make scans searchable, saved in the fileFreeSelects text with Live Text, doesn’t save it
Redaction with a check for leftoversPaid
Sign with a certificatePaid
Edit existing textPaid
Dynamic XFA formsPaid
Forms that calculate their totalsPaid

Sources: Preview User Guide (Apple)

Questions

Why does Preview show “Please wait…” for some forms?

Those are XFA forms, an Adobe format that builds the form when it opens. Preview doesn’t support XFA, so it shows the placeholder page built into the file. Fyllyo Paid opens and fills most of them.

Can Preview make a scanned PDF searchable?

Preview can select text in some scans with Live Text, but it doesn’t save searchable text into the PDF. Fyllyo does, for free, using Apple’s text recognition on your Mac.

Do I need to stop using Preview?

No. Many people keep Preview for quick looks and open Fyllyo for scans, forms, redaction and signing.

Is Fyllyo free like Preview?

Fyllyo’s free tools are free for good, with no account, and they include text recognition. Fyllyo Paid adds the pro tools for $99 once.

See it for yourself

Each of these shows the real app doing the job.

Download free for Mac