| Fact |  PDF ExpertFast Mac PDF editor with a real one-time licence behind the plans |  UPDFOne payment, four devices, Mac and phone on the same licence |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $139.99 | $79.99 |
| Licence | Lifetime tierA one-time plan of a subscription app | Lifetime tierA one-time plan of a subscription app |
| The catch | Readdle states new features may cost extra, and the licence covers the Mac app only | The AI Assistant is a separate US$69/year subscription, not part of the lifetime licence |
| Against a subscription | 7 monthsAgainst Adobe Acrobat Pro at $240 a year | 4 monthsAgainst Adobe Acrobat Pro at $240 a year |
| Seats | No Mac count statedNo reliable number: Readdle's licence-code FAQ still says three Macs, but PDF Expert 3 unlocks by signing in to a Readdle account instead, and the purchase covers Macs only. | 4 MacsFour devices in total across macOS, Windows, iOS and Android, not four Macs, and web access counts against the four. |
| Developer account | Required | Required |
| Works offline | Partly | Partly |
| Apple Silicon | Native | Native |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| On Setapp | No | No |
| Buy direct | Buy direct |
Both prices read 22 Sep 2026, on the pages these buttons open. Minimum macOS and App Store rating are not established for either app, so those rows are left out.
In their own right
PDF Expert
The PDF editor most Mac users land on after giving up on Acrobat, with text and image editing, OCR, redaction, forms and signatures. Readdle pushes subscriptions, but a genuine one-time Mac licence is still sold.
UPDF
An Acrobat-style PDF editor covering editing, OCR, conversion, forms, redaction and compression. Normally sold yearly, but the lifetime licence is a genuine one-time purchase that includes future version upgrades.