10 Best AI PDF Readers in 2023 [In Depth Review]

Productivity Boost

Jackson Kustec

jackson@macro.com

Published: Wed Sep 06 2023

The best AI PDF readers you can try today are Macro, Snip, ChatPDF, HiPDF, PDFgear Copilot, UPDF AI, LightPDF, PDFelement, WPS.ai, and Foxit PDF Editor.

In this article, we will discuss their features, pricing, and the benefits of using AI PDF readers over traditional ones.

What are the Best PDF AI Readers?

Integrating AI with PDF readers has made tools more efficient and allowed readers to work smarter while automating repetitive tasks.

With AI PDF readers, you can search through large PDFs in seconds, summarize lengthy paragraphs, extract key information from documents, and much more.

Here are the top, hand-picked AI PDF readers we think might help you become more productive and help your business grow.

Scroll to the bottom of this article to learn why you should consider AI-powered PDF tools over traditional ones 👇.

#1. Macro

Macro is an AI-powered PDF editor that professionals use to edit, annotate, merge, and compare PDFs.

The world’s top banks, real estate firms, investors, and Fortune 500 companies trust Macro.

Macro’s sleek modern interface makes it easy for knowledge professionals to elevate their document-related work.

Macro Features

Automatically generates document bookmarks to help you navigate docs faster.
Native ChatGPT 4 integration to ask questions when drafting or editing documents.
Has features like redaction, highlights, and strikeouts to redline content in your document.
AI-powered error detection helps you avoid making mistakes when writing and finalizing PDFs.
Compare multiple document versions and consolidate edits in seconds.
Want to know the meaning of a specific term? Click on the hyperlinked text and get its definition without leaving Macro.
Navigate PDFs with pinned items, hyperlinked terms, and web-style tabs.

Pros and Cons

✅ Macro’s free version offers a wide-range of functionalities.

✅ Uses AI to smartly help you draft, edit, and review.

✅ Enterprise-secured desktop version available for organizations.

✅ Simple and sleek design that minimizes the tool’s learning curve.

❌ Doesn’t have an online version.

Pricing

Both Windows and Mac users can download Macro’s free-to-use app.

If you'd like to upgrade from the free version and prefer a full-fledged document workspace, select Macro's Professional version for $49/user per month.

Enterprises can contact the sales team for a customized plan, including dedicated support along with enterprise security and compliance.

#2. Snip

Snip is ideal for students, teachers, and research professors. It's a powerful tool for analyzing scientific papers, lecture notes,and more.

The platform's NLP capabilities and scientific know-how make it popular among top ed-tech companies and renowned universities like Stanford, Arizona, Cambridge, and Michigan.

Mathpix's Snip AI-Features

It's a fully functional PDF viewer that supports HTML mode, making 2-column PDFs readable on mobile without zooming in and out.
Has Search AI—a global-document-understanding platform that responds intelligently to your queries. It also shows matching snippets from PDFs and other data sources.
Comes with optical character recognition (OCR) technology that can quickly scan physical copies of handwritten text, mathematical equations, and chemical diagrams.
The combined power of Search AI and OCR makes it possible to find math symbols and equations in PDFs, even with text inputs.
AI-powered conversion tool to convert PDFs into editable LaTex, Docx, and HTML formats. It's also the only PDF to LaTeX converter that works on math, chemistry, physics, and other STEM materials. You can directly export LaTex files to Overleaf.

Pricing

Mathpix offers 2 free plans with paid limits. The first is for users with a set limit of 10 monthly Snips and PDF pages. The second free plan is for students with 20 monthly Snips and PDF pages.

To further increase your monthly Snips, you can choose from the paid plans, as follows:

Pro: $4.99/month
Organizations: $9.99/month
Yearly license (On-premise): Custom Pricing

#3. ChatPDF

ChatPDF is an AI PDF reader that lets you talk to PDFs you upload. Simple prompts allow you to extract information or get answers to all PDF-related queries easily.

ChatPDF AI Features

The platform uses conversational AI to deliver a great user experience when interacting with PDFs.
Has intelligent algorithms that analyze PDFs to create a semantic index for every paragraph. When you ask a question, ChatPDF’s AI will look up relevant paragraphs to give you precise answers.
ChatPDF doesn’t give generic answers. Every output generated has references to back up its source in the original PDF document.
Use ChatPDF to summarize scientific papers, theses, and more.
The software can understand any language and reply in your native language.
Share PDFs with your team by simply copying and sharing a link. Your team can then chat with the PDF to get their questions answered.
Export chat in .txt files or rename, reset, or delete chat with a click.

Pricing

ChatPDF comes with a free AI PDF reader.

Problem is, the free plan has limitations on the number of pages per PDF, processing per day, or questions you can ask.

To extend this limit and unlock some premium features, opt for ChatPDF Plus , available at $5 monthly.

#4. HiPDF

HiPDF is a feature-rich PDF reader that helps you work better with PDFs. Powered by ChatGPT, the tool has AI features to summarize, analyze, and rewrite PDF content.

HiPDF AI Features

HiPDF is easy to use with simple click-and-go functions. With it, you can access pre-built prompts to summarize, explain, and rewrite PDF content.
Use AI summaries to cut down files into short stories. Copy and paste text or use the 'TLDR' command to generate a summary.
The 'Explain' prompt helps you dive deeper into a concept or formula. Using AI, you can explain any complex concept within seconds.
Rewrite your text with an AI-powered online tool and make your writing clear, concise, and engaging.
Has an AI assistant powered by OpenAI that helps you get more comprehensive answers.

Pricing

HiPDF has a free forever plan without OCR functionality and some limitations.

To remove these limitations, you can choose its Monthly plan - $5.99/month or Yearly plan - $3.33 per month (billed yearly) .

#5. PDFgear Copilot

PDFgear offers a range of PDF tools to read, edit, convert, and customize PDFs. Recently, the platform introduced Copilot, an AI-powered chatbot that revolutionizes interaction with PDFs.

PDFgear Copilot AI Features

Enter prompts in plain English, and get all the answers you want for your PDFs. Be it summarizing PDFs or deleting a specific page, there’s a prompt you can use for everything.
After you import the PDF, the PDFgear chatbot will automatically generate suggested questions and prompts.
PDFgear Copilot uses smart secondary confirmation to ensure users input the right prompts. The feature comes in handy to remove typos or incorrect commands.
Copilot's AI summarizer instantly summarizes lengthy PDFs into short and digestible sentences.

Pricing

PDFgear has two plans to choose from:

Annual plan: $19.99
Perpetual plan: $49.99

#6. UPDF AI

UPDF AI is a popular AI PDF tool that helps you interact with and handle PDFs without any hassle. The platform is built with natural language processing models and conversational AI that helps it summarize, translate, explain, and rewrite PDFs.

UPDF AI Features

Generate multiple summaries for your documents. Furthermore, extract critical information from documents in 30 seconds.
The Explain feature of UPDF AI uses vast datasets and machine learning programs to help you understand challenging terms or questions within your document. It then provides clear, easy-to-understand explanations and definitions for the requested terms.
The UPDF AI Translate feature lets you translate your PDF content into any language.
Ask UPDF AI to rewrite your content in a different style to make your writing more concise and clear.
Like ChatGPT, UPDF AI uses conversational AI to answer like a human. For example, when you need to brainstorm a new product idea, you can ask UPDF AI to provide you with unique ideas.

Pricing

UPDF AI has a free PDF reader. However, the true potential lies in its paid plans:

AI - Premium: $4.99/month
UPDF + AI: $75.99 (perpetual)

#7. LightPDF

LightPDF is an intelligent AI-powered PDF reader software that allows you to take notes, summarize PDFs, and chat with documents online.

The software utilizes ChatGPT-3.5 (on the web app) and ChatGPT-4 (on the desktop) to make it a delight to interact with PDFs.

LightPDF AI Features

Use LightPDF's AI-powered chat feature as a Chrome extension or install it as a G Suite add-on.
The chat feature can help extract text from PDFs, scanned documents, and web pages with a click.
AI chatbot answers your queries with cited sources. Refer to the source to know more about the concept and verify the answers' credibility.
Impressive NLP capabilities to crawl, analyze, and summarize any content. This could be tables, diagrams, bullet points, or paragraphs.
Its AI document chatbot works perfectly on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS devices. The chatbot is capable of communicating or translating documents in 100+ languages.
Use LightPDF's AI to assist in brainstorming sessions. Trained with broad general knowledge and generative AI models, the tool develops new ideas.
The AI assistant can function with multiple documents at the same time. This means you can interact with multiple PDFs simultaneously.

Pricing

LightPDF’s pricing model allows users to pay weekly, monthly, or annually. It has two plans: one for individuals and one made for businesses.

Personal: $19.99/month
Business: $79.95/year

#8. PDFelement

PDFelement is a one-stop PDF editor that integrates AI to rewrite, translate, and proofread text. Lumi AI is the name of its AI-powered PDF reader. The tool is compatible with Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, making it easy to edit PDFs on the go.

PDFelement AI Features

PDFelement’s built-in AI bot, Lumi AI, allows chatting with PDFs. Ask Lumi your PDF-related queries and Lumi will answer.
Tune the chatbot to your industry's tone and voice. Train it to adapt your style when answering questions.
Comes with drag-and-drop functions and a list of pre-built prompts to summarize, rewrite, proofread, and chat with PDFs.
A powerful AI PDF summarizer tool backed by programmed NLP, ML, and intelligent algorithms to generate critical points, create abstracts, and extract keywords.
Get detailed explanations of complex texts or lines of code using the AI-powered Explain features.
Copy-paste text to the AI Rewrite tool to generate enhanced, easy-to-read text. Improve content further by using AI to proofread for typos, grammar errors, and word choice.

Pricing

PDFelement comes with a 7-day free trial, after which you can choose from one of these plans:

Yearly: $79.99
2-Year Plan: $109.99
Perpetual Plan: $103.99

#9. WPS.ai

WPS.ai is an AI add-on that comes along with the WPS Office toolkit. WPS Office enables online and local file sharing, editing, and multiple file merging. With AI integration, the platform has now gained advanced PDF analyzing and reading capabilities.

WPS AI Features

It's easy to summarize documents with WPS AI. Simply select or enter the summarize prompt to convert lengthy documents into a quick and digestible format.
Generative AI writer tool creates high-quality content using advanced algorithms. Trained on several datasets, the tool delivers impressive content, be it poetry, lyrics, a resume, a thesis, or a blog.
Advanced text-recognition technology helps convert physical papers into digital documents, eliminating manual data entry.
Talk with PDFs like an actual human. Use natural language to chat with the AI chatbot and complete PDF-related tasks in seconds.

Pricing

WPS.ai is in its beta testing phase. You can join the waitlist to access the tool for free.

#10. Foxit PDF Editor Cloud

Foxit PDF editor offers both on-premise and cloud-based PDF editing software. However, the ChatGPT integration only comes with its cloud version.

Foxit PDF Editor Cloud AI Features

The OpenAI integration helps users generate concise and accurate document summaries.
Foxit's AI rewrite feature uses machine learning to paraphrase text and automatically make it easy to understand.
Foxit editor cloud fosters real-time collaboration. It's easy to view other team members' comments and reply to comments, meaning less time spent managing conflicts.
Other AI-powered features concisely explain complicated terms and proofread content for grammatical errors and typos.

Pricing

Foxit has two plans to offer:

PDF Editor Suite: $10.75/month
PDF Editor Suite Pro: $13.25/month

What are the Benefits of Using AI-Powered PDF Readers Compared to Traditional Ones?

Compared to traditional tools, AI-powered PDF Readers steal the show.

For starters, AI PDF readers work faster than traditional PDF readers. They can also elevate your work, as they can provide insights generated from training on vast datasets.

Here are a few instances where AI-powered PDF readers are superior to traditional ones.

#1. Automation

AI-powered PDF readers are built to automate PDF-related tasks. You can summarize, extract, rewrite, and translate documents with a click.

Traditional PDF readers fail to automate document production and review. To summarize a PDF, you'd have to read the whole document and write a summary yourself.

For example, Macro’s Automate feature lets you generate hundreds of documents from a single template 🚀.

#2. Contextual Analysis

AI PDF readers can analyze PDFs and extract key insights using artificial intelligence and advanced NLP models.

They can also answer your PDF-related questions, whereas traditional PDF readers can’t.

A good example is Macro’s AI Copilot, capable of writing definitions for you 👇

#3. Interacting with PDFs

Integrating PDF readers with ChatGPT has enabled users to interact with PDFs.

You can ask a question in plain English, and the AI PDF reader will answer instantly.

Additionally, most AI tools offer pre-built prompts to summarize, explain, or rewrite PDF content.

#4. Complex Data Handling

AI-powered PDF Readers excel in understanding and presenting complex data formats, whether scientific formulas, mathematical equations, or elements from the periodic table.

Conversely, traditional PDF Readers may struggle with complex data representations, and make it hard even for humans to handle data in PDF documents.

Read and Edit Documents Faster with Macro

Integrating AI with PDF readers has undoubtedly revolutionized how we interact with PDFs.

AI has enabled the automation of repetitive PDF-related tasks, complex PDF analysis, and can break down complex information into simple terms.

If you don’t have the time to try the tools mentioned above and want to get started instantly, start your AI-powered PDF work by downloading Macro’s free-to-use app on your Windows PC or Mac.

The free version of Macro will let you read, edit, and modify PDFs with AI 🧠 🤖.