Highlight, comment, doodle.
Do it your way.
LeedPDF makes annotating feel natural—mouse, touch, or stylus. Free, lightweight, and private by design.
Features that just work
Every feature in LeedPDF is designed to feel effortless—like you're annotating on paper.
Natural highlighting
High-contrast highlights that never fight the text.
Comments & sticky notes
Keep thoughts where you need them.
Doodle & draw
Circle, underline, or sketch ideas fast.
Keyboard + pen friendly
Great with mouse, touch, or stylus.
Lightweight & private
Tiny footprint. Local usage. Open-source.
ADHD-friendly, for everyone
LeedPDF keeps decisions simple, reduces visual noise, and feels calm. It's ADHD-friendly by design—but great for anyone who wants a focused, friction-free PDF editor.
Loved by students, teachers, and professionals
See what real users are saying about LeedPDF.
"As an elementary school teacher juggling dozens of worksheets and resources, this PDF app has been a real timesaver on our outdated Windows computers! It loads in seconds while our standard reader takes forever to start up. The search function has also proven surprisingly valuable - I can quickly find lots of content and reference documents."
Mr. YP Lam
Elementary School Teacher • Hong Kong
"Finally, a PDF editor that doesn't fight me! I can highlight research papers without crashes or weird formatting issues. The pressure sensitivity with my stylus feels natural."
Zara Okafor
Graduate Student • State University
"I grade hundreds of papers digitally, and LeedPDF makes it so much faster. The highlighting is clean, comments are easy to add, and it never slows down my workflow. Been using it for months now and it's become essential to my teaching."
Marcus Lindqvist
High School Teacher • Local High School
"As someone with ADHD, the clean interface and simple tools are a game-changer. No overwhelming toolbars or confusing modes—just what I need to focus. I've tried so many PDF apps and they're all cluttered with features I don't need."
Kai Nakamura
Software Developer • Small Tech Co
"I needed something lightweight that works offline for client meetings. LeedPDF loads instantly and never asks for accounts or subscriptions."
Ravi Bhandari
Independent Consultant • Self-employed
"Parfait pour annoter mes plans et documents techniques ! L'interface est intuitive et me permet de me concentrer sur mon travail. Et c'est gratuit, formidable pour les étudiants."
Lola Moret
Architecture Student • École d'Architecture
Built because annotating PDFs felt harder than it should.
Hi, I'm Rudi. I wanted a PDF editor that felt like jotting in the margins of a notebook—quick, calm, and private. So I made LeedPDF and released it open-source.
If it helps you think a little clearer, that's a win.
LeedPDF vs other PDF tools
We believe in being honest about what we're great at—and what we're not.
| Feature | LeedPDF | Adobe Acrobat | Xodo | PDFelement | Drawboard | PDF Expert |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing (Annual) | Free | $240 | $120-180 | $80-160 | $100 | $80 |
| Free Tier Quality | Full features | Limited reader | 1 action/day | Watermarks | No free tier | Basic only |
| Privacy (No Upload) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Open Source | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Cross-Platform | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | Windows only | Mac/iOS only |
| Works Offline | ✓ | ✓ | Desktop only | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| No Account Required | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Freehand Drawing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Shape Tools | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Text Annotation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Sticky Notes | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Pressure Sensitivity | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| WCAG AAA Compliance | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
Honest take: LeedPDF focuses on core PDF annotation with privacy and simplicity in mind. For complex document workflows with OCR, forms, or digital signatures, enterprise tools might be better suited.
Start in seconds
Use it in your browser or download the Windows app.
Open-source on GitHub. Contributions welcome.
