Redaction is an effective way to ensure digital documents stay secure. It hides or removes the sensitive content from digital documents, so that they can be distributed to a boarder audience. However, with the wide variety of PDF redaction tools available on the market, two problems arise, namely what is the best way to redact a PDF and how to redact a PDF utilizing it.
In order to tackle your problems, this post will give a list of 7 best PDF redaction software in 2024, applied to Windows and Mac. We will also provide simple guides for using them to proficiently redact a PDF.
Cisdem PDFMaster
Free Download macOS 11 or later 
Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7
The top recommendation for redacting a PDF must be Adobe Acrobat Pro, which embraces the most robust and complete features.
Features: It has abilities to simply redact text and images in a PDF, repeat redaction marks in the same location across multiple pages, redact the entire pages, search and redact the specific words, phrases or patterns like phone numbers, credit cards, email addresses, etc., and customize the appearance of redaction marks.
In addition, it works well as a PDF editor, helping users edit a PDF with proficiency.
Price: $29.99/month or $239.88/year.
Compatibility: Windows 11/10/8/7; macOS v10.15-macOS v14 (Sonoma).
Attention: The redacted information will be permanently removed from the PDF document and you won’t be able to retrieve the redaction action. Besides, if you want to get more resources about redacting a PDF in Adobe Pro, you can refer to the step-by-step tutorial in its official website: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/removing-sensitive-content-pdfs.html.
Adobe Acrobat Pro is undoubtedly powerful enough to remove sensitive information from a PDF, however, its prohibitively expensive price has put lots of people off. You can unlock all of its features for $29.99/mo or $239.88/yr. For individuals or small businesses who may be working with PDF files infrequently and have fewer needs, a cheaper redaction application will be more appropriate.
Additionally, Adobe’s complex interface requires a long learning curve, which is not friendly to newbies.
Considering the above-mentioned reasons, people are looking for better alternatives to Adobe Acrobat at an affordable price. We’ve tested dozens of PDF editors for redacting, and concluded the following 3 best PDF redaction software.
Cisdem PDFMaster is a versatile PDF editor that combines the benefits of full-fledged functionalities, a user-friendly interface and an affordable price.
Features: It is capable of modifying the existing text, images, links, etc. in a PDF, creating interactive PDF forms, converting/creating all kinds of PDF to/from various file types, inserting a signature to PDF, manipulating PDF pages and so on. Additionally, the program has offered plentiful options to enrich a PDF and make it creative. For example, you can add a well-designed logo, a colorful background, preset header and footer, and free drawings to a PDF.
Most of all, this software does an excellent job of redacting a PDF. You can utilize it to black out or white out any sensitive information you want to remove in a PDF file. On the redaction mark, it is accessible to type overlay text and customize the font appearance. And you can repeat the same redaction on multiple pages in 2 clicks.
Download Site: https://www.cisdem.com/pdfmaster.html
Price: $49.99/year or $79.99/lifetime.
Compatibility: Windows 11/10/8/7; macOS v11-macOS v15 (Sequoia).
Free Download macOS 11 or later Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7
Earlier than macOS 11, click here
Choose Properties: Tailor the redaction mark outline color and fill color as you like. Enter the overlay text and customize it.
Choose Repeat Mark Across Pages: Choose the page range you want to add the same redaction marks in this PDF.
WinZip PDF Pro is also an all-in-one PDF editor, including almost all of frequently used tools to work with PDF files. It is exclusively built for Windows operating system.
Features: The main features contain PDF annotate, edit, redact, form create, page organize, compress, convert, merge, lock and unlock.
Its redact tool is displayed under Edit tab menu. Similar to Cisdem PDFMaster, WinZip PDF Pro enables users to redact unwanted text and images, customize the color of redaction marks, add label text, and even redact the whole pages directly.
Download Site: https://www.winzip.com/en/product/pdf-pro/
Price: $74.99/year.
Compatibility: Windows 11/10/8/7.
PDF Expert is much friendly for users owning multiple Apple devices, since all documents can be synchronized straightforwardly.
Features: The Mac-only PDF editor supports annotating, signing, converting, editing, merging, compressing as well as redacting sensitive information in a PDF.
You are able to white out or black out the confidential information in a PDF. Besides, it allows you to search for a single word or phrase and then remove all those words in the document at once.
Download Site: https://pdfexpert.com/
Price: $6.67/month, billed yearly at $79.99, or $199.99/lifetime.
Compatibility: macOS v12 or later, iOS 11.0 or later.
All of the above 4 PDF editors for redacting require a paid subscription, thus they typically possess more powerful and plentiful features. By comparison, free software offers fewer options when adding redaction marks to a PDF.
Preview is a PDF viewer and editor that comes with Mac. It has the capabilities to complete a range of basic PDF tasks: annotate (add highlights, shapes, drawings), edit (add text and image), protect (add password and redact text), manage (insert, delete and reorder pages) and so on.
Limits of the Redact Feature
When we searched for “free PDF redaction software” in a browser, it produced a large number of results. We had downloaded and tried them one by one, and came to the following conclusions:
Therefore, if you insist on redacting a PDF for free, then online PDF redaction tool is a better option.
iLovePDF is a well-reviewed online platform that collects diverse PDF tools in one place. It is one of the few tools that support redacting a PDF for free. Better still, there are multiple useful options for you to make advanced uses on redaction: redact the specific text information, redact PDF pages (customize the page range) as well as searching and redacting the credit card, phone number and email in the PDF document.
Limit of the Redact Feature
Official Website: https://www.ilovepdf.com/redact-pdf
Xodo is a web-based PDF tool that enables users to redact text, image or anything you want to remove. It gives users great freedom to add customization on the redaction mark, for example, you can tailor the stroke and fill color, add label text and modify it.
Besides redacting a PDF, this online PDF service has packed over 45 types of tools to handle PDF documents.
Limit of the Redact Feature
Official Website: https://xodo.com/redact-pdf
Well, 7 PDF redaction tools have been introduced to you, which one do you like best? Or if you have a better recommendation, leave it in the comments.
Bianca is a senior tech editor and strategist at Cisdem with Over 10 years of experience on PDF related solutions which covers all document editing, annotating, converting and managing etc.
