Life & fun · alternatives · 2026

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. PDF Highlight – label key phrases using pdf-lib and pdf.js launched in 2021; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1. 1
   Highlight & Summarize: PDF Companion▲129

   Highlight & summarize PDFs effortlessly with powerful tool

   2024 · glasp.co · its alternatives →

2. 2PJ
   Pdf.js Express – PDF annotation, e-signatures, and form filling▲334

   Hi HN, Nick here. We're super excited to officially launch PDF.js Express [1]. PDF.js Express wraps a modern React UI around the PDF.js rendering engine to enable PDF annotation, form filling, and signing inside your web app. We've also made some improvements to PDF.js text search, and taken a different approach to how the viewer uses the PDF.js rendering API, resulting in sharp graphics at any zoom magnification [2]. Based on our research, more than 70% of those who try to implement these features on top of PDF.js find it too difficult or time-intensive [3]. For those who are successful,…

   2020 · its alternatives →

3. 3ES
   English syntax highlighter using part-of-speech tagging▲147

   2016 · english.edward.io · its alternatives →

4. 4
   Make your PDF look scanned in browser▲579

   Implement scanyourpdf.com in JavaScript. No backend servers needed.

   2022 · lookscanned.io · its alternatives →

5. 5
   I built a free alternative to Adobe Acrobat PDF viewer▲357

   I built EmbedPDF: an MIT-licensed, open-source PDF viewer that aims to match all of Adobe Acrobat’s paid features… for free. Already working: - Annotations (highlight, sticky notes, free text, ink) - True redaction (content actually removed) - Search, text selection, zoom, rotation - Runs fully in the browser, no server needed - Drop-in SDK for React, Vue, Preact, vanilla JS Why? Acrobat is heavy, closed, and pricey. I wanted something lightweight, hackable, and embeddable anywhere. Demo: https://app.embedpdf.com/ Website: https://www.embedpdf.com/ GitHub:…

   2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

6. 6
   PDF to MD by LLMs – Extract Text/Tables/Image Descriptives by GPT4o▲191

   I've developed a Python API service that uses GPT-4o for OCR on PDFs. It features parallel processing and batch handling for improved performance. Not only does it convert PDF to markdown, but it also describes the images within the PDF using captions like `[Image: This picture shows 4 people waving]`. In testing with NASA's Apollo 17 flight documents, it successfully converted complex, multi-oriented pages into well-structured Markdown. The project is open-source and available on GitHub. Feedback is welcome.

   2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

7. 7
   Collabwriting for PDF▲295

   Collaborate around what you find online on the Web or PDFs

   2023 · its alternatives →

8. 8
   Liquid Text 2.0▲157

   A better way to understand text - across multiple documents

   2016 · liquidtext.net · its alternatives →

9. 9
   mark.js▲12

   Keyword highlighter

   2016 · markjs.io · its alternatives →

10. 10
    Sketch Syntax Highlighter▲195

    Highlight the syntax of any code snippet in Sketch

    2017 · danielguillan.github.io · its alternatives →

11. 11
    Highlight▲153

    "Highlight" physical books through conductive pages 📖✨

    2017 · its alternatives →

12. 12AD
    A DOM text-selection highlight renderer▲93

    A simple and fast zero-dependencies-library to transform text-selections into serializable markings.

    2015 · bowlingx.github.io · its alternatives →

13. 13
    Notable PDF▲83

    Cloud-based PDF Viewer and Annotation

    2015 · kamiapp.com · its alternatives →

14. 14
    Pdf.js-based real-time collaborative viewer for Chrome▲61

    2014 · chrome.google.com · its alternatives →

15. 15
    labelmake▲65

    Simple JavaScript PDF generator

    2021 · pdfme.com · its alternatives →

16. 16
    ClipMyNotes▲96

    Export highlights from PDF files with ease.

    2020 · its alternatives →

17. 17
    SnippetStash▲89

    Digitize your highlights for easy search and reference

    2024 · snippetstash.app · its alternatives →

18. 18
    Good Notes▲86

    Highlight and hand write notes on PDFs

    2014 · goodnotes.com · its alternatives →

19. 19
    Foragear▲69

    Highlight/navigate to key words & phrases automatically

    2020 · chromewebstore.google.com · its alternatives →

20. 20AA
    an API to extract text from a PDF▲51

    2013 · stamplin.com · its alternatives →

21. 21
    `pdf2searchablepdf` command-line tool to make PDF have searchable text▲40

    Easily perform OCR (Optical Character Recognition) on PDFs. `pdf2searchablepdf input.pdf` = voila! "input_searchable.pdf" is created & now has searchable text

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

22. 22
    Fast PDF API▲10

    PDF API. Generate & Transform PDFs. Multi-language SDKs.

    2023 · fastpdfservice.com · its alternatives →

23. 23
    Highlighter & PDF▲3

    Resaltar, editar descargar en PDF

    2023 · highlighter-pdf.vercel.app · its alternatives →

24. 24
    Crop and OCR PDFs in the Browser▲5

    2024 · pdf.darefail.com · its alternatives →

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →