PDF-XChange is a very good Windows PDF editor, and an unusually generous one. More than 70% of its features need no licence at all, and its own catalogue marks 42 of 48 annotation features free — including distance, perimeter and area measurement, which export to CSV. The licence is a one-off purchase rather than a subscription, so you buy it once and own it. Everyone on a review can mark up a drawing without paying anything, using the tools that carry no licence; the licensed ones still run, but they watermark what you save or print.
Xenmark runs one job end to end: a drawing set goes out for review, comments come back against the revision they were raised on, and the review finishes as two documents — a plan showing where each comment sits, and a spreadsheet saying what each one means, numbered to match.
The difference is not what each tool can draw on a page. It is that PDF-XChange carries no shared review of its own, so coordinating several people is something you arrange around the files. PDF-XChange is direct about it: asked about shared review, a PDF-XChange administrator answered that such features need a server behind them and a subscription, and that its own products are a one-off purchase instead. Choose Xenmark when several people review the same set at once and the review has to end in a numbered plan and a matching register. A free Xenmark project may be all you need for the review.
In Xenmark everyone opens the same review and the comments accumulate in one place. PDF-XChange has no shared-review workspace of its own, and is direct about why: such features need a server behind them and a subscription to pay for it. So coordinating several reviewers is something you arrange around the files.
A Xenmark comment number is fixed, so item 12 still means item 12 in every email and every export. Asked whether comments could be numbered and those numbers carried into a spreadsheet, PDF-XChange answered plainly that they cannot. That number is what ties the register back to the plan.
A Xenmark review ends in a numbered plan and a matching Excel register, produced together. PDF-XChange produces a comment summary PDF, a comment file in FDF or XFDF, and measured values in CSV. All three are useful; what the documentation does not establish is a numbering scheme shared between them.
Every PDF-XChange Editor claim below is taken from PDF-XChange Editor's own published material and was last checked on 26 August 2026. Software changes; if something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Several things to say plainly before the table. PDF-XChange costs very little: $62.00 once on its US pricing page, perpetual, with a year of maintenance included, against a subscription on our side. Its free tier is unusually capable — PDF-XChange states that more than 70% of features carry no licence, and its catalogue marks 42 of 48 annotation features free. Distance, perimeter and area measurement are among them, and measured values export to CSV. Features that do need a licence still run, but they watermark what you save or print.
It also does far more to a PDF than we do. Editing, OCR, conversion to and from Office formats, redaction, signatures, batch operations, and a virtual printer that makes a PDF from anything that prints — with document comparison, fillable form creation, dynamic stamps and an enhanced OCR engine on Editor Plus. The core work runs offline, and it connects to SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox and Box. Those capabilities are outside Xenmark's scope.
Two differences run the other way, and both are PDF-XChange’s own words rather than ours. A PDF-XChange administrator stated in April 2025 that the products have no shared-review or shared-commenting features, because those rely on a server and a subscription. And in September 2023 another answer said comments cannot be numbered with those numbers exported to CSV; nothing in the current V11 documentation changes that. It is also Windows only.
| Xenmark | PDF-XChange Editor | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting a review | ||
| Can the person running the review start free? | Yes — the Free plan runs one active review at a time, start to finish | Yes, and substantially so. PDF-XChange states that more than 70% of Editor features need no licence, and its own catalogue marks 42 of 48 annotation features free. Licensed features still run, but they watermark what you save or print. |
| Do external reviewers need a paid subscription? | No — the people you invite read, reply and download the exports without paying | No, and neither does anyone else. The annotation features PDF-XChange lists as free include the markup tools and the distance, perimeter and area measurement tools, so taking part in a review costs nothing. Features that are licensed still run, but they watermark what you save or print. |
| Available platforms | Any modern browser — nothing to install, and the people you invite join from a link | Windows 10 and later only. No macOS, no Linux, and nothing in a browser — it is a desktop application, installed on each machine. |
| How the review is structured | ||
| What the review is built from | A numbered comment. Anything drawn on the page belongs to that comment rather than standing on its own. | An annotation on a file. It carries an author, a timestamp, a reply thread and a status — but it lives in the PDF on one person’s machine, so what moves between people is the file, or a comment file exported from it. |
| Replies | Threaded under the comment, each attributed and dated, with image attachments, and carried into the register | Yes. Add Reply creates a reply against the existing note. |
| Status workflow | Open, In progress and Closed — three fixed states, and the status travels into the Excel register | Yes, and it organises them better than we do. A comment is set to Accepted, Cancelled, Completed or Rejected, and the Comments pane groups by page, type, modification date, creation date, author, colour, subject, and also by status, status and author, or author of last status. |
| Comment numbering | Numbers are stable — delete comment 5 and the gap stays, so item 12 still means item 12 in every email and every export | PDF-XChange answered this one directly. Asked in September 2023 about numbering comments and carrying those numbers into a spreadsheet, a PDF-XChange administrator replied: “I am afraid that for the moment you can’t number the comments and then export those numbers in the .csv file.” That answer is dated, and “for the moment” is theirs — but the current V11 manual and feature catalogue still describe no numbered-comment export, checked 26 August 2026. |
| One issue, several drawing locations | One comment can own several markers while keeping one number and one reply thread | Each annotation stands on its own. |
| Activity history | Every action timestamped and attributed to the person who made it | Annotations carry an author and timestamps, and a comment’s status changes are visible on the comment. |
| Revision handling | Comments stay tied to the revision they were raised against, in one workflow | Document comparison is included, on Editor Plus. Tying a comment to the revision it was raised against is not part of the model — the annotation lives in whichever file you have open. |
| Measuring and markup | ||
| Measuring on the drawing | Length, polylength, perimeter and area, calibrated to the page scale | Distance, Perimeter and Area — and all three are free. Each measurement is an annotation, and PDF-XChange “adds a pop-up note to completed measurements that details the value calculated”. |
| Setting the drawing scale | Pick a standard scale, type your own, name the sheet size, or calibrate from a distance you already know | Calibrate from a distance you know — Calibrate Measurement on the Format tab, or Ctrl+Shift+C. |
| Building your own reusable symbols | Check, cross, attention, arrow and cloud — five fixed review symbols, not a custom library | Better than ours. Stamps are among the free annotation features, and Editor Plus adds dynamic stamps driven by JavaScript. |
| Measuring quantities for pricing a job | Not included — measurements are there to explain a comment, not to cost work | Not a takeoff product, though the measured values do export to CSV, which Xenmark does not offer. |
| What comes out of the review | ||
| What you send back | The two documents come out ready to send — there is nothing to set up first, because the review was structured that way from the start | A summary PDF built by Summarize Comments, and a comment file in FDF or XFDF. Measured values export separately to CSV. |
| Comment plan PDF | The drawing with each comment numbered and shown where it applies | A summary, and a configurable one. Summarize Comments compiles the comments into a separate PDF, with or without the document text, grouped by page, type, author, date or subject and sorted by any of those or by visual order. |
| Spreadsheet output | An Excel file listing every comment, numbered to match the PDF | Comments export to FDF or XFDF, which are comment-exchange formats rather than a register you would send a client. A CSV of the comments carrying their numbers is the thing PDF-XChange states it cannot produce. |
| Measurements in the export | Drawn on the comment plan PDF where they were placed, and listed on their own sheet in the Excel file, kept separate from the comments | Yes — Export to CSV, and free. It is a separate file from the comments rather than a sheet beside them. |
| What you keep when the project ends | A single zip file — every revision's exports, the attachments and the full activity log, downloaded and stored on your side | You already have everything, and that is the point of the model. The PDFs are on your own machines and the licence is perpetual, so nothing expires and nothing has to be exported before it does. |
| Branded reports | Your company logo and text on both deliverables, inherited from Company Settings — Plus and Pro | Stamps, headers, footers and Bates numbering can carry your own marks onto the document. |
| What else each one does | ||
| Batch operations across many PDFs | Not included — a review works on one drawing set at a time | Yes — batch operations run across the product range, and PDF-XChange PRO adds more of them |
| Comparing two drawings against each other | Not included — differences get raised as comments by the people reviewing | Yes, on Editor Plus — document comparison is one of the features that tier adds |
| Working offline | Browser only, so you need a connection | Core PDF editing, markup and measurement run entirely locally — it is a desktop application and needs no connection for that work. It also connects to cloud storage when you want it to. |
| Storing documents long term | Not what it is for. You download the exports and keep them wherever your project records already live. | The files stay wherever you keep them. PDF-XChange connects to SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox and Box, but as places to open and save from. |
| CAD integrations and creating PDFs from CAD | None — a review starts from a PDF that has already been produced | Yes — PDF-XChange ships a virtual printer and PDF creation tools, so a PDF can be produced from anything that prints |
| Connecting to a document management system | No integrations yet — the closing archive is a single zip you file wherever your records already live | Yes, as storage. Plugins for SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox and Box are installed and on by default. PDF-XChange notes the file “is not edited directly on the server” — the Editor works on a local copy. From SharePoint you choose: Open, which leaves the file “both available and editable for other users”, or Open with Check Out, “to make the file editable for the current user only”. |
PDF-XChange costs very little, and Xenmark is a subscription. That makes this less a comparison than a choice between two commitments. PDF-XChange sells a one-off perpetual licence — $62.00 for Editor and $79.00 for Editor Plus per user on its US pricing page, one year of maintenance included and further years optional, with volume packs bringing the per-user figure down. Xenmark is €14.99 – €59.99 / month, with a Free plan that runs a complete review. Which costs less depends on how long you keep using it and how many paid PDF-XChange licences are actually needed. A Xenmark project can run at no cost on the Free plan; among the paid tiers, Xenmark Plus is the smaller number for a single month, and across several years a one-off licence plainly is.
| Xenmark | PDF-XChange Editor | |
|---|---|---|
| Billing unit | Per project capacity, monthly | A one-off purchase, per user, perpetual — one year of maintenance included, further years optional |
| Entry point | Free — one active review, start to finish, no card | Free, and substantially so — more than 70% of features need no licence; licensed ones watermark the output |
| To run a review yourself | Free | Free to annotate and measure. $62.00 once if you want the licensed features without a watermark. |
| Paid range | €14.99 – €59.99 / month | $62.00 – $79.00 per user, paid once |
| Invited reviewers | Free — no per-user charge; 5–30 project members depending on plan, and the person running the review is one of them | Free — annotating, replying and measuring need no licence, so a reviewer never has to buy anything |
| Tax basis | Including VAT | USD · tax basis not stated |
Xenmark — current as of 28 August 2026. PDF-XChange Editor — checked 26 August 2026. PDF-XChange serves its pricing page by region, so the same address shows different currencies and different numbers depending on where you open it. The figures above are the US dollar ones returned on that date; readers elsewhere are shown their own market’s, and checking from where you are is the only reliable way to see yours. The page states no tax basis; Xenmark prices include VAT. Nothing here is converted or adjusted — a currency rate and a tax rate both depend on the buyer, and a one-off licence cannot be set against a subscription without first choosing how many years to count.
Substantially, yes. PDF-XChange states that more than 70% of Editor features require no licence, and its own feature catalogue marks 42 of its 48 annotation features as free. That includes sticky notes, text boxes, freehand, clouds, arrows, lines, rectangles, stamps, and distance, perimeter and area measurement.
The rest are marked as licensed. They still run without a licence, but what you save or print carries a watermark. A licence is $62.00 per user for Editor or $79.00 for Editor Plus, paid once rather than annually.
No. The annotation features PDF-XChange lists as free include the markup tools and the distance, perimeter and area measurement tools, so taking part in a review does not require buying anything. Features that are licensed still run without one, but they watermark what you save or print.
Xenmark is the same in effect but different in shape: invited people are free within your plan's member limit, and the Project Manager decides whether each one is a Participant, who replies and downloads exports, or an Editor, who creates comments and pins. That choice is available on every plan, including Free.
No, and it says so itself. Asked on its own support forum whether Editor offers Adobe-style Shared Review or shared commenting, a PDF-XChange administrator answered: “Such features rely on a server in the background to do the communication and synchronization, and usually come with a monthly subscription fee. We do not have such features, but our products are also a one off purchase.”
That is a trade rather than an omission, and it is worth reading in full: no server is why there is no subscription. What it means in practice is that PDF-XChange carries no review of its own for people to share — coordinating several reviewers is arranged around the files, through comment import and export or through shared storage. PDF-XChange connects to SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox and Box, but as places to open and save from: the PDF “is not edited directly on the server”, and from SharePoint you can Open a file, which leaves it “both available and editable for other users”, or Open with Check Out, “to make the file editable for the current user only”. In Xenmark there is one review and everyone works in it.
It produces both documents. What the documentation does not establish is a numbering scheme shared between them. Summarize Comments compiles the comments into a separate PDF, with or without the document text, grouped by page, type, author, date or subject and sorted by any of those or by visual order. Comments export to FDF or XFDF, and measured values export to CSV.
What it does not do is number them. Asked in September 2023 about numbering comments and carrying those numbers into a spreadsheet, a PDF-XChange administrator answered: “I am afraid that for the moment you can't number the comments and then export those numbers in the .csv file.” That wording is theirs, “for the moment” included, and the answer is nearly three years old — so we checked the current V11 manual and feature catalogue on 26 August 2026 and found no numbered-comment export documented there either. In Xenmark the plan and the register are produced together and numbered from the same comment.
Yes, and it is free. Distance, perimeter and area are all marked as free annotation features. Calibrate from a length you already know using Calibrate Measurement on the Format tab, and each completed measurement becomes an annotation with a pop-up note carrying the calculated value. The values export to CSV.
Xenmark measures length, polylength, perimeter and area against the page scale and puts those values on their own sheet inside the same Excel file as the comments. The difference is not whether you can measure, or whether the numbers come out — it is whether they arrive alongside the comments or as a separate file.
Usually not, though it depends what you are counting. PDF-XChange is $62.00 per user paid once on its US pricing page, perpetual, with a year of maintenance included — and a free tier that covers a great deal of review work outright. Xenmark is a subscription at €14.99 – €59.99 / month. Across several years the one-off licence is clearly the smaller total; for a single month, and setting aside the Free plan, Xenmark Plus is the smaller number. How many PDF-XChange licences you need also depends on how many people want the licensed features, rather than on how many take part.
The two are priced on different bases as well: PDF-XChange serves prices by region and states no tax basis, while Xenmark publishes in euro including VAT. Nothing is converted here.
No. PDF-XChange is a full PDF editor — editing, OCR, conversion, redaction, signatures, page operations, batch work and PDF creation, with fillable form creation on Editor Plus. Those capabilities are outside Xenmark's scope, and anyone who needs them needs a PDF editor.
Xenmark covers the part where a drawing set goes out to several people for comment and something structured has to come back. The two sit next to each other more naturally than they compete.
When you want one tool that does everything to a PDF and you would rather buy it once than rent it. When the work is offline or on a single machine. When you need OCR, redaction or conversion, or fillable forms on Editor Plus. When you need to compare two revisions, which Editor Plus does and Xenmark cannot. And when the review is small enough that passing files between people is not the hard part.
We sell Xenmark, so this is not an independent review. We have tried to describe PDF-XChange Editor accurately, and every PDF-XChange Editor claim on this page rests on PDF-XChange’s own published documentation and support answers. The documents are named below. Capabilities and pricing change. PDF-XChange Editor feature information was last checked on 26 August 2026, and the pricing on 26 August 2026.
PDF-XChange’s manual, knowledge base and support forum are linked, so almost every claim here can be checked against the source it rests on. The pricing page, the feature catalogue and the version history are named rather than linked: they sit on the product shopfront. The two strongest claims on this page are PDF-XChange answering the question itself, on its own forum, rather than us inferring an absence from silence — which is how the rest of these comparisons have to argue it.
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