Use case
PDF editor for students
Students' PDF needs are simple and high-volume: highlight lecture notes, merge readings for class, compress finals before LMS upload, convert a Word paper to PDF. Most of these are free on PennyPDF — merge, split, rotate, highlight, annotate, JPG↔PDF, text extraction all run in the browser with no coin cost.
Things that do cost coins (compression, OCR of scanned readings, Word-to-PDF for final submissions) rarely add up to more than the $2.99 Starter pack across a whole semester. And because coins never expire, one $2.99 purchase in freshman year can carry through graduation.
The annotation tool is full-featured: highlight, underline, strikethrough, freehand ink, sticky notes, text boxes. All annotations save into the PDF (not a separate file), so you can email your annotated copy and the recipient sees everything.
How it works
- 1Drop lecture notes into /edit.
- 2Highlight, annotate, draw — no coin cost.
- 3Combine a week's notes at /merge for review.
- 4Compress the final essay at /compress before LMS submission.
Frequently asked
Can I use this for studying math/engineering?+
Yes — annotations, highlights, and freehand ink (stylus-friendly) work well on equations. The text layer stays editable for selection/copy.
LaTeX PDF compatibility?+
Full. LaTeX-generated PDFs merge, split, compress, annotate cleanly. Text layers are standard.
Tablet / stylus support?+
The annotation tool supports iPad / Galaxy Tab with pressure-sensitive ink. Chromebook stylus works too.
Cheapest annual cost for a student?+
Free for most common operations. If you compress 10 finals a semester: 2 semesters × 10 = 20 coins. One $2.99 Starter pack (50 coins) covers it.
Does the tool work with the school's LMS?+
PennyPDF doesn't integrate with Canvas/Moodle/Blackboard directly, but the output PDFs upload fine to all of them.
Why PennyPDF
- No subscription. Ever.
- Coins never expire — use them in 5 years.
- Client-side processing for 14 of 22 tools.
- No watermarks at any tier.
- Per-operation pricing, shown before you click.
- Same coins for web + public API.