AllApps

PDF apps you buy once.

Buy TurboScan Pro if you are turning paper into PDFs — it has more reviews than everything else here combined and almost no complaints. Buy GoodReader if the PDFs already exist and you need to read and mark them up. Those are two different jobs and no app on this list does both well. JotNot is the cheaper scanner and SwiftScan is for people who already know they want it.

The filter. Every app here is a single purchase. None of them can start charging you monthly for what you already bought. See every app under this rule ›
Top pick

TurboScan™ Pro: PDF scanner

Piksoft Inc.
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$14.99 once4.9★ (296,305)Updated Apr 14, 2026
Verdict
The most-reviewed app on this list by an enormous margin, and almost nobody has a bad word for it. Point, shoot, and you have a straight, readable PDF.
Best for
Anyone who needs paper turned into a clean PDF and sent onward, repeatedly.
The catch
It scans and nothing else. No annotating, no signing, no fixing a PDF somebody sent you — for that you need one of the readers below as well.
One-time purchaseScans paperMulti-page PDFs

GoodReader PDF Editor & Viewer

Good.iWare, Inc.
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$5.99 once4.7★ (13,802)Updated Aug 31, 2026
Verdict
Sixteen years old and still the one people reach for when a PDF is large, awkward or needs marking up rather than just reading.
Best for
Someone working through long documents who wants annotations, folders and a file manager rather than a viewer.
The catch
You buy it and then it asks again: fourteen of the last two hundred reviews are about a subscription sitting on top of the purchase, mostly to sync files with cloud storage.
One-time purchaseAnnotatesFile manager

JotNot Scanner App Pro

MobiTech 3000 LLC
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$6.99 once4.9★ (30,277)Updated Dec 18, 2020
Verdict
The cheaper scanner, and for most people indistinguishable from the expensive ones. Crisp output, plenty of places to send it.
Best for
Someone who scans occasionally and does not want to spend much on the privilege.
The catch
Reviewers describe it crashing, and it is scanning only — there is nothing here for reading or marking up the PDFs once you have them.
One-time purchaseScans paperCheapest scanner

SwiftScan Pro Document Scanner

Maple Media Apps, LLC
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$199.99 once4.8★ (2,942)Updated Apr 19, 2026
Verdict
A genuinely good scanner with redaction, OCR and a document editor attached, sold as a lifetime unlock of an app that is otherwise a subscription.
Best for
Someone who already knows they want this one and would rather pay once than keep renewing.
The catch
It is far and away the most expensive app on this site, and six of the last two hundred reviews call the current version unusable. That is a great deal of money to risk on a scanner.
One-time purchaseScans paperOCR and redaction

Side by side.

AppPriceScans paperAnnotatesSyncs withUpdated
TurboScan™ Pro: PDF scanner$14.99YesNoEmail, cloud exportApr 14, 2026
GoodReader PDF Editor & Viewer$5.99NoYesiCloud, extra for othersAug 31, 2026
JotNot Scanner App Pro$6.99YesNoCloud exportDec 18, 2020
SwiftScan Pro Document Scanner$199.99YesLimitediCloud, cloud exportApr 19, 2026

Who should skip this entirely.

The Files app scans documents with the camera, and Preview and Books both let you highlight and sign a PDF, all free and already installed. For an occasional receipt or a form to sign back, that is genuinely enough. These are worth buying when scanning or marking up is something you do weekly rather than twice a year.

Questions.

Do I need a scanner app and a reader app?If you both scan paper and mark up PDFs, yes — nothing here covers both properly. Most people only do one of the two.
Why is Adobe Acrobat not on this list?It is free to install and charges monthly for editing, so it fails the rule this list is built on.