Evince vs SumatraPDF
April 23, 2026 | Author: Maria Lin
Evince and SumatraPDF are both popular free ebbook/document viewers, primarily for PDF and DjVU formats. They are both lightweight compared to other software, open files quickly, have a minimalist interface, support TOC navigation and text searching. They cannot edit PDFs.
However, Evince is a Linux program developed for the GNOME visual environment. It supports only page-based formats (PDF, DjVu, PostScript, TIFF, etc.), has support for annotations and bookmarks, can work with protected PDFs and supports presentation viewing. Its interface is heavier, but more functional.
SumatraPDF is a Windows program. It supports more formats: PDF, EPUB, MOBI, CHM, DjVu but its feature-set is minimal - the developers totally focused on speed and it can even be customized via text configuration file. A portable version is available so you can store it on a flash drive.
However, Evince is a Linux program developed for the GNOME visual environment. It supports only page-based formats (PDF, DjVu, PostScript, TIFF, etc.), has support for annotations and bookmarks, can work with protected PDFs and supports presentation viewing. Its interface is heavier, but more functional.
SumatraPDF is a Windows program. It supports more formats: PDF, EPUB, MOBI, CHM, DjVu but its feature-set is minimal - the developers totally focused on speed and it can even be customized via text configuration file. A portable version is available so you can store it on a flash drive.
