"Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body" Richard Steele

Top 10 PDF Book Readers for Windows

Updated: March 24, 2026 | Editor: Maria Lin
PDF Book Readers for Windows allow to open and read PDF books on Windows desktops and tablets
1
Windows PC
AlfaReader is a lightweight and fast ebook reader, ideal for reading electronic magazines, student textbooks, medical, scientific, technical books, illustrated books for kids. Allows to make bookmarks, save knowledge blocks, add comments, download books for OPDS. Includes built-in audiobook player. Integrates with popular ebook organizer Alfa Ebooks Manager.
2
iOSAndroidWindows PCMac OS
Free Adobe's reader for PDF and EPUB eBooks on PC, Mac and mobile devices. It lets you purchase and download digital content, borrow books from local libraries and read them both online and offline. It also lets you add bookmarks, highlight and mark important and favorite passages in your eBook. ADE is ideal for reading scientific and professional illustrated books. It supports right-to-left reading, dynamic image resizing without loss of clarity, improved display of mathematical formulas, smart searching, and text navigation. It syncs library across devices and includes a built-in player for playing audiobooks. ADE can be used with various screen readers, including JAWS, Window-eyes, and NVDA on Windows, and Voiceover on Mac OS.
3
Windows PC
SumatraPDF, also known as Sumatra, is a free and open-source software PDF reader for Microsoft Windows only. The program also opens Open XML Paper Specification, DjVu, EPUB, XPS, CHM, CBZ and CBR, and MOBI files
4
Windows PCLinux
Foxit Reader is a small, lightning fast, and feature rich PDF viewer which allows you to open, view, sign, and print any PDF file. Foxit Reader is the only high volume PDF reader providing a complete PDF creation solution, providing the power of PDF creation to every desktop. Foxit Reader comes equipped with comprehensive protection against security vulnerabilities, keeping your system and company safe. Available in English, French, German, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
5
Windows PC
Do everything you expect with a PDF reader, and then some. Create PDF files from any source easily. Sign them securely. Then collaborate with anyone, anywhere. Select the most appropriate Page View for the document you're viewing: Single, displaying one and only one page at a time; Continuous, displaying all pages as a single uninterrupted column; Facing, displaying two pages side-by-side like a magazine or book; and Facing Continuous, with facing pages side-by-side as two vertical columns.
6
Windows PC
GooReader is a desktop app that allows you to read and download Google Books, add bookmarks, annotations, create a local Library and save books to PDF. GooReader allows to access your online Google Library and manage your personal bookshelves.
7
iOSAndroidWindows PCMac OSLinux
Adobe Reader software is the free trusted standard for reliably viewing, printing, and annotating PDF documents. It’s the only PDF file viewer that can open and interact with all types of PDF content, including forms and multimedia.
8
Windows PCMac OSLinux
Okular is a universal book viewer based on KPDF for KDE 4. This means Okular works on multiple platforms, including but not limited to Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, *BSD, etc. Okular combines the excellent functionalities of KPDF with the versatility of supporting different kind of documents, like PDF, Postscript, DjVu, CHM, XPS, ePub and others.
9
Windows PC
Get ready to rethink your choice of free PDF reader. Nuance PDF Reader enables you to do much more than just view PDF files. You can convert PDF files to Word, Excel, and RTF via a hosted web service. Use annotation tools to highlight, cross-out, and underline text for more effective collaboration. Even fill out and save PDF forms. Nuance PDF Reader takes up less disk space, is more secure than Adobe Reader, and works with virtually any PDF file. Best of all, it's absolutely free, proving that you really can get a whole lot of something for nothing.
10
Windows PC
Those wishing to View/Modify or perform simple editing and even OCR Image based PDF files on their Windows PC's now have a FREE pdf reader alternative to the Adobe Reader! The PDF-XChange Viewer is smaller, faster and more feature rich than any other FREE PDF Reader/ PDF Viewer/ PDF Editor available. This free pdf viewer download also allows users to try the extended functionality offered by the PDF-XChange Viewer 'PRO' in evaluation mode - for free.
11
Windows PC
The world's smallest PDF viewer/reader to view, print, extract, crop, and convert PDF files to TXT, BMP, JPG, GIF, PNG, WMF, EMF, EPS, TIFF. It is only 1.07MB for download and doesn't need lengthy installation, just download and run. Freeware!
12
Windows PCLinux
Xpdf is an open source viewer for Portable Document Format (PDF) files. (These are also sometimes also called 'Acrobat' files, from the name of Adobe's PDF software.) The Xpdf project also includes a PDF text extractor, PDF-to-PostScript converter, and various other utilities.
13
AndroidWindows PC
PDF, Comic Reader that supports zip, rar, cbz, cbr, pdf. Includes Folder, File Explorer, Bookmark preview, Horizontal view mode (2 pages)
Editor: Maria Lin
Maria Lin, is a seasoned content writer who has contributed to numerous tech portals, including Mashable and bookrunch, as a guest author. She holds a Master's degree in Journalism from the University of California, where her research predominantly concentrated on mobile apps, software, AI and cloud services. With a deep passion for reading, Maria is particularly drawn to the intersection of technology and books, making book tech a subject of great interest to her. During her leisure time, she indulges in her love for cooking and finds solace in a good night's sleep. You can contact Maria Lin via email maria@bookrunch.com