Highlights vs Javelin PDF Reader
Highlights
highlightsapp.netJavelin PDF Reader
drumlinsecurity.comSide by side
| Figure | Highlights | Javelin PDF Reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $2.50/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 1 |
| Spec score · PDF Readers | 8.3 (#6) | 8.2 (#10) |
| Audience | The maker says it built Highlights during its creator’s PhD to track information from scientific articles and describes it for students and researchers. | Drumlin says its Drumlin Publisher and Javelin products support individuals, corporate users, training organizations and publishing enterprises. |
| Privacy | The maker says it does not require personal information to use the app, stores the optional annotation username locally and collects no payment or licensing information. | Authorization records include the code, document ID, date/time, device details, software version and IP address and are retained for three years. |
Plans
In their own words
Highlights
Highlights is a PDF reader for research that turns PDF annotations into notes, available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Its free plan supports reading and annotating PDFs, merging annotations, editing PDF metadata, and Handoff. Notes can be exported as Markdown, TextBundle, HTML, WebArchive, or PDF, or sent directly to supported apps including Evernote, DEVONthink, Ulysses, Bear, and Keep It. For scientific articles, Highlights can find DOIs and retrieve metadata; it can link to a PDF on the device if the citation has already been read. Built-in multilingual OCR extracts text from PDFs without searchable text, with processing done on device. Smart Copy outputs copied images as PNG, tables as CSV, and citations as BibTeX. PDFs can be stored on device, in iCloud Drive, Dropbox, or another sync service, while annotations use standard PDF annotations. On macOS it integrates with Bookends and Papers. The free plan is available alongside Pro at $4.99 a month or $29.99 a year. The maker describes the app as intended for students and researchers.
Javelin PDF Reader
Javelin PDF Reader is a free app for viewing standard PDFs and files secured with Drumlin DRM. Readers are available for Windows 8/10/11, macOS 10.13 or later, Android 7 or later, and iOS or iPadOS 9 or later. Reading tools include hyperlinks, navigation trees, different page layouts, text search, annotation, and markup; offline reading also supports zoom and Read-Aloud text-to-speech. DRM-protected files can prevent copying and onward distribution, and publishers can set hard expiry dates or expiry periods that begin at first viewing. Printing is limited to desktop and laptop devices and depends on publisher permission, with controls for copies and page counts. Dynamic watermarks can show device or user details, a filename, authorization code, and date and time. Screen-capture protection varies by platform: it is optional on Windows and macOS, always set on Android, and offers a subset of facilities on iOS. Authorization records may include device details and IP address and are retained for three years. Corporate networks may require proxy configuration or web authorization.