Highlights vs MuPDF
Highlights
highlightsapp.net
MuPDF
mupdf.comSide by side
| Figure | Highlights | MuPDF |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $2.50/mo | $299/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 5 |
| Spec score · PDF Readers | 8.3 (#6) | 8.5 (#5) |
| Annotation tools | Yes | Yes |
| Purpose | Highlights is a PDF reader for research that turns PDF annotations into notes. | MuPDF is a fast, embeddable SDK for managing PDF and other document formats. |
| Support | For crash issues, the FAQ asks users to email [email protected] with details and helpful crash reports, screenshots or screen recordings. | Open-source users can seek community help through Discord and the bug tracker, while commercial license holders can contact technical support by replying to their introductory email. |
Plans
MuPDF
- Commercial$299 a month
- EnterprisePrice not published
- AGPL LicenseFree
- OEM Distribution LicensePriced on request
- Subscription LicensePriced on request
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.
MuPDF
MuPDF is an embeddable SDK for developers working with PDFs and other document formats in desktop, cloud/server, or embedded projects. It supports viewing, editing, extracting, signing, rendering, redacting, annotating, splitting, merging, compressing, and converting documents. Listed inputs include PDF, ePUB, image formats, SVG, CBZ, and XPS; outputs include PDF, text, HTML, PostScript, print formats, PNG, SVG, and PNM/PAM. Developer bindings include MuPDF Core, PyMuPDF, MuPDF.js, and MuPDF.NET. The open-source release is AGPL-licensed, and embedding it in a product may require a commercial license. For server-based use of the open-source software, the licensing terms require disclosure of application source code to users interacting with it. Commercial licenses provide an alternative without AGPL code disclosure and include technical support and free upgrades. The Commercial plan is listed at $299 a month and includes one licensed domain and one preview domain for testing; a 14-day trial is also listed. Open-source users can seek community help through Discord and the bug tracker.