Sejda edits existing PDF text in a web browser, with free use up to 200 pages or 50 MB and three tasks an hour, and it also sells Sejda Desktop, which runs the same tools on your computer. PDF Textfix is a Mac app that does one of those tools’ jobs, changing the text already on a page, without uploading anything. The difference that shows on the page is the missing character: when the original font lacks a letter you typed, Sejda’s editor says “The original font is missing some of the characters you typed.” and asks whether to replace the font or keep the original, while PDF Textfix fills just that character from a fixed fallback order and keeps the rest of the line in its own font. On price, Sejda runs from US$5 for a week to US$63 a year; PDF Textfix is paid once.
How does Sejda’s PDF editor change existing text?
In the browser, you upload a PDF, choose the Text tool and click a line. Sejda’s page describes it: “Click any existing text to start editing. Make text bold or italic, change font size, font family and text color.” Sejda can also add text, links, images and shapes, fill and sign forms, annotate, and run a long list of other tools from the same menu: merge, split, compress, convert, OCR, watermark and more. Changing existing text inside scans is not supported; you can still add new text on top.
PDF Textfix has no upload step and no tool menu. You open the PDF on your Mac, double-click a line or select it and press Return, type the correction and press Return to apply it. Escape cancels; Tab applies and moves to the next line. It changes no font, size or style, adds no text boxes and reflows nothing. Every edit is checked before it is applied, so that no other character on the page moves; an edit that fails the check is refused with the reason.
What happens when the font is missing a letter you typed?
This is where the two differ most. A PDF usually embeds only the characters its text uses, so typing a letter that was not there before, such as an accented name or a currency sign, asks the font for something it does not hold.
Sejda handles it by telling you and asking which font to use. Its editor holds the dialog “Font Replacement” with the line “The original font is missing some of the characters you typed.” followed by “Choose a replacement font:”, and two buttons, “Replace” and “Keep original”, with a box to “Always use the above replacement choice”. The page does not say what “Keep original” does with the characters the font lacks. The online editor offers its own font list; the page adds that “Local fonts are not yet available in the online editor” and points to Sejda Desktop, which can “Use all your locally installed fonts.” After you choose one, the editor’s note on the edited text reads “Original font replaced, was missing characters you typed”. The page does not say whether the replacement covers only the new characters or the whole edited text.
PDF Textfix handles it per character. It looks for the missing letter in a fixed order: a character already in the same font, another copy of the same face elsewhere in the document, the same font installed on your Mac, then the closest standard font. Only the missing letter comes from that fallback, and it is marked while you type: orange from a fallback font, underlined from another copy of the line’s font. The screenshot above shows the demo cover letter, set in IBM Plex Serif without “é”: typing the writer’s name as “Renée Okafor” takes the “é” from a fallback and leaves every other letter in the document’s own font. A character that no font can draw is shown in red and not applied, with the reason and, where one exists, a suggested replacement (⌃⌘U). The guide on accented letters missing from a PDF explains why this happens.
Where do your files go?
With the web editor, your PDF goes to Sejda’s servers to be edited, and Sejda states what happens next. On the editor page: “Files stay private. Automatically deleted after 2 hours.” In its privacy policy, effective October 1, 2026: “We store the files for the sole purpose of giving you enough time to process and download them. No backups are made of these files.” A public link to a processed file lasts seven days: “The access link and the shared files will be permanently deleted automatically, 7 days after being shared.” Whether that suits a given document is your call; the guide is it safe to edit a PDF online? lists what to check before uploading anything.
Sejda’s own answer for files you would rather not upload is Sejda Desktop: “Same features as the online service, and the files never leave your computer.” It runs on Macs with Intel or Apple silicon, Windows and Linux, and “Sejda PDF Desktop is free to use with daily limits”: three tasks a day. A Desktop Week Pass at US$7.95 for seven days, paid once, or the Desktop+Web Annual plan at US$63 a year removes the limits.
PDF Textfix never uploads your file. The Mac App Store version has no account and goes online only to confirm a purchase. The version from this website has no account either. It checks pdftextfix.com for updates when you allow it, and with a licence it goes online once on each Mac to activate it and about once a week to check it. The app reads only the files you open and writes only where you save. The how-to on editing a PDF offline on a Mac covers working without a connection.
What do Sejda and PDF Textfix cost?
Sejda’s pricing page on October 12, 2026 listed a Web Week Pass at US$5 for seven days as a one-time payment, Web Monthly at US$7.50 a month, and Desktop+Web Annual at US$63 a year, the plan that includes Sejda Desktop. Free use stays available within its limits: “Free service for documents up to 200 pages or 50 MB and 3 tasks per hour.”
PDF Textfix is free to try. Your first 5 line edits save clean. After that, saved files carry a watermark until you buy once. The purchase is US$29.99 in the Mac App Store or a licence from this website, paid once, with no account; the pricing page lists each region.
Which should you use?
Sejda suits occasional, varied jobs across devices: a form to fill on a borrowed PC, a merge, a compression, a quick edit from a Chromebook. Its free tier covers light use, and its desktop app covers files you keep off the web. When a replacement font is acceptable for the edited text, it handles the fix within those limits.
PDF Textfix suits a finished document on your Mac with a wrong date, name or figure, where the correction should stay in the document’s font even when you type a letter that font never held. It requires macOS 26 or later on Apple silicon. Save (⌘S) writes the whole file again without the replaced text, and everything else is copied as it was, unless the file was damaged; the app tells you when it repaired one. See online PDF editors compared for Sejda next to Smallpdf, iLovePDF and PDFescape, and the Sejda alternative page for moving this one job to your Mac.
Questions people ask
Is the Sejda PDF editor free?
Within limits: Sejda’s page says “Free service for documents up to 200 pages or 50 MB and 3 tasks per hour.” Paid plans on October 12, 2026 ran from US$5 for a week to US$63 a year.
Does Sejda work offline?
Sejda Desktop does. Sejda says it has the “Same features as the online service, and the files never leave your computer”, for Mac, Windows and Linux. It is free to use with daily limits, and included without limits in the Desktop Week Pass and the Desktop+Web Annual plan.
How long does Sejda keep uploaded files?
Its editor page says files are “Automatically deleted after 2 hours”, and its privacy policy says no backups are made of them.
Why does Sejda change my font?
When the original font lacks a character you typed, Sejda asks whether to replace the font or keep the original. PDF Textfix replaces only the missing character, from a marked fallback, and keeps the rest of the line in the original font.
Can Sejda edit the text of a scanned PDF?
No. Sejda’s help says changing existing text in scanned documents is not supported, while new text and annotations can be added on top. PDF Textfix does not edit scanned pages either, since a scan is a picture of the text, and it keeps the hidden text layer that OCR adds read-only. To change the words of a scan, edit the document it came from and make the PDF again; editing text in a scanned PDF explains the options.
What does Sejda Desktop cost?
Sejda says its desktop app is free to use with daily limits of 3 tasks a day. On October 12, 2026 the Desktop Week Pass cost US$7.95 for 7 days, paid once, and the Desktop+Web Annual plan US$63 a year; a paid plan removes the daily limits. PDF Textfix is a one-time purchase with no subscription; the pricing page gives the amount in each store.
