Comparison

A private, one-time-purchase PDF Expert alternative for Mac

If you want the everyday PDF jobs done on your Mac without a subscription — and without uploading your files — Recto & Verso is worth a look.

Plenty of Mac PDF apps are excellent but subscription-based, and plenty of free web tools require uploading your documents. Recto & Verso sits in the gap: a one-time purchase that runs entirely on your Mac.

What it does

• Merge, split, and reorder pages
• Sign and fill
• OCR scans into searchable text
• Compress, watermark, and number pages
• Redact & flatten
• Convert images to/from PDF
• Batch-process an entire folder

How it's different

No subscription, no account, and nothing is uploaded — every operation runs locally. There's also a free browser version; the Mac app adds native speed, no file-size limits, batch, and offline use.

It isn't trying to be a full Acrobat replacement — it does the common jobs unusually well, privately, for one price.

FAQ

Is Recto & Verso a subscription?

No — it's a one-time purchase.

Do my files get uploaded?

Never. All processing is on your Mac.

Is there a free version?

Yes — free browser tools at recto-verso-app.com. The Mac app adds batch, no limits, and offline use.