DocHub vs Lumin

DocHub is a browser-based PDF editor and e-signature app. Chris Devor, who earlier built the iPhone utility maker Macroplant, launched it in October 2014, and it grew mainly through its Google Workspace Marketplace add-on, which has passed 57 million installs. In July 2022 airSlate acquired DocHub. Its core job is to open a PDF from Drive, Gmail or your computer, edit or fill it, sign it and send it out without installing desktop software.

The editor handles text edits, highlights, drawings, comments, page reordering, merging and splitting. Documents can go to several signers in a set order, with templates and an audit trail. Files can be opened from Google Drive, Gmail and Google Classroom as well as Dropbox, Box and OneDrive. The free plan shares three uses per month across core features; Basic and Pro are low-cost per-user subscriptions, and a Site License covers whole schools or companies.

DocHub fits teachers, freelancers and small teams living in Google Workspace who sign and annotate documents occasionally. It is not a full replacement for Adobe Acrobat when you need advanced PDF production or desktop editing, and its signing workflows are lighter than dedicated e-sign suites. pdfFiller has a bigger form library and signNow focuses on high-volume e-sign workflows and APIs, both from the same parent company.

Buying tip: prices are localised, so European visitors see euros instead of dollars, and annual billing cuts about 25%. Because airSlate owns three overlapping products, compare limits across DocHub, pdfFiller and signNow before you commit.

Lumin is a cloud PDF editor and e-signature tool from Christchurch, New Zealand. Max Ferguson, who studied civil engineering at the University of Canterbury, started it in 2014 in his university flat and grew it largely through the Google Drive app marketplace into a product the company says is used by tens of millions of people. Its core job is opening, editing, annotating and signing PDFs straight from cloud storage without installing Acrobat.

Lumin edits PDF text, annotates, redacts, merges, splits, compresses and converts PDFs to and from Word, Excel, PowerPoint and images, with OCR for scans. Lumin Sign adds e-signatures, verified signing with ID checks and an eSign API. Lumin AI summarizes documents, answers questions about a PDF and generates agreements such as NDAs and leases. It runs on the web, Mac, Windows, iOS and Android. Plans move from a free tier with three documents a month to Starter, then team plans (Pro and Business) priced per workspace rather than per seat.

Lumin fits Google Workspace teams and small businesses that edit and sign PDFs occasionally and want flat team pricing. Adobe Acrobat remains stronger for print production, accessibility and advanced forms, Smallpdf is simpler for quick conversions, and Foxit is a cheaper desktop-first Acrobat alternative. Heavy e-signature senders may prefer Dropbox Sign or DocuSign.

Buying tip: Pro and Business are priced per team, so adding colleagues does not raise the bill, but documents are pooled at 200 per month. Every paid plan has a 7-day free trial.