WordPress PDF viewer plugins come in every shape and price point, but choosing the one that works for your unique use case is a decision worth careful consideration.

PDFs are still one of the easiest methods for disseminating information in a convenient package that can be viewed, downloaded, and opened without a fuss on every platform: they’re integral to many WordPress websites, intranets, and workflows.

So when it comes to embedding PDFs in your WordPress blog, what method do you use? If you’d like to start passing out eBooks, short stories, contract templates, product manuals, design documents, registration forms, performance review templates, or any of a thousand other PDF options, consider these 12 WordPress PDF viewer plugins.

These plugins range from drag-and-drop solutions to feature-dense platforms, with prices all across the board.

1.  WP-PDF Embedder Plugin

Easily one of the top available WordPress PDF viewer plugins, WP-PDF Embedder by Lever Technology LLC is simple to use, has multiple pricing tiers for different user levels, and has a clean interface.

One of the key features of PDF Embedder is its ability to scale PDFs automatically, finding a natural size for the available space and embedding the PDF. This includes desktop, mobile, and hybrid devices. Fortunately for those who like to have a little more control, the dimensions can be set manually as well.

Free PDF Plugin. The free version offers embedding, resizing, and all viewing features.

PDF Embedder Premium. The premium version offers continuous scrolling, fully functional hyperlinks, full-screen mode, and more. Users can also download the PDF with a simple button (if you enable the feature), and the number of downloads can be tracked by in-app features. The premium version also removes the wp-pdf.com branding in the link, allowing for a cleaner URL.

The premium version of the app is available currently at $20 for a single-site license, $30 for two to five sites, and $50 for unlimited sites. All of which are extremely affordable for any WordPress site looking to host their PDFs long-term.

PDF Embedder Secure. The secure plugin is the best solution for encrypting sensitive PDFs and ensuring that only authorized users can download and view your PDFs. It also options additional security features, like the ability to disable right-clicking (for saving the PDF as an image), and adding a custom waterpark to help track where your PDF ends up.

PDF Embedder Secure costs $30 for a license for one site, $40 for two to five sites, and $60 for an unlimited license. Not a bad price tag for securing your sensitive documents, and also getting all the benefits of the PDF Embedder Premium plugin as well.

PDF Thumbnails. This plugin is basically a simple tool to create thumbnails of any (and all) of the PDFs in your WordPress media library. The thumbnails are created automatically from the first page of the PDF in question, allowing you to create a simple, clickable, visually distinctive icon for any PDF on your site.

PDF Thumbnails has the same pricing structure as the Premium plugin: $20 for one site, $30 for two to five sites, and $50 for an unlimited license.

2. Algori PDF Viewer

Algori PDF viewer is an open-source software that slots right into WordPress’s Gutenberg Block system. It’s simple to install, allows PDF loading and embedding right in WordPress’s native media upload section and is available in free or premium versions.

The free version works great for most simple uses, allowing embedding, dimension adjustment, downloading, bookmarking, and zooming. The premium version will set you back $20 or $25, depending on whether you want 6 or 12 months of support.

With the premium version, you get the ability to tune PDFs to your liking, including customizing a non-first page start for readers, the default zoom size, whether it’s downloadable or not, themes, and alignment. Plus, obviously, six more months of technical support.

3. PDF Poster

PDF Poster is a WordPress PDF viewer plugin that offers four tiers of licensing with a different feature list for users at any level of expertise or need.

The first tier is the free license, which applies to one site and has slightly fewer features. The second tier is $20 and includes a license for three different sites. At the third tier, $40 lands you a license for five sites, while you can drop $100 at the fourth tier for unlimited use.

The paid version, PDF Poster PRO, removes all ads and gives you more control over the dissemination of your PDF by allowing you to customize the download and right-click options.

The PRO version also comes with a short-code generator, the ability to jump to a page, and full-screen mode customization.

4. Interactive 3D FlipBook

Interactive 3D FlipBook is a little different from your average WordPress PDF viewer plugin. For one, it isn’t just for PDFs — it also works with pictures, HTML5, and other media to create a digital magazine that allows you to flip pages.

This embedded, interactive flipbook is perfect for graphics-heavy content and for keeping readers engaged and active in the reading process. It’s called “3D FlipBook” because the book you create is actually rendered from multiple angles, giving the appearance of an actual physical page being turned.
Best of all, 3D FlipBook is easy to use — the plugin does all of the rendering work for you, leaving you free to customize little details like cover and page flexibility. One of the coolest things about 3D FlipBook is that the size of your PDF or the amount of images doesn’t affect performance because the plugin dynamically loads only the content the user is viewing instead of trying to render the entire book beforehand.

3D FlipBook is free or available for $35 for a regular license or $85 for an extended license.

5. FlowPaper

FlowPaper is another magazine-style WordPress PDF viewer plugin, one that automatically turns your content into an easy-to-read, interactive HTML5 flipboard. FlowPaper is ideal for catalogs, brochures, magazines, and any medium where maintaining the exact layout (and combining images and text) is needed.
If you choose to upload the PDF to your WordPress site as-is, there is a hard size limit. However, you can also upload it right to FlowPaper’s cloud service to avoid size limitations entirely.

Keep in mind, though, that if you’re looking to take advantage of their cloud service and upload larger PDFs (along with a raft of other features), you may have to pick up their “Zine,” “Creative,” or “Pro” versions, which cost from $95 to $145 and beyond depending on the custom features you choose.

6. PDF Forms Filler for Contact Form 7

Looking to start a newsletter, make contact with leads, get submissions for a contest, or just provide a form to keep in touch with fans of your website or blog? PDF Forms Filler for Contact Form 7 helps you create a custom, fillable contact form that can be easily embedded in your posts.
PDF Forms Filler connects the input fields right to a Contact 7 form that can be edited and customized on the fly. The standard version is free, while the enterprise version runs around $296.

The enterprise version comes with long-term support, perpetual patches, installation on up to five separate sites, and enables local binaries for PDF files.

7. Wonder PDF Embed

Wonder PDF Embed is a WordPress PDF viewer plugin that uses Mozilla’s PDF.js platform. It’s free, open-source, and community-supported, perfect for the developer who enjoys rolling up their sleeves and digging into an app at the base level. You can decide whether to show or hide the download button, depending on how you want to distribute your PDF.
A little WordPress know-how combined with the tutorials available on the Wonder PDF Embed WordPress plugin page — and an assortment of other compatible plugins — allows you to embed PDFs into carousels or pop-out lightboxes to create more eye-popping, interactive visuals.

8. Embed Any Document

While Embed Any Document is a great WordPress PDF viewer plugin, it lives up to its name: this plugin allows users to embed vector graphics, tiffs, Word docs, Excel sheets, .txt files, and even PowerPoint decks right in the body of posts and pages. And since all of this embedding can be done through the usual media library, the Embed Any Document plugin is exceedingly easy to use and fits right into your standard workflow.

Plus, Embed Any Document gives you the choice of using the Microsoft Office online viewer or the Google Docs viewer, depending on which service you host your documents on. Embed Any Document is free to use, or you can grab the Plus version for $24 to obtain additional support and customization options.

9. Embed PDF Viewer

Embed PDF Viewer is another free, open-source WordPress plugin that offers a simple, easy-to-use interface to get PDFs into your posts without a fuss. To embed a PDF, simply copy and paste the PDF’s URL into the plugin interface, and you’re done.

If you’d rather host your own PDFs in WordPress, you can embed right from the media library as you would with any standard image.

Embed PDF Viewer works great on mobile and has even been translated into Russian!

10. WordPress PDF Light Viewer Plugin

WordPress PDF Light Viewer Plugin is available at three pricing tiers: free, $17 for a regular license, and $65 for an extended license.

The free edition offers the ability to embed PDFs with no size limit, full navigation, zoom, language translation, user downloading, bulk imports, slider thumbnails, and flipbook functionality.
The PRO add-on throws in a host of archival features, PDF search, an ability to categorize your PDFs, individual page printing, and an SEO-friendly mode that adds text PDFs to <noscripts> tags on the page.

The PRO edition also features more template and layout options to tune your PDFs and the viewer.

11. Simple PDF Viewer

Available for free or an extremely reasonable $1.50 for the PRO version, Simple PDF Viewer is a fantastic option for the professional on a budget.

A professional who still craves a ton of flexibility, of course: the PRO version of Simple PDF Viewer can embed PDFs, Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and Excel sheets as well.

Even at the low, low price of “free,” Simple PDF Viewer allows users to customize the viewer dimensions, zoom, and enable or disable the download button. Some PDF viewers don’t allow admin to decide if a PDF is downloadable until you get to the PRO version, while it’s available for free in Simple PDF Viewer.

12. Docs Viewer Add-On for WP Job Openings

Our last entry in the list is for a very specific use case, but when you’re looking to eliminate the annoying need to download an uploaded resume just to take a look at it, this plugin is an absolute necessity.

The Docs Viewer Add-On is a WordPress PDF viewer plugin that works in tandem with the WP Job Openings plugin to make the tough and thankless job of resume screening a little easier.

With this plugin, you can take a look at applicant resumes right from your WordPress admin page, which allows you to more quickly view and evaluate a huge number of resumes without having to download, label, and sort a couple dozen (or hundred) resumes on your desktop.

Docs Viewer Add-On is free, but there’s a $29 licensing fee for the PRO version. The extended license fee will set you back $125 but offers more support and the ability to install it on multiple sites.

Embrace the Tools that Make WordPress Better

WordPress’s greatest strength is its modularity, its plug-and-play nature, which is why you shouldn’t be leaving any available tools on the table.

Learn more about the widgets that can level up your WordPress intranet, the plugins that help you integrate social media, and how to embed Google Drive right into your site.