Quick Answer
A fillable PDF has real boxes that other people can click and type into. Your Mac can fill those boxes in, but making them takes a PDF editor. If you only need the answers back and the look of paper does not matter, a web form is the simpler tool.
| Your job | Use | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Fill in a form | Preview | Edit a PDF |
| Build a form, free | PDFgear or Sejda | Free Routes |
| Build a form, paid | Acrobat | Acrobat Steps |
| Only collect answers | Google Forms | Web Form |
Preview Limits
Apple's guide to filling in PDF forms is about filling: "Click a field in the form, then type your text." We found no Apple page that says Preview can create fields.
Adobe is more direct. In a capture of its Mac page from 20 May 2026, Adobe says the built-in Preview app "doesn't let you create fillable forms or convert flat forms into interactive ones". Adobe sells the paid alternative, so weigh that, but it matches what Apple's guide leaves out.
Routes
All figures are US dollars for one person, yearly unless marked monthly. Adobe's page does not say whether tax is added. We read each page on 4 November 2026, except Adobe's Mac page, which is a 20 May capture. We installed none of the apps.
| Tool | What it does | Cost, one person |
|---|---|---|
| PDFgear | Form tools, Mac app | Free, per its page |
| Sejda | Web tool, free tier | Free, 3 tasks hourly |
| Acrobat | Prepare Form tool | $179.88 a year prepaid |
| Word | Fill-in forms in Word | Price not checked |
| Google Forms | Web form, not PDF | No price on page |
Acrobat Steps
Adobe's Mac page first says to draft the document in any word processor and export it to PDF. Then, in the Acrobat desktop app:
- Click the Tools tab and select Prepare Form.
- Upload your document.
- Add form fields where appropriate.
- Save and download your form as a PDF.
Adobe's plans page lists "Create, fill, sign, and send forms" for both Standard and Pro. Standard is $179.88 a year prepaid and Pro is $239.88. Billed monthly on an annual plan they are $14.99 and $19.99 a month, and with no commitment $24.99 and $29.99. Adobe showed us euros until we set the US view, so these are from a US read on 4 November. We could not confirm whether Prepare Form works without a paid plan.
Free Routes
PDFgear. The Mac page is headed "Fill Out and Create PDF Forms" and says to "Start with a blank PDF or an existing PDF, then arrange the fields around the information you need to collect." It also calls PDFgear a "completely free PDF editor and reader for Mac". We could not confirm which field types it offers, or that other apps can type into the fields it makes.
Sejda. The Create Forms tool offers a field name, radio groups, options one per line, boxes, a maximum length and "Field is mandatory". The page says "Free service for documents up to 200 pages or 50 MB and 3 tasks per hour." It also says "Files stay private. Automatically deleted after 2 hours." Your form is uploaded to a website, so check that suits it. Sejda's pricing page showed euros to us, so we quote no dollar figure.
Word Route
Microsoft's page, Create a form in Word that users can complete or print, lists Word for Microsoft 365 for Mac among the versions it covers. It says "In Word, you can create a form that others can fill out and save or print", using content controls such as check boxes, text boxes, date pickers and drop-down lists. The same page says creating fillable forms "isn't available in Word for the web".
The page never mentions PDF. That is a form filled in Word, not a fillable PDF. We did not test what a Word export to PDF keeps, so plan on an editor step, as Adobe's page suggests.
Testing
This part is our advice, not a vendor claim. Open the finished PDF in Preview and click each box, because that is where many people will open it. Apple's guide says that if a PDF won't allow typing into the form, you can add a text box instead, so a box that refuses typing may be a flat picture rather than a working field. Fix it before the form goes out.
Web Form
If you only need the answers, Google's help page says a Google Form is saved in Google Drive and that you can open the response data with Google Sheets. The page prints no price, and it does not say whether the people answering need a Google account, so we could not confirm either. Choose a PDF when the document must look like paper.
Loop
Loop is a Mac app that turns a file into your own branded link. It cannot make fillable PDF fields, but it can handle the two steps around it.
- Share the blank form as a link with Allow Downloads on, so people can save a copy.
- Ask for the filled copy back with a Request link. You name the request and add a Note such as "Download the form, fill it in, and send it back here". People open the link in a web browser, type Your Name and Your Email, drop the file and press Send. They need no account.
That is two links, not one tool. We could not confirm that a fillable PDF downloads from Loop with its fields intact, because we did not test one.
Your own branded link, with notes on the exact second. $49 once.
Limits
- No form builder. Loop cannot make fillable PDF fields or change a PDF's words.
- Readers probably cannot type into the boxes. Loop shows each PDF page as a picture and makes links clickable and text selectable. That is from how Loop's page is built, and we did not test it with a live fillable PDF.
- Templates are blanks only you fill. In a Template you use Place Fields to mark blanks, you type the text each time, and the other person only signs. They are not fillable PDF fields and do not let other people fill in a form.
- Signing is a typed name. See our post on signing a PDF.
- Loop is Mac only on your side, and it sends no email itself; signing reminders open a ready email in your mail app.
Cost
PDFgear is free per its page, Sejda has a free tier, and Acrobat Standard is $179.88 a year prepaid. Loop is $49 once for one person.
Loop keeps the files you share in your own Cloudflare account. The first 10 GB are free; beyond that Cloudflare charges you, and it may ask for a card when you switch storage on. Cloudflare's pricing page, updated 30 October 2026, lists $0.015 per GB-month and no data-transfer charge for downloads.
The 14-day free trial starts the first time you run Loop and needs no payment. While it lasts, your clients see a small "Shared with Loop" badge on their pages, and a licence removes it.