In regards to Preview, I still find it insane that it doesn't have an iOS/iPadOS equivalent. Bits of the functionality are scattered all over the place, usually in ways that don't feel as good as they do on the Mac. Sometimes I just want to open a PDF and leave it open, and not have to do it from Files which assumes I want to do something else with it than just looking.
But for a lightweight, bloat-free experience, SumatraPDF is the way to go.
Where is all this stuff coming from? Why would you say Preview is the best? Foxit? Nitro? Their are endless PDF applications much more powerful and capable, some designed for professionals.
It’s local only (the document you load and data you fill in never leave the browser) and free
Disclosure: I’m the developer behind it
For other colors, it’s in the backlog!
(I’d aiming to automatically provide the correct color by inspecting pixels within the area to redact, to make it as simple as possible)
I think many people find that Preview.app does everything they ever wanted to do with PDFs. It really is surprisingly capable. It's also fast and far less convoluted than most PDF tools I have seen.
And of course it comes free with every Mac, which often makes it "best" in terms of value for money.
It doesn't help that many PDF editors (including the two you mentioned) are full of the most ridiculous pricing shenanigans.
What shenanigans? On one computer, we have a 15 year old version of Foxit running as good as new, no further licensing needed.
I see that much more with Adobe than with anyone, fwiw.
https://www.foxit.com/pdf-editor/
The one-time license option is hidden away in a product comparison table (and linked to in a few other far less visible places).
Nitro, the other PDF editor you mentioned, appears to offer only a one-off purchase:
https://www.gonitro.com/pricing
But it says "for Windows" and at the top of the page, there's a promotion saying "Get up to 1 year subscription - free when you switch to Nitro". So there is a subscription after all?
If you keep scrolling down to the FAQ and there's a question asking:
"Is Nitro available as a subscription or a one-time purchase?
Nitro Pro, ideal for individuals and small to medium sized teams, is available as an annual subscription."
No mention of a one-time purchase option. So which is it? I'm confused. Is this "one-time purchase" a perpetual license or does it stop working after a year?
These are certainly not the most egregious examples of pricing shenanigans. But given the recent history of companies going subscription-only, this is enough uncertainty for me not to buy.
And OS X and its successors use Display PDF natively, which is why it is trivial to save almost anything that can be displayed into a PDF file. The PDF stack that Preview.app leverages is a foundation of the OS itself.