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Indie alternatives to Smallpdf

5 products made by independent developers and small teams that do what Smallpdf does, 5 of them with a free plan. Free and open-source options come first.

At a glance

Product	Price	Open source	Self-host	Platforms
PDF24 Tools	Free	–	–	Web, Windows
PDFgear	Free	–	–	Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
iLovePDF	Free plan	–	–	Web, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android
Sejda	Free plan	–	–	Web, Windows, Mac, Linux
Stirling PDF	Free plan	Yes	Yes	Web, Self-hosted

The alternatives

1. PDF24 Tools

Free online and desktop PDF tools

A free collection of PDF tools for merging, compressing, converting, editing and OCR, available online and as a Windows desktop app.

Free · Web, Windows · Website ↗

2. PDFgear

PDF reader, editor and converter

A desktop and mobile PDF app for reading, editing, converting, merging, signing and chatting with PDFs.

Free · Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android · Website ↗

3. iLovePDF

Online tools to merge, split, compress and convert PDFs

A set of online and desktop PDF tools for merging, splitting, compressing, converting, OCR and signing PDF files.

Free plan · Web, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android · Website ↗

4. Sejda

Online and desktop PDF editor and toolkit

Sejda lets you edit, merge, split, compress, convert and sign PDFs in the browser or with a desktop app.

Free plan · Web, Windows, Mac, Linux · Website ↗

5. Stirling PDF

Open-source, self-hostable PDF toolkit

A locally hosted web app with dozens of PDF operations such as merge, split, convert, OCR, compress and sign, so files never leave your server.

Free plan · Web, Self-hosted · Website ↗

Questions

Is there a free alternative to Smallpdf?

Yes. 5 of the 5 indie alternatives listed here have a free plan or are free: PDF24 Tools, PDFgear, iLovePDF, Sejda and 1 more.

Is there an open-source alternative to Smallpdf?

Stirling PDF is open source.

Can I self-host an alternative to Smallpdf?

Yes: Stirling PDF can run on your own server.

Which Smallpdf alternatives work on Mac, Windows, iPhone or Android?

On Mac: PDFgear, iLovePDF and Sejda. On Windows: PDF24 Tools, PDFgear, iLovePDF and 1 more. On Linux: Sejda. On iPhone and iPad: PDFgear and iLovePDF. On Android: PDFgear and iLovePDF.

What makes these alternatives to Smallpdf “indie”?

They are built by independent developers or small teams rather than large companies. Each one is listed because it does the same core job as Smallpdf.

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