A fact-checked comparison of Smallpdf, iLovePDF, PDF24, Sejda, Adobe Acrobat online and PDFkind: free limits, what "free" actually unlocks, and whether your document is uploaded.

Disclosure first: I build PDFkind, one of the six tools below. I have tried to keep this list to verifiable facts (limits and policies quoted from each vendor's own pages, linked at the end) rather than opinions, and I have included the places where PDFkind is weaker than the others.

Why "where is my file processed" matters more than the feature list

Every tool in this list can merge, split, rotate and compress a PDF. The real differences between them are three things:

  1. What the free plan actually lets you do. Most "free PDF editors" are free for page operations and charge for the thing most people search for: editing the existing text.
  2. Whether the file leaves your computer. Four of the six upload your document to a server. That is fine for a flyer. It is a problem for a contract, a medical report, a payslip or anything covered by an NDA, even with a one or two hour deletion policy.
  3. Daily or hourly quotas. Free plans are rate limited, and the limits are rarely printed on the pricing page.

Here is what each tool does on those three points, as of October 2026.

1. Smallpdf

What it is: The best-known online PDF suite, run from Switzerland, with 20+ tools and a polished interface.

Free plan, in facts:

  • Smallpdf's own Free vs Pro comparison lists OCR and "direct PDF editing" (changing existing text) as Pro features. Free users get page tools, conversion, annotation and signing.
  • The pricing page describes the free tier as "Limited document downloads" with a "Daily download limit" per tool. The number is not published on the page.
  • AI tools are capped at 50 MB on Free.

Where your file goes: Uploaded. The privacy policy states that files are handled on Hetzner servers in the European Union and, for account holders, deleted "within one hour unless you save them to your file storage." Without an account, the policy says files are retained for a period after they were last opened, and that reopening extends it.

Good for: quick conversions and signing when the document is not sensitive.
Not good for: editing text or OCR without paying, or anything confidential.

2. iLovePDF

What it is: A Barcelona-based suite with the most generous per-tool file limits of the server-based tools, plus mobile and desktop apps.

Free plan, in facts (from the pricing page):

  • Most tools accept files up to 100 MB. Compress accepts 200 MB, Redact and Compare 400 MB. Office, OCR and PDF conversion tools are limited to 15 MB.
  • Batch limits per tool: Merge 25 files, Image to PDF 20, Organize 5, Sign 3, Compress 2, Split 1.
  • OCR PDF is included on Free (15 MB). The OCR variants of PDF to Word, PowerPoint and Excel are Premium only, as are AI Summarizer, Translate, Smart Split and Smart Redact.
  • Premium is 5 USD/month billed annually (60 USD/year) or 9 USD/month monthly.

Where your file goes: Uploaded. The privacy policy states files are deleted "within TWO (2) HOURS of being processed" and that processing happens, as a general rule, within the European Economic Area.

Good for: large batch jobs (merging a lot of files, compressing big scans).
Not good for: text editing on Free is limited, and the OCR tools you most likely want (scan to Word) are paid.

3. PDF24 Tools

What it is: The quiet workhorse of this list. Run by Geek Software GmbH in Germany since 2006, ad-funded, with a large set of tools including OCR, and a free desktop app (PDF24 Creator) that works offline.

Free plan, in facts (from the FAQ):

  • "Free of charge and without restriction," including for companies. No daily quota, no file-size limit stated, no Pro tier.
  • OCR is available online for free.
  • Companies processing third-party personal data online are asked to sign a data processing agreement. The desktop Creator does not need one because files never leave the machine.

Where your file goes: Uploaded for the online tools, to servers in EU data centres, and deleted "within one hour." The desktop app keeps everything local.

Good for: anyone who wants everything free with no quotas and does not mind ads.
Not good for: the online text editor is basic compared with the others, and the interface shows its age. Sensitive files should go through the desktop app, not the website.

4. Sejda

What it is: A well-regarded editor with one of the better "edit existing text" tools among server-based services, plus a desktop version.

Free plan, in facts:

  • The pricing page says Free has "Page and hourly limits," "Limited file uploads" and "Tool specific limits," without figures.
  • The desktop page prints the numbers for the free desktop tier: "3 tasks per day," "Docs up to 50MB and 200 pages," "OCR files up to 10 pages," "Images up to 5MB," "Combine up to 30 files and 50 pages." The web version is usually described in reviews as 3 tasks per hour with the same size and page caps.
  • Paid plans go up to 500 MB per file and OCR up to 100 pages.

Where your file goes: Uploaded for the web version (Sejda's own help pages describe automatic deletion after a few hours). Local for the desktop app.

Good for: occasional text edits on small documents when you only need a couple of tasks.
Not good for: anything over 200 pages or 50 MB, scans needing OCR beyond 10 pages, or repeated use in one sitting.

5. Adobe Acrobat online

What it is: Adobe's free web tools, tied to an Adobe account.

Free plan, in facts (from Adobe's own editor page):

  • Free: comments, sticky notes, text boxes, highlights, freehand drawing, Fill & Sign and digital signatures.
  • The page states plainly that the free version "does not let you edit existing body text within a PDF." Changing text or fonts requires Acrobat Pro, with a 7-day trial.
  • Sign-in is required to download or share edited files. Unsaved files are deleted.

Where your file goes: Uploaded to Adobe's cloud.

Good for: annotating and signing when your team already lives in Adobe.
Not good for: editing text for free. It is the most searched use case and it is not in the free tier.

6. PDFkind

What it is: A free editor that runs entirely in the browser tab. The PDF is parsed, rendered, edited and rebuilt on your own device with open-source libraries. Nothing is uploaded, there is no account, and it is funded by ads rather than a Pro tier.

Free plan, in facts:

  • There is one plan. No daily task limit, no file-size cap other than what your browser's memory can hold.
  • Editing existing text is included: the original embedded font is kept, and multi-line paragraphs can be re-flowed as one block.
  • OCR runs in the browser too (Tesseract compiled to WebAssembly), so a scanned PDF becomes searchable and editable without the scan leaving your machine. It is slower than a server for very long documents.
  • Also included: whiteout and true redaction (the text objects and image pixels are removed, not covered), add text, images, shapes and signatures, fill forms, merge, split, rotate, reorder and delete pages, compress, and a keyboard-driven interface in 8 languages including Arabic with right-to-left text.

Where your file goes: Nowhere. The file is read by the browser and never sent to a server. You can check this yourself: open the browser's network panel while editing and you will see no upload.

Where it is weaker: OCR on a 300-page scan takes minutes rather than seconds because your laptop is doing the work. Very large files are limited by device memory. There is no cloud storage, no mobile app, and no collaboration features.

Good for: editing or redacting anything you would not want on someone else's server, and for people who are tired of hitting a daily quota.
Not good for: heavy batch processing of huge files on a low-end device.

At a glance

Edit existing text on the free plan

  • Smallpdf: no (Pro)
  • iLovePDF: limited
  • PDF24: yes (basic)
  • Sejda: yes, within quota
  • Adobe online: no (Pro)
  • PDFkind: yes

OCR on the free plan

  • Smallpdf: no (Pro)
  • iLovePDF: yes, 15 MB, OCR-to-Office is paid
  • PDF24: yes
  • Sejda: yes, up to 10 pages
  • Adobe online: no
  • PDFkind: yes, unlimited, runs on your device

Free usage quota

  • Smallpdf: daily download limit (number not published)
  • iLovePDF: per-tool file and batch limits, no stated task cap
  • PDF24: none
  • Sejda: 3 tasks per day (desktop) or per hour (web), 50 MB, 200 pages
  • Adobe online: no stated limit, account required
  • PDFkind: none

Is your file uploaded?

  • Smallpdf: yes, EU servers, deleted within 1 hour (account holders)
  • iLovePDF: yes, EEA, deleted within 2 hours
  • PDF24: yes online (EU, deleted within 1 hour); no with the desktop app
  • Sejda: yes online; no with the desktop app
  • Adobe online: yes, Adobe cloud
  • PDFkind: no

How to choose

  • You need to change the words in a PDF, for free, today: PDFkind, Sejda (if the file is small and you have fewer than three tasks) or PDF24.
  • You have a scan and need it searchable: PDFkind or PDF24 for unlimited pages; iLovePDF if the file is under 15 MB and you want it fast.
  • You are merging 25 files or compressing a 200 MB scan: iLovePDF.
  • The document is confidential: anything that does not upload. That means PDFkind in the browser, or the desktop versions of PDF24 and Sejda.
  • You already pay for Adobe: Acrobat Pro does all of this and more; the free online tools are just a preview.

A one-hour or two-hour deletion policy is a reasonable promise from a reputable company, but it is still a promise you have to trust. For most documents that is fine. For the ones that are not, the simplest guarantee is a tool that never asks for the upload in the first place.

Sources

Figures were checked in October 2026. Vendors change limits without notice, so verify on the linked pages before relying on a number.