Choose with the boundary in view
PDF and image tool comparison
Compare where processing happens, what you must do to start, stated free limits, indicative prices, and the jobs each product is best suited to handle.
Detailed comparison
48 PDF and image tools compared on the privacy boundary most lists skip, plus access requirements, stated free limits, indicative pricing, and what each product is best suited to do.
Runs locally
Vendor claims local, not verified by us
Depends on product or mode
Uploaded to provider
Not disclosed
Meets benchmark
Does not meet benchmark
Mixed or unclear
Tools that run in your browser
Nothing is uploaded — or so each vendor says. NullKit is the only row here whose browser-only boundary we have verified directly.
| Tool | Your file | To start | Free limits | Price | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NullKit (opens in a new tab) This site | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Meets benchmark: No caps | Meets benchmark: Free | Privacy-sensitive PDF and image work with zero upload |
| LocalPDF (local-pdf.com) (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Unlimited (claimed); ads | Meets benchmark: Free | 15+ local PDF tools |
| LocalPDFs (localpdfs.com) (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: 10 MB max file / 500 pages max | Mixed or unclear: Paid tier coming | Local PDF tools with an offline-capable PWA |
| LocalPDF (localpdf.online) (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Not stated | Does not meet benchmark: Paid tier | Multi-document canvas with drag pages between files |
| BrowserPDF (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Unlimited (claimed) | Meets benchmark: Free | 29 open-source local tools including PDF-to-DOCX and PDF-to-XLSX |
| EdgeDocs (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Not stated | Mixed or unclear: See site | Redaction, automatic PII redaction, metadata removal, and LLM sanitization |
| AiLoveKit (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Unlimited (claimed) | Meets benchmark: Free | Claims 75 client-side tools |
| PlatoForms toolbox (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Not stated | Meets benchmark: Free toolbox | Free local toolbox connected to a forms platform |
| ExactPDF (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Unlimited (claimed) | Mixed or unclear: See site | Local PDF tools |
| ihatepdf (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Unlimited (claimed) | Mixed or unclear: See site | Local PDF tools |
| OneClickPDF (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Unlimited (claimed) | Mixed or unclear: See site | Claims 59 free tools |
| DocWise | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Not stated | Mixed or unclear: See site | Local Smallpdf-style toolbox |
| PDFWix (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Not stated | Mixed or unclear: Free tier | Local PDF tools |
| kordu.tools (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Unlimited (claimed) | Mixed or unclear: See site | Local PDF tools |
| WildandFree Tools (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Unlimited (claimed) | Mixed or unclear: See site | Claims 23 browser-local PDF tools |
| alltools.app (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Unlimited (claimed) | Mixed or unclear: See site | 12+ standalone image converters plus EXIF removal |
| editpdfs.app (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Not stated | Mixed or unclear: See site | Quick browser edits without an install |
Tools that upload your files
Your document is sent to the provider's servers, processed there, and deleted according to that provider's policy.
| Tool | Your file | To start | Free limits | Price | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| iLovePDF (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: Per-tool file size caps; no batch processing; ads | Does not meet benchmark: from €4/mo | Broad everyday toolset at a low paid price |
| Smallpdf (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: 2 tasks per day; watermarks on some outputs; ads | Does not meet benchmark: from $9/mo | Clean UI and strong PDF-to-Word conversion |
| Sejda (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Uploaded on web, local on desktop | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: 3 tasks/hour + 50 MB + 200 pages (web); 3 tasks/day (desktop) | Does not meet benchmark: from $7.50/mo | Visual PDF text editing within its free caps |
| PDF24 (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Uploaded on web, local on desktop | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Meets benchmark: Unlimited | Meets benchmark: Free (ads) | Wide genuinely free tool set |
| Adobe Acrobat online (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Does not meet benchmark: Sign-up | Does not meet benchmark: Without sign-in: one free transaction and one download per 30 days | Does not meet benchmark: $19.99/mo | Conversion fidelity, forms, certificate signing, and enterprise compliance |
| PDF Candy (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: Hourly and page caps on free | Mixed or unclear: See site | Large tool catalog (90+) |
| TinyWow (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: Free; ads | Meets benchmark: Free (ads) | Wide set of utilities beyond PDF |
| DocFly (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Does not meet benchmark: Sign-up | Does not meet benchmark: 3 file edits per month | Does not meet benchmark: Subscription | A limited trial-style free tier |
| CleverPDF (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Not disclosed | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: Free, 44 tools | Mixed or unclear: Free web; paid desktop | Broad selection at no cost |
| LightPDF (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: Free tools exist; AI runs on credits; file size caps | Does not meet benchmark: from $48/yr | AI features including summaries, translation, and mind maps |
| Online2PDF (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: 150 MB per file / 200 MB per batch / 30 files / 500 pages | Meets benchmark: Free | Batch conversion with clearly published limits |
| PDF2Go (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Does not meet benchmark: Sign-up | Does not meet benchmark: Credit system on free account; file size caps; ads | Does not meet benchmark: Premium tier | One-off jobs within its free credits |
| Soda PDF (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: Limited free portion of the suite | Mixed or unclear: See site | Paid suite with storage, OCR, e-signing, and an AI assistant |
| PDFescape (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: No limits published | Does not meet benchmark: Premium tiers | Filling and annotating forms |
| Xodo (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Uploaded for some tools | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: One action per day on free web | Does not meet benchmark: $7.99/mo | Reading and annotating on tablets |
| MConverter (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: 15 conversions per day | Does not meet benchmark: Subscription | A comparatively high free daily conversion allowance |
Image tools that run in your browser
The same privacy-boundary question, applied to photos and image conversion.
| Tool | Your file | To start | Free limits | Price | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squoosh (opens in a new tab) | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Meets benchmark: Unlimited | Meets benchmark: Free | Single-image compression with detailed AVIF and WebP codec controls |
| QuickImg (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Unlimited (claimed) | Mixed or unclear: See site | Batch image compression with EXIF removal and HEIC support |
| AI Metadata Cleaner (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Unlimited (claimed) | Mixed or unclear: See site | Format conversion that removes EXIF, GPS, XMP, and IPTC by default |
Free desktop apps
Installed software can keep files on the machine, but requires a download and broader device access.
| Tool | Your file | To start | Free limits | Price | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PDFgear (opens in a new tab) | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Does not meet benchmark: Download | Meets benchmark: Unlimited, no watermarks | Meets benchmark: Free | Full-featured free desktop PDF editing |
| PDFsam Basic (opens in a new tab) | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Does not meet benchmark: Download | Meets benchmark: Unlimited (open source) | Does not meet benchmark: Free; paid editions | Merging, splitting, rotating, and mixing folders of large files |
| PDF-XChange Editor (opens in a new tab) | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Does not meet benchmark: Download | Does not meet benchmark: Free; some features watermark | Does not meet benchmark: One-time licence | OCR and annotation on Windows |
| LibreOffice Draw (opens in a new tab) | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Does not meet benchmark: Download | Meets benchmark: Unlimited (open source) | Meets benchmark: Free | Offline text editing at no cost |
Paid desktop apps
Installed commercial software focused on editing, forms, OCR, and document workflows.
| Tool | Your file | To start | Free limits | Price | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foxit PDF Editor (opens in a new tab) | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Does not meet benchmark: Download + sign-up | Does not meet benchmark: Trial only | Does not meet benchmark: $159.99/yr | Editing text and forms |
| Nitro PDF (opens in a new tab) | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Does not meet benchmark: Download + sign-up | Does not meet benchmark: Trial only | Does not meet benchmark: $15/mo | Signing and team workflows |
| PDFelement (opens in a new tab) | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Does not meet benchmark: Download + sign-up | Does not meet benchmark: Trial only | Mixed or unclear: See site | Editing text and forms below Acrobat's price |
| UPDF (opens in a new tab) | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Does not meet benchmark: Download + sign-up | Does not meet benchmark: Trial only | Does not meet benchmark: Subscription or lifetime | Cross-platform editing with a lifetime-licence option |
| PDNob PDF Editor (opens in a new tab) | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Does not meet benchmark: Download + sign-up | Does not meet benchmark: Trial only | Does not meet benchmark: Subscription or lifetime | Fast OCR with a one-time-purchase option |
Adjacent tools
These are not primarily PDF utility suites, but they commonly appear in the same searches.
| Tool | Your file | To start | Free limits | Price | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| pdfFiller (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Does not meet benchmark: Sign-up | Does not meet benchmark: Trial only | Does not meet benchmark: Subscription | Filling, signing, routing, and returning forms with an audit trail |
| CamScanner (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Uploaded for cloud features | Does not meet benchmark: Download | Does not meet benchmark: Camera capture free; sync, storage, and fax need an account | Does not meet benchmark: Subscription | Cleaning up camera photos of documents |
| Canva (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Does not meet benchmark: Sign-up | Does not meet benchmark: Free tier | Does not meet benchmark: $180/yr | Posters, decks, and social graphics exported as PDF |
Image workflow comparison
Your photo can reveal more than you expect.
26 image-tool entries across compression, HEIC conversion, metadata removal, background removal, and screenshot redaction—compared by where each image is processed and what the stated free tier provides.
Runs locally
Vendor claims local, not verified by us
Uploaded to provider
Meets benchmark
Does not meet benchmark
Mixed or unclear
Image compression
Each tool can shrink an image. The important difference is whether the photo is sent elsewhere to do it.
| Tool | Your file | To start | Free limits | Price | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NullKit This site | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Meets benchmark: No caps | Meets benchmark: Free | Compressing images locally with a before-and-after preview |
| TinyPNG (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: 20 images per day; 5 MB per file | Does not meet benchmark: $39/yr Pro | Well-known PNG compression |
| iLoveIMG (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: About 15 files per task; 25 MB per file | Does not meet benchmark: from €4/mo | Compression inside a broader image suite |
| Squoosh (opens in a new tab) | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Meets benchmark: Unlimited, one image at a time | Meets benchmark: Free | Detailed codec controls for a single AVIF or WebP image |
| QuickImg (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Unlimited (claimed) | Mixed or unclear: See site | Batch compression with automatic EXIF removal |
HEIC and format conversion
Phone photos can be personal, making the processing boundary especially relevant during format conversion.
| Tool | Your file | To start | Free limits | Price | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NullKit This site | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Meets benchmark: No caps | Meets benchmark: Free | Converting iPhone photos without uploading them |
| Apple Photos / Preview (opens in a new tab) | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Meets benchmark: None | Meets benchmark: Free | Built-in conversion on a Mac or iPhone |
| CloudConvert (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: 25 conversions per day; 1 GB | Does not meet benchmark: Subscription | Very broad format coverage |
| Convertio (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: 10 files per day; 100 MB | Does not meet benchmark: Subscription | Simple one-off conversions |
| iLoveIMG (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: About 15 files per task; 25 MB per file | Does not meet benchmark: from €4/mo | Conversion inside an image suite |
Metadata and EXIF removal
A phone photo can contain GPS coordinates and other identifying metadata. Uploading it before removing that data creates an additional disclosure.
| Tool | Your file | To start | Free limits | Price | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NullKit This site | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Meets benchmark: No caps | Meets benchmark: Free | Inspecting and removing supported EXIF, GPS, and AI-related metadata locally |
| AI Metadata Cleaner (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Unlimited (claimed) | Mixed or unclear: See site | EXIF, GPS, C2PA, and AI-generation tags |
| EXIFPurge (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Unlimited (claimed) | Meets benchmark: Free | Batch removal across images, PDFs, and Office files |
| VerExif (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: Free | Meets benchmark: Free | Viewing metadata before removing it |
| ExifCleaner (opens in a new tab) | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Does not meet benchmark: Download | Meets benchmark: Unlimited (open source) | Meets benchmark: Free | Desktop drag-and-drop batch metadata removal |
| ImageOptim (opens in a new tab) | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Does not meet benchmark: Download | Meets benchmark: Unlimited | Meets benchmark: Free | Removing metadata while optimizing images on macOS |
Background removal
Background-removal quality and the useful resolution offered by free tiers vary substantially between products.
| Tool | Your file | To start | Free limits | Price | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NullKit This site | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Meets benchmark: No caps; full resolution | Meets benchmark: Free | Local portrait and product cut-outs without an upload |
| remove.bg (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Does not meet benchmark: Sign-up | Does not meet benchmark: 50 images per month at 0.25 MP preview resolution | Does not meet benchmark: from $9/mo | Difficult edges such as hair, fur, and fine detail |
| PhotoRoom (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Does not meet benchmark: Sign-up | Does not meet benchmark: 250 exports per month, watermarked, non-commercial | Does not meet benchmark: from $7.50/mo | Product photography with generated backgrounds |
| Erase.bg (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: Free HD downloads | Meets benchmark: Free | Full-resolution output without an account |
| Canva (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Does not meet benchmark: Sign-up | Does not meet benchmark: Pro feature only | Does not meet benchmark: about $180/yr | Cut-outs inside a complete design tool |
Redacting text in images
Local OCR can find sensitive text in a screenshot without transmitting the screenshot to a recognition service first.
| Tool | Your file | To start | Free limits | Price | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NullKit This site | Meets benchmark: Stays on your device | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Meets benchmark: No caps | Meets benchmark: Free | Locally detecting emails, phone numbers, IP addresses, and URLs in screenshots |
| Redacted.app (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Not stated | Meets benchmark: Free | Blur, pixelation, black-box, and emoji redaction styles |
| HideFaces (opens in a new tab) | Mixed or unclear: Claims local — unverified | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Mixed or unclear: Not stated | Mixed or unclear: See site | Batch OCR redaction across multiple screenshots |
| Aspose Image Redactor (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Meets benchmark: Nothing | Does not meet benchmark: Free | Meets benchmark: Free | Detecting faces and licence plates in addition to text |
| Scribe (opens in a new tab) | Does not meet benchmark: Uploaded to their servers | Does not meet benchmark: Sign-up | Does not meet benchmark: Free tier | Does not meet benchmark: Subscription | Redaction inside a documentation workflow |