PDF24 is one of the few PDF services that's genuinely free, so people rarely leave it over price. They leave because they're on a Mac or Linux, where there's no PDF24 desktop app, or because they don't want to upload a private document. For merging, compressing, splitting, password-protecting and organizing pages, our in-browser Merge PDF, Compress PDF and Organize PDF do the job on any system without sending the file anywhere.
PDF24 comes from Geek Software GmbH. It has two halves: a website full of online PDF tools, and PDF24 Creator, a free desktop program. Neither has a task limit, a page cap or a watermark, which makes it unusual next to Smallpdf, iLovePDF and Sejda. Here's how it looked when we checked in October 2026.
| Question | PDF24 online tools | PDF24 Creator |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, funded by ads | Free |
| Platforms | Any browser | Windows only |
| Task or daily limits | None stated | None |
| Watermark | No | No |
| Where files are processed | PDF24 servers in the EU | Your computer |
| File retention | Deleted automatically after 1 hour | Stays on your disk |
| Edits existing text | No, adds text and shapes | No |
So the catch isn't money. It's the platform gap, the upload, and the ads on the website. For plenty of people none of those matter, and PDF24 is a fine choice.
You're not on Windows. PDF24 Creator is the offline half, and it doesn't exist for macOS or Linux. Mac and Linux users only get the website, which means every job is an upload.
The document is private. PDF24's one-hour deletion policy and EU servers are better than average. But a lease, a payslip or a passport scan still leaves your device, and some workplaces don't allow that at all.
You need to change existing text. PDF24 can add text boxes, but it can't rewrite a sentence that's already in the PDF. For that you need a real editor.
The ads get in the way. They're labeled "discreet" by PDF24, and they mostly are, but on a phone they can push the tool below the fold.
The table sorts each option by the thing that usually decides it: which system you're on and whether the file leaves your device.
| Tool | Windows | Mac | Linux | Uploads your file? | Best at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ToolAspect PDF tools | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Merge, compress, split, redact, sign, password |
| Mac Preview | No | Built in | No | No | Merging, reordering, signing |
| LibreOffice Draw | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Editing existing text |
| Stirling-PDF | Self-hosted | Self-hosted | Self-hosted | Only to your own server | Teams that want PDF24-style tools in-house |
| qpdf and Ghostscript | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Scripted merging and compression |
| Sejda | Desktop app | Desktop app | Desktop app | Web yes, desktop no | Editing text, 3 free tasks an hour online |
| iLovePDF | Desktop is paid | Web | Web | Yes | Wide tool range, file caps on free |
| Smallpdf | Web | Web | Web | Yes | Polished, about 2 free tasks a day |
If you're on a Mac, Preview plus a browser tool covers almost everything PDF24 does. On Linux, LibreOffice plus a browser tool does the same. Neither combination uploads anything.
PDF24's most-used tools all have a free match that runs locally. These work the same on Windows, Mac, Linux and ChromeOS.
| PDF24 tool | Free in-browser pick | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Merge PDF | Merge PDF | Drag files to reorder before joining |
| Compress PDF | Compress PDF | Lossless clean-up or rerender at 72 to 300 DPI |
| Split PDF | Split PDF | Ranges like 1-3, 5, 8-10 |
| Organize pages | Organize PDF | Reorder, delete and rotate in one pass |
| Protect PDF | PDF Password | AES-256 with optional print and copy limits |
| Add page numbers | PDF Page Numbers | 9 positions, can skip the first page |
| Watermark | Watermark PDF | Diagonal or tiled text |
| Redact | Redact PDF | Rebuilds the page so covered text is gone |
| PDF to JPG | PDF to JPG | JPEG or PNG, ZIP for whole files |
| OCR PDF | OCR PDF | Outputs a text transcript, not a searchable PDF |
There's a quick test that works for any website. Open the tool, wait for the page to finish loading, then turn off Wi-Fi or switch on airplane mode. Now run the job. If the tool still produces a file, the work happened on your device. If it stalls or throws an error, it was sending your document to a server.
PDF24's online tools upload, and PDF24 is upfront about it. Our PDF tools pass the airplane-mode test, as do Preview and LibreOffice. On Windows, PDF24 Creator passes too, which is why it's still a good pick for Windows users who don't need anything else.
Probably not, if PDF24 Creator already does what you need. It's free, it works offline and it doesn't watermark. The reasons to look elsewhere on Windows are narrower: you can't install software on a work laptop, you want something lighter than a full desktop suite, or you need real text editing.
For a laptop you can't install on, browser tools are the obvious answer because there's nothing to install. For text editing, LibreOffice Draw is the free option, and Sejda's editor is worth a look if you only have a few edits. Our best free PDF tools roundup covers the rest.
Yes. PDF24 says its tools are free for everyone, companies included, with no usage restrictions. It's paid for by advertising on the website. The desktop app, PDF24 Creator, is also free, but it only runs on Windows.
No. PDF24 Creator is Windows only, and PDF24 points Mac users to its online tools instead. On a Mac, Preview covers merging, reordering, signing and basic markup offline, and browser-based tools that run locally cover compressing, splitting, redacting and page numbers without an upload.
PDF24 says its processing servers are in EU data centers and that files uploaded to the online tools are deleted automatically after one hour. That's a sensible policy. If a document is sensitive enough that you don't want it uploaded at all, use PDF24 Creator on Windows or a tool that processes files in your browser.
No. PDF24 doesn't watermark output from its free tools, which is one reason it's popular. Most of the alternatives in this guide don't watermark either, including ToolAspect's PDF tools, Mac Preview and LibreOffice.
Linux users have good offline options. LibreOffice Draw opens and edits PDFs, and command-line tools such as qpdf and Ghostscript handle merging, splitting and compression. For a point-and-click option with no install, browser-based tools work the same on Linux as anywhere else.