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Feature checklists make every tool look equivalent. This table leads with the three things that actually differ — what it costs you before it works, whether your files leave your device, and where the free version stops.
| Smallpdfsmallpdf.com | Adobe Acrobat onlineacrobat.adobe.com | Stirling PDFstirlingpdf.io | iLovePDFilovepdf.com | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it does | The tidiest PDF suite, rationed to a couple of jobs a day | Adobe's own PDF tools, free for about a job at a time | Fifty PDF tools you can also run on your own machine in Docker | Merge, split, compress, unlock and convert PDFs from one toolbar |
| What it costs you | Free tierA genuinely usable free tier with paid plans for volume or team features. | Free tierA genuinely usable free tier with paid plans for volume or team features. | Free tierA genuinely usable free tier with paid plans for volume or team features. | Free tierA genuinely usable free tier with paid plans for volume or team features. |
| Your files | Runs on their server | Runs on their server | Runs on their server | Runs on their server |
| Where it stops | Free accounts get roughly two document tasks a day before a countdown appears. | You get a job or two anonymously, but downloading the result usually means signing in with a free Adobe ID. | The hosted instance applies file-size and rate limits; the unrestricted version is the one you host yourself. | Free use caps the number and size of files per task, and OCR is a Premium-only feature. |
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| Category | PDF & Documents | PDF & Documents | PDF & Documents | PDF & Documents |
| Last checked | 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| Open the site | Open | Open | Open | Open |
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