The PDF tools most people need — merging, splitting, compressing, converting, signing — don't require paid software. A handful of well-built browser-based tools cover the full range of common tasks for free, and the differences between them matter depending on how you work and what you need most often.
This is a straightforward comparison of the options worth knowing about, with honest notes on where each one shines and where it falls short.
Portimg
Portimg covers the core PDF operations — merge, split, compress, convert images to PDF, convert PDF to images, add or remove passwords — with no account required and no cap on daily tasks. It's a clean tool that does what it says without upselling you mid-workflow. The image-to-PDF and OCR tools are particularly useful for students and anyone working with scanned documents. Files are deleted from the server after processing, which matters when you're uploading documents with sensitive content.
iLovePDF
iLovePDF is one of the more comprehensive free PDF toolkits available. Beyond the standard merge, split, and compress, it handles rotating pages, adding page numbers, watermarking, and converting between PDF and Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and image formats. Google Drive and Dropbox integration is built in, which is convenient if your documents live in the cloud. There's also a mobile app for iOS and Android. The free tier is genuinely usable without a subscription for most everyday tasks.
Smallpdf
Smallpdf has a clean, well-designed interface and supports over 20 PDF operations including eSign, OCR, and file format conversion. The main limitation is the free plan's cap of two tasks per day — fine for occasional use, but a friction point if you're processing multiple documents regularly. If you hit the limit often, you'll need to either sign up for a paid plan or use a different tool for overflow tasks.
Sejda
Sejda is worth knowing specifically for its in-browser PDF text editor, which lets you click on text in a PDF and edit it directly — something most other free tools don't support. It also handles form filling, highlighting, and document signing. The free tier allows three tasks per day with a 50MB file size limit and 200-page maximum. For occasional text edits on standard documents, those limits are usually fine; for larger files or higher volume, the paid plan removes them.
PDF Candy
PDF Candy offers over 40 tools in one interface — merge, split, compress, rotate, OCR, convert to and from a wide range of formats, extract images, and more. The breadth is genuinely impressive for a free tool. It's well suited for occasional use across a variety of tasks, though the interface can feel busier than the more focused alternatives if you only need one or two specific operations.
How to choose
For most students, Portimg or iLovePDF covers everything needed without any account or daily limits — merge scanned pages into one submission, compress a large file before emailing it, convert images to PDF for a portfolio or assignment. Neither requires sign-up and neither restricts how many files you process.
If you regularly need to edit text within existing PDFs, Sejda is the only free browser-based tool that handles this reliably. Everything else treats PDFs as largely read-only documents.
If you work primarily within Google Drive or Dropbox, iLovePDF's cloud integration reduces the friction of downloading and re-uploading files. If you need eSign functionality and don't mind the two-task daily limit, Smallpdf handles it cleanly.
For one-off tasks where you need a specific operation you don't use regularly, PDF Candy's range means it probably has a tool for it without you needing to find a separate service.
None of these require a paid subscription for everyday document work. The paid tiers primarily remove daily task limits and file size restrictions — worth considering if you find yourself hitting those limits regularly, but not necessary to start.