# Alternatives to Stirling PDF Self-hosted web PDF toolbox. Stirling PDF ranks #10 of 13 in PDF tools, with an Alt Score of 68. It is licensed under MIT, open source with paid hosting from $0.01/PDF processed and available on the web. 8 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source. Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/stirling-pdf/ Category: PDF tools ## Where Stirling PDF stands out - **Self-hostable** — 1 of 10 apps with a verified answer have this ## Overview - **Who it's for**: Individuals, IT teams, and organizations (including regulated industries like healthcare, legal, and government) who need to handle PDFs without relying on cloud services or paid proprietary tools. - **What you get**: A single web app bundling 50+ PDF tools: merge, split, convert, compress, rotate, watermark, add/remove password protection, redact, OCR, and edit metadata. It runs entirely on infrastructure you control, so files never leave your server. Available as an open-source, self-hosted deployment or a hosted/commercial option. - **How it works**: Deploy the application via Docker (or another self-hosted setup) on your own server, then use the browser-based interface to upload a PDF, pick an operation from the toolset, and download the processed file. ## Profile - **License**: MIT (verified 2026-07-11) - **Pricing model**: OSS + paid hosting (verified 2026-07-11) - **Starts at**: $0.01/PDF processed (verified 2026-07-11) - **Platforms**: Web - **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-11) ## Ranked alternatives | # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms | |---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------| | 1 | [Foxit PDF Editor](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/foxit-pdf-editor.md) | 91 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Web, iOS | | 2 | [Nitro PDF](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/nitro-pdf.md) | 91 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS | | 3 | [UPDF](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/updf.md) | 91 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | | 4 | [PDF-XChange](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/pdf-xchange.md) | 86 | Proprietary | Windows | | 5 | [Adobe Acrobat](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/adobe-acrobat.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, Web, iOS | | 6 | [PDF Expert](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/pdf-expert.md) | 82 | Proprietary | macOS, iOS | | 7 | [PDFgear](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/pdfgear.md) | 82 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Web | | 8 | [Smallpdf](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/smallpdf.md) | 78 | Proprietary | Web, Windows, iOS, Android | | 9 | [iLovePDF](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/ilovepdf.md) | 68 | Proprietary | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | | 10 | [PDFsam](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/pdfsam.md) | 60 | AGPL-3.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux | | 11 | [Sumatra PDF](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/sumatra-pdf.md) | 37 | GPL-3.0 | Windows | | 12 | [Okular](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/okular.md) | 32 | GPL-2.0 | Windows, macOS, Linux | Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/ ## Feature comparison Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified). | PDF tools checklist | Stirling PDF | Foxit PDF Editor | Nitro PDF | UPDF | PDF-XChange | Adobe Acrobat | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Pricing model | OSS + paid hosting | Subscription | Subscription | Subscription | One-time | Subscription | | Starts at | $0.01/PDF processed | $129.99/year | ? | ? | EUR €56.00 one-time | $12.99/month | | License | MIT | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | | Platforms | Web | Windows, macOS, Web, iOS, Android | Windows, macOS | Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | Windows | Windows, macOS, Web, iOS, Android | | Edit text & images | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Annotate & comment | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Fill & sign forms | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | OCR | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Merge / split / compress | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Redaction | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Batch processing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | | One-time purchase option | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | | Runs offline | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Self-hostable | Yes | ? | No | No | No | ? | ## Sources Sources for Stirling PDF. Each alternative is sourced on its own page. - **Pricing model**: OSS + paid hosting — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “$0, forever, No credit card required” - **Platforms**: Web — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “docker run -d -p 8080:8080 -v ./stirling-data:/configs stirlingtools/stirling-pdf:latest” - **License**: MIT — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “MIT License” - **Starts at**: $0.01/PDF processed — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “$0.01/PDF processed” - **Status**: active — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “#1 PDF Application on GitHub that lets you edit PDFs on any device anywhere” - **Edit text & images**: Partial — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “Edit text and images in the browser” - **OCR**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “Advanced options require OCRmyPDF. With Tesseract only, they are ignored.” - **Merge / split / compress**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “Edit, merge, split, sign, redact, convert, OCR, compress, and more.” - **Redaction**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “The Redaction tool permanently removes sensitive information from PDFs.” - **Batch processing**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “Automation & workflows - No-code pipelines direct in UI with APIs to process millions of PDFs.” - **One-time purchase option**: No — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “$0.01/PDF processed” - **Runs offline**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “Run it as a personal desktop app, in the browser, or deploy it on your own servers with a private API.” - **Self-hostable**: Yes — (verified 2026-07-11) - Quote: “docker run -d -p 8080:8080 -v ./stirling-data:/configs stirlingtools/stirling-pdf:latest” --- Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/