A free Sejda alternative that never uploads your PDF

Two different ways to keep files private

Sejda is an interesting case because it offers two models. Its online service processes your files on its servers, and the site states that files are permanently deleted after processing. Its desktop version, by contrast, works offline with the same feature set and keeps files on your computer, running on macOS, Windows and Linux.

Robince Studio gets a similar result from a third direction: the web page itself does the processing locally. There is nothing to install, yet nothing is uploaded either. You open the page, choose the PDF from your device and the work happens in the browser tab.

So if privacy is your main concern, Sejda Desktop and our browser tools both keep files on your machine. The difference is installation and breadth. A desktop application has more room for heavy features; a web page starts instantly on any computer, including a locked-down work laptop where you cannot install software.

Both Sejda Desktop and our browser tools keep your file on your own device; the difference is installation, breadth and depth of features.

Feature comparison

Compiled from Sejda's public site and our own tool list.

Where our tools fit well

These are the jobs where a no-install, no-upload page is a natural fit.

• Quick merges of a few files: PDF Merge accepts several PDFs, lets you reorder them and downloads one file.
• Extracting part of a document: Split PDF breaks a file into ranges, and Delete PDF Pages removes the pages you do not want.
• Cleaning up scans: Rotate PDF, Crop PDF and Reorder PDF Pages fix orientation, margins and order.
• Adding page numbers and watermarks: Add Page Numbers to PDF and Watermark PDF.
• Annotating and white-out: PDF Editor lets you place text and images, and cover content you want hidden.
• Sharing safely: Redact PDF blacks out sensitive text, and Flatten PDF locks annotations and form fields into the page.
• Housekeeping: PDF Metadata Editor changes title, author and similar properties before you send a file out.

How to white-out and add text in the browser

If Sejda's text editing is the feature you are comparing, here is what our editor does in practice, so you can judge whether it covers your need.

1. Open PDF Editor and add your file. The pages appear in the editor.
2. To correct a typo or date, use the white-out rectangle to cover the old text, then place a new text box on top and match the size as closely as you can.
3. To add a logo or initials, insert an image and drag it into position.
4. Rotate, reorder or delete pages from the same screen if needed.
5. Download the result and open it in a PDF viewer to check the layout before sending it.

White-out plus new text is a visual overlay on the page, not true reflowed editing of the original text.

About that visual overlay

It is worth being specific. When you white out text and type new text over it, the original text may still exist underneath in the file's content stream; it is simply hidden. If the underlying text must truly disappear (for example sensitive information), use Redact PDF and then Flatten PDF, which are designed for that purpose, and check the result by trying to select or search the text.

A true in-place text editor, like the one described on Sejda's site that lets you click existing text to change it, rewrites the content of the page. That is more convenient for substantial changes and is not something our editor does.

When another tool is the better choice

Sejda, or another dedicated PDF application, is the better pick when:

• You need to rewrite existing paragraphs of a digitally created PDF in place.
• You need OCR on scanned documents to produce searchable PDFs or extract text.
• You need to convert PDFs to Word, Excel or PowerPoint, or HTML and Word files to PDF.
• You want to create fillable forms rather than fill them.
• You process large batches regularly and want a desktop application that can use your computer's full resources and keep working offline with installed software.
• You need an API for server-side automation.

Limits of a browser-only tool

Running in a browser tab means sharing the browser's memory. Very large PDFs can be slow, and on older phones may fail. We recommend splitting giant files first. Also, because we keep nothing, there is no history: save your results before leaving the page.

Third-party limits on free plans, such as how many documents you can process per hour or how big a file can be, vary and change. Review the current terms on the provider's own site if that matters for your task. Ours is simpler: we set no task limits, no account and no watermark.

1. Open the tool page, then open your browser developer tools and switch to the Network tab.
2. Add a PDF and run the task. Watch the list of requests: the file itself is not sent anywhere, because the work happens in the page.
3. For a stronger test, turn on airplane mode after the page has loaded and run the task again. It still works.

Frequently asked questions

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