Life & fun · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to PDF Assembler – client-side PDF editing
Here's a neat hack I made recently to do basic PDF editing directly in a browser—without having to upload anything to a server. I was initially looking for a way to do simple PDF modification (extracting pages, merging, and adding page numbers). There are some good server-side tools for this (QPDF, PDFTk, PDFBox, iText, Hummus), but for better speed and privacy I really wanted a 100% client-side solution. There are a few good JavaScript PDF libraries for reading and displaying PDFs (pdf.js) and creating PDFs from scratch (jsPDF, PDFKit), but I couldn't find any for editing existing PDFs. So,…
PDF Assembler is a browser-based tool for basic PDF editing tasks like extracting pages, merging documents, and adding page numbers. All processing happens locally on the user's device with no server uploads required… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. PDF Assembler – client-side PDF editing launched in 2018; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
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BreezePDF lets you edit, sign, merge, compress, redact, OCR, fill forms, extract tables, and use 30+ more PDF tools — all in the browser, no sign-up. Files never leave your computer. I built it because when people search Google for common PDF tasks, many of the tools they find upload documents to a server. I wanted an option that keeps files local instead. I posted an earlier version on HN last spring: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43880962 At the time it only supported a small set of features. Over the last 10 months I rebuilt large parts of it and expanded it to…
2025 · breezepdf.com · its alternatives →
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2020 · simpdf.com · its alternatives →
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CanaryPDF▲114Extract tables and edit PDF files right in your browser
2025 · canarypdf.com · its alternatives →
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- 5PF
Hi HN, I have been working on a set of PDF tools that does all the processing directly in the web browser. From time to time I needed to do some simple PDF manipulations like merging PDF files. Sometimes the files contain my personal data and I was not comfortable using other online services where the file usually is uploaded to a remote server. Behind the scenes there is a small library written in C++ doing the changes to the PDF files. I am using the Emscripten compiler to compile it to WebAssembly that is running in the browser. It was a very good learning for me and it was easier than I…
2023 · pdfux.com · its alternatives →
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- 7PP
PDFFiddler Playground is a free PDF playground for manipulating PDF, extracting data from PDF, form filling, archiving, merging grouping and many many more. It is powered through Domain-driven custom scripting language (equivalent to Javascript) which can be quickly written through powerful editor with intellisense support. It has dozens of ready made template to play with. Please check out below link https://playground.pdffiddler.com/?apps=true Few templates, quick links has been added below 1) Merging group of PDF -…
2020 · its alternatives →
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Hi HN! I've been working on SimplePDF to solve a problem I encounter weekly: filling out non-editable PDFs [1] --- # About SimplePDF - The documents you load, edit, fill never see the light of my server, everything is processed locally – no remote uploading anything. This includes the PDF generation. - There are no analytics / third party tracking your every move (I do collect usage data, but it's fully anonymous and processed and stored on my server): therefore no annoying cookie banner. You can read more on the Privacy Policy [2] - If someone before you has filled the same document,…
2022 · simplepdf.eu · its alternatives →
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Hi HN! I built PDFly — a PDF toolkit that runs entirely client-side. No file uploads, no server processing, no account needed. It has 56 tools including merge, split, compress, convert, redact, compare, and an AI chat feature to ask questions about your PDF content. Everything runs in your browser using [mention your tech stack if relevant, e.g., WASM/JS libraries]. Would love feedback on the tools, UX, or anything else!
Jul 2026 · pdfly.uk · its alternatives →
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I created this tool to make it quick and easy to sign PDF contracts, without having to deal with installing additional software and without worrying that my PDFs will get uploaded to a third party. It supports the bare minimum for my most common usecases. It is not intended to be a full-featured PDF editor. Features include filling PDF forms, inserting images and text, and rotating PDFs. Check it out by either picking a PDF of your own - https://photown.github.io/private-pdf/, or with a preloaded sample PDF -…
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
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56 free PDF tools that run in your browser: merge, convert, compress, sign, OCR, plus on-device AI. Files never upload, a live meter proves it. Works offline.
Jun 2026 · pdfmergely.com · its alternatives →
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PDFDIT▲17Edit your PDFs effortlessly with AI-powered text recognition
2025 · pdfdit.com · its alternatives →
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PDF Tools▲14Free browser-based PDF toolkit — no uploads, no sign-up
2025 · pdf-vert.com · its alternatives →
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PDFCraft▲7Free, fast and privacy-focused PDF tools.
Jul 2026 · pdfcrafts.ai.studio · its alternatives →
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Edit, Merge, convert & compress pdfs online
Oct 2025 · raptorpdf.com · its alternatives →
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Merge, rearrange, and organize documents, completely offline
Nov 2025 · pdf-stitch.ogwenya.dev · its alternatives →
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Best online PDF assistant with 30+ useful utility tools
2025 · thepdfbuddy.netlify.app · its alternatives →
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PDFClear▲3Hello HN, I’m the founder of PDFClear (https://www.pdfclear.com). It’s a suite of PDF tools (merge, split, compress, etc.) that runs entirely in the browser. I built this because I was tired of Googling "merge pdf" and landing on sites that require me to upload sensitive bank statements or contracts to an unknown server. I wanted a tool where the file never leaves the device. The Tech Stack: The app is built with React and Vite, but the heavy lifting is done via WebAssembly and Web Workers to keep the UI thread responsive. - PDF Manipulation: I’m using pdf-lib for standard…
2025 · pdfclear.com · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →