PrivatePDF – minimal PDF editor that runs in the browser
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 -…
PrivatePDF – minimal PDF editor that runs in the browser launched on December 27, 2023 with 14 votes, #941 of 3,780 launches that month and more than 75% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 2 years on.
In plain words
PrivatePDF is a browser-based PDF editor designed for users who need to sign contracts and fill forms without installing software or uploading files to external servers. It offers essential editing features including form filling, image and text insertion, and page rotation. Built with TypeScript using PDF.js and pdf-lib, the tool prioritizes privacy and simplicity over comprehensive editing capabilities, making it suitable for straightforward PDF tasks.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
PrivatePDF is a free web tool that lets you make quick PDF edits from within your web browser, without uploading anything anywhere. - photown/private-pdf
In the maker’s words, at launch
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…
Does a similar job
all alternatives →
Free, in-browser PDF editor2025 · breezepdf.com · ▲791BreezePDF 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…
Simplepdf.eu – a browser-based PDF annotator / editor2022 · simplepdf.eu · ▲47Hi 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,…
PDFyogi - Privacy First PDF Tools2025 · pdfyogi.com · ▲24Private and Instant PDF Tools that Run 100% in Your Browser

Fill and sign PDF from any website with a single line of code2023 · simplepdf.github.io · ▲16Enable your website visitors to fill, annotate, merge and edit PDF files without leaving your website. Use the iframe, Javascript script or React component.

More dev tools this month
the category →

open-source IDE for thoughtful software design. Contribute to devdotfast/whiteboard development by creating an account on GitHub.
Dev tools · 29d ago · github.com

Contribute to oosexgang/hackios-xnu-kernel development by creating an account on GitHub.
Dev tools · 17h ago · github.com

Contribute to reladraw/reladraw development by creating an account on GitHub.
Dev tools · 27d ago · github.com
OpenBot▲362Grok Bot alternative: free, local, open-source, multiplayer
Dev tools · 24d ago · openbot.run
Talanoa▲346Hi HN, I’m a fullstack developer, and honestly, I’ve lost count of how many side projects I’ve worked on over the years. But one idea kept coming back to me: a different kind of email client. It first came to me in 2014: “What if we could handle emails more like conversations?” Every year, I’d revisit this concept in my “Build Notes.” Ten years later, no one had built exactly what I had in mind — so I finally decided to do it myself. That’s how Talanoa was born. I wanted something focused on people, not timelines. I was tired of marking messages as unread just to remember to reply later, or…
Dev tools · 21d ago · talanoa.email
Source: Show HN post ↗ · launch text quoted in part
Launched alongside, December 2023
the whole month →
Hi HN! I’m proud to share that we have built a real 3rd party iMessage client for Android. We did it by reverse engineering the iMessage protocol and encryption system. It's available to download today (no waitlist): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beeper.ima and there's a technical writeup here: https://blog.beeper.com/p/how-beeper-mini-works. Unlike every other attempt to build an iMessage app for Android (including our first gen app), Beeper Mini does not use a Mac server relay in the cloud. The app connects directly to Apple…
Work · 2023 · beeper.com

Hey! I made Heynote entirely for my own use case. For many years, I always had an Emacs instance running with the scratch buffer open, even long after I had abandoned Emacs as my programming editor in favor of more recent IDE:s. The simplicity of having just one big scratch buffer appeals to me, but I still want to separate the different things I jot down somehow (without using tabs or similar). Previously, my solution was to insert a bunch of blank lines between the notes, but hitting C-A would still select the entire buffer. That's why I came up with the concept of "blocks", which turned…
Work · 2023 · heynote.com

FuseBase▲939Client collaboration platform for professional services
Dev tools · 2023 · thefusebase.com
Beep! 2.0▲871Fastest tool to assign and share visual tasks with your team
Work · 2023 · justbeepit.com
Inbox Zero▲821Clean Up Your Inbox In Minutes Newsletter management, AI automation, and email analytics. Inbox Zero is the open-source email app that puts you back in control of your inbox.
AI · 2023 · getinboxzero.com