Smallpdf alternatives: free tools that do the same jobs

What people like about Smallpdf

Smallpdf is popular for a reason. The site is clean and most jobs take three clicks: upload, pick an option, download. It covers the common PDF tasks (compress, merge, split, convert, sign, edit) plus a few less common ones, and it has desktop and mobile apps, a Chrome extension and cloud storage connections. Free alternatives such as DocGopher's Compress PDF cover the same core tasks, which is what this guide compares.

It is also mature. The compression is reliable, the Word conversion is good, and the e-sign flow is simple enough for a client who has never signed a PDF online. Pro is a polished all-in-one subscription. The question is what you get without paying.

Where the Smallpdf free tier stops (as of November 2026)

We checked Smallpdf's own tool pages on 11/09/2026. The free tier limits how many tasks you can run per day; the number has changed over time, so check the current figure on Smallpdf's pricing page before you plan around it. Smallpdf's own wording is that the Pro plan gives 'unlimited conversions'.

Several features are Pro-only regardless of the daily cap. On the Compress PDF page, only Basic compression is free; the Moderate and Strong levels are marked Pro. On the Edit PDF page, the FAQ states that direct PDF text editing requires a Pro subscription, while adding text boxes, images, highlights and drawings is free. On the PDF to Word page, the OCR option for scanned documents is marked as a Pro feature. Pro comes with a 7-day free trial that you have to cancel to avoid being charged.

Two things Smallpdf does well on the free tier: files are deleted automatically one hour after processing unless you store them, and most tools run without an account. For one quick compress a day with basic settings, Smallpdf is still fine.

• Daily task cap on the free plan; Pro removes it
• Moderate and Strong compression: Pro only
• Direct text editing inside a PDF: Pro only
• OCR for scanned PDFs: Pro only
• Files deleted after one hour; no account needed for most tools

What to look for in a Smallpdf alternative

Start with the task you actually do. Most people searching for a Smallpdf alternative want one of five things: a smaller PDF, several PDFs joined into one, a PDF turned into Word or back, a signed PDF, or a small text fix. Judge an alternative on that task, not on the length of its tool list.

Then check the limits that bite: tasks per day, file size, files per batch, and whether a watermark is added. Read the privacy page for where files go and how long they are kept. Finally check what happens on a phone, because that is where a lot of PDF work now starts.

A good free alternative is honest about what it cannot do. No free browser tool matches a paid desktop editor on OCR text editing, certified signatures or team features. If you need those, you are shopping for a subscription.

• Does the free tier cap tasks per day, and at what number?
• Maximum file size and files per batch
• Watermarks on output
• Retention: how long files stay on the server
• Works in a phone browser without an app

DocGopher as a free alternative, and its honest limits

DocGopher is a free set of browser tools for PDF, Word, Excel and images. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no daily task cap. Files can be up to 300 MB each and up to 50 files per batch. Files are processed in memory on DocGopher's own servers and deleted after 30 minutes. It works in the browser on a phone or a computer.

The core PDF tools map directly to the Smallpdf tasks people run most: compress, Merge PDF, split, organize pages, PDF to Word, Word to PDF, sign, edit, redact, protect and remove passwords.

What DocGopher does not have, so you can decide quickly: no desktop app, no mobile app, no cloud storage or saved files, no team accounts, no OCR editing of scanned text inside the editor (the OCR tool makes a scan searchable, but you do not edit the recognized words in place), and no certified digital signatures. The signature is a visual stamp placed on the page, which is what most people need for a lease or a permission slip, but it is not a certificate-based signature.

Alternatives you already have on your computer

On a Mac, Preview does more than most people realize. Open a PDF, choose File, then Export, and pick the Reduce File Size filter to compress it. Drag page thumbnails between two open PDFs to merge them. Use the Markup toolbar to sign and to add text. It is free, offline and has no limits.

On Windows, Microsoft Print to PDF turns anything you can print into a PDF, including a Word document or a web page. Word itself opens PDFs and converts them to editable documents (File, Open, pick the PDF), which works well for text-heavy files and less well for forms and heavy layouts. Word's Save As PDF, with the Minimum size option, is a decent compressor for documents you authored.

LibreOffice is free and runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. LibreOffice Draw opens a PDF and lets you edit text boxes and images directly, then export back to PDF. It is slower to learn than a web tool, but it has no caps and nothing leaves your computer. Google Docs can open a PDF from Drive as an editable document and export it back as PDF, with the same caveat about layouts.

On an iPhone, the Files app rotates pages and adds markup and a signature. Chrome's print dialog saves any web page as a PDF.

Other browser-based alternatives, by category

Beyond DocGopher, the online PDF market falls into a few groups. Freemium all-in-one sites, with iLovePDF being the best-known other example, work like Smallpdf: a wide tool list, a free tier with per-task or daily limits, and a monthly subscription that removes them. Our separate iLovePDF guide checks its limits in the same way.

Single-purpose free tools do one thing, such as only compression or only merging, with few limits but few features. Office suites with web versions (Microsoft 365 online, Google Workspace) convert documents to PDF as part of normal editing. Tools that process files locally in your browser exist for privacy-sensitive work; they are limited by your device's memory and can be slow on a phone.

Pick one for your main task, test it with a real file, and keep Preview or LibreOffice as the offline fallback.

Compress: Smallpdf vs free alternatives

On Smallpdf, Basic compression is free and the stronger levels are Pro. For a text PDF, Basic is usually enough; for a scan or a photo-heavy file it may not get you under an upload limit.

DocGopher's Compress PDF is free with no daily cap and handles files up to 300 MB, 50 at a time. Preview's Reduce File Size filter is the offline option on a Mac; it can over-compress images, so check the result. If a compressed PDF is still too large, the fix is usually to split the PDF into parts or to remove pages you do not need.

Merge, convert, sign and edit: task by task

Merge: Smallpdf merges on the free tier within the daily cap. DocGopher's Merge PDF takes up to 50 files in the order you choose, and the Organize tool drags pages between several PDFs. Preview merges by dragging thumbnails.

Convert: PDF to Word is free on Smallpdf for normal PDFs; OCR for scans is Pro. DocGopher's PDF to Word returns an editable DOCX with layout and tables, and the OCR tool makes a scanned PDF searchable first. Word itself opens PDFs directly. Going the other way, Word's Save As PDF and DocGopher's Word to PDF both work; the online tool is useful when you only have a phone.

Sign: both sites let you draw, type or upload a signature and place it on the page. DocGopher's Sign PDF places it in one spot or several and is a visual stamp, not a certified signature; Smallpdf offers more around the signing flow, such as requesting signatures from others. Preview and the iPhone Files app sign offline.

Edit: on Smallpdf, changing existing text is Pro; adding text, highlights and drawings is free. DocGopher's Edit PDF changes the text in a PDF, adds text, white-out, highlights, drawings and pictures, for free. LibreOffice Draw is the offline route. Neither free option edits the text of a scanned page; for that you need a paid desktop editor with OCR editing.