AvePDF vs PDFtk
AvePDF
avepdf.comPDFtk
pdflabs.comSide by side
| Figure | AvePDF | PDFtk |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $3.75/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 4 |
| Spec score · PDF Merger Software | 8.6 (#7) | 7.9 (#16) |
| Integrations | The converter supports upload from Google Drive, Dropbox, and a web address, and lets users save results to cloud storage. | PDFtk Pro includes PDFtk Server, providing both a graphical interface and command-line interface; the product pages list no third-party integrations. |
| Support | The Premium plan includes technical support. | PDF Labs invites questions about its products by email to Sid Steward and asks users to include PDF Labs in the subject for prompt delivery. |
Plans
PDFtk
- PDFtk FreeFree
- PDFtk ServerFree
- PDFtk Pro$3.99, paid once
- PDFtk Server Redistribution License$995, paid once
In their own words
AvePDF
AvePDF is a browser-based service for editing, converting, and managing PDF and other electronic documents. Its tools cover merging, splitting, compression, conversion, protection, redaction, signing, OCR, PDF/A conversion and validation, and scanning. The converter handles more than 100 formats, including raster and vector images, office and text formats, CAD, and SVG. Files can be uploaded from Google Drive, Dropbox, or a web address, with results saved to cloud storage. The Free plan costs nothing and includes 50+ document tools, 2 processing operations per 6 hours, files up to 128 MB, and up to 10 files per processing. Premium costs $45 a year, billed annually as one payment per user; it includes unlimited processing, files up to 512 MB, and up to 100 files per processing, as well as no ads, technical support, and early beta access. Free-service uploads may be retained to improve services, including to train models; Premium files are not retained. Premium subscribers also receive multiple levels of encryption.
PDFtk
PDFtk is a PDF toolkit from PDF Labs, available as graphical and command-line editions for Linux, macOS, Windows, and self-hosted deployments. PDFtk Free provides a graphical interface for merging and splitting PDF documents and pages, and includes the PDFtk Server command-line tool. PDFtk Pro adds splitting, merging, rotation, watermarks, stamps, and security controls for pages and documents. PDFtk Server handles command-line processing such as filling forms with X/FDF data, adding or updating bookmarks and metadata, attaching or unpacking files, and attempting repairs on corrupted PDFs. It can decrypt an input when its password is supplied and encrypt output. Pro can set opening passwords or restrict printing, assembly, copying, and editing. Server is free under GPL Version 2; commercial redistribution generally needs a separate license. PDF Labs lists Free and Server at free, Pro at $3.99, paid once, and a redistribution license at $995 as a one-time purchase. Products may create temporary local troubleshooting logs.