PDF Candy vs PDF4me Merge & Split

PDF Candy is a PDF toolkit for editing, converting, merging, splitting, compressing, signing, protecting and managing documents. Its tools include text editing, annotations and OCR, while AI features can summarize, chat with and translate PDF documents. Users can import files from Google Drive or Dropbox and save updated versions back to cloud storage. PDF Candy Desktop is a Windows download with 35 tools that can operate offline; the company lists 98 PDF tools and 19 languages. Access is listed for web, Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS and Android. The free plan has page and hourly restrictions, limited file size, no batch processing and a desktop operations limit. Students and teachers can get one year of PDF Candy PRO online at no cost, with no hourly limits and uploads up to 500 MB. PDF Candy says files are deleted from its servers within two hours after processing. The free plan is available, with paid access from $6/mo.

PDF4me Merge & Split combines PDF files in a chosen order, overlays one PDF on another, and divides documents using several rules. Splitting can produce individual pages or use page ranges, page count, barcodes, text patterns, or Swiss QR markers. Browser tools are available online without installation or sign-up, and the document features can also be used through a REST API or no-code automation. Listed connectors include Power Automate, Make, n8n, Zapier, RapidAPI, and Appy Pie. The Merge API takes an ordered array of at least two PDF files and returns the merged PDF as binary data. The free API tier has limited calls and requires no credit card. One-time packs cost $25 as a one-time purchase for 500 calls, $45, paid once for 1,000, and up to $650, paid once for 25,000 calls; calls do not expire while the account remains active. PDF4me says documents are processed in EU or US regions depending on account setup, deleted within minutes, and not retained for training. It also says files are encrypted at rest while held for processing and transfers use HTTPS/TLS.