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Free, in-browser PDF editor

Free, in-browser PDF editor

by philjohnson·Mar 29, 2026·97 points·46 comments

AI Analysis

●●SolidSolve My ProblemSlick

Client-side PDF toolkit when most competitors upload your files to their servers.

Strengths
  • JavaScript processing keeps documents local with zero server uploads for privacy.
  • Desktop app and CLI/SDK extend beyond browser for batch automation workflows.
Weaknesses
  • PDF editing space is saturated with Smallpdf, ILovePDF, and Adobe alternatives.
  • Free tier limits may push users toward established paid competitors.
Category
Target Audience

Privacy-conscious users and professionals handling sensitive documents

Similar To

Smallpdf · ILovePDF · PDF24

Post Description

BreezePDF is a PDF editor that runs entirely in the browser, with no sign-up required. You can edit, sign, merge, compress, redact, OCR, fill forms, extract tables, and use a range of other PDF tools without uploading files to a server. Files stay on 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 nearly 40 tools, including several ideas that came from comments in that earlier thread.

There is also now a desktop app for macOS, Windows, and Linux, plus a CLI/SDK for developers.

Similar Projects

Open Source●●Solid

PDFLince. Privacy first, client side PDF tool

Zero-server processing inside the browser is the clever bit — Web Workers + pdf-lib/PDF.js lets you compress, merge, split and convert large PDFs without uploading sensitive files. The app also supports offline use and multiple languages, but the repo is early-stage with minimal community traction, so it’s useful now for cautious users or integrators rather than a drop-in replacement for mature SaaS players.

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