Most online PDF tools are free. That's never been the problem.
The problem is why they're free.
Every time you upload a document to a random PDF website, your file is processed on servers you don't control — owned by companies whose privacy policies nobody reads. That legal contract you're compressing. That financial statement you're splitting. That medical report you're editing. Uploaded. Processed. Stored — sometimes indefinitely.
You're not paying with money. You're paying with your data.
LocalPDF Studio exists because your files should never have to leave your machine.
We're not a company. We're not monetizing anything. We're two students building for the community because we believe this tool should exist — and that privacy shouldn't be a premium feature.
| Online PDF Tools | LocalPDF Studio |
|---|---|
| Files uploaded to third-party servers | Files never leave your machine |
| Privacy policies nobody reads | No policy needed — no data collected |
| Stored indefinitely | Nothing stored, ever |
| Free with hidden costs | Free. Full stop. |
| Telemetry and tracking | Zero telemetry |
A fully offline, fully open-source PDF toolkit that runs entirely on your machine.
- No server. No upload. No account.
- No tracking. No telemetry. No analytics.
- No catch. Free forever under AGPL-3.0.
Your files stay local — because they always should have.
- 📦 Compress PDFs — Reduce file size without cloud processing
- 🔀 Merge PDFs — Combine multiple files into one
- ✂️ Split PDFs — Extract pages or split by range
- ✂️ Split PDF (Vertical) — Split pages down the middle
- 🔢 Extract & Reorder Pages — Rearrange or pull specific pages
- ✂️ Crop Pages — Trim page margins or regions
- 📄 PDF to PDF/A — Convert to archival format
- 📝 PDF to Markdown — Extract content as structured text
- 🖼️ PDF Pages to Images — Export pages as high-quality images
- 🖼️ Images to PDF — Bundle images into a single PDF
- 🔍 OCR — Make scanned PDFs and images searchable
- ✏️ Add Comments, Highlights, Drawings, Text & Signatures (Powered by Mozilla PDF.js)
- 🖊️ Hand Signatures — Sign documents locally
- 🖼️ Basic Image Editor — Edit embedded images
- 🏗️ Basic Fillable PDF Builder — Create simple forms
- Build fillable PDFs with text fields, checkboxes, and dropdowns
- Flatten filled forms into a static, non-editable PDF
- Save and load form templates for reuse
- 🔒 Lock / Unlock PDFs — Password protect or remove protection
- ⬛ Redact PDF Content — Permanently remove sensitive text or regions
- 🏷️ Edit or Remove Metadata — Strip hidden document information
- 🖤 Grayscale Converter — Convert to black and white
- 🔢 Add Page Numbers — Auto-number pages
- 💧 Add Watermarks — Text or image watermarks
- 🖼️ Extract Images — Pull embedded images from PDFs
- 📊 Presentation Mode — View PDFs fullscreen
- 🌐 Multi-Language Support — Available in multiple languages
- ✅ Protects sensitive documents from third-party exposure
- ✅ Replaces tools you never fully trusted
- ✅ Works in air-gapped, offline, or restricted environments
- ✅ No account or registration wall stopping access
- ✅ Open source — audit every line, fork freely, contribute openly
If this tool protects your data, replaces something you never fully trusted, or just makes your day a little smoother — share it with someone who needs it. That matters more than anything else.
Supported on Windows, Linux, and macOS (x86_64).
| Component | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Node.js | v24 or later |
| Git | Any recent version |
| .NET SDK | 8 (recommended) |
| Python | 3.8.10+ (optional) |
| Architecture | x86_64 (Intel/AMD) |
ARM64 users: See the ARM64 build guide below.
LocalPDF Studio is built with modern web technologies and follows open-source principles. Contributions are welcome from developers who believe in privacy-focused, offline-first software.
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Alinur1/LocalPDF_Studio.git
# Enter the project folder
cd LocalPDF_Studio
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Start the app
npm run startnpm run distLocalPDF Studio currently bundles x86_64 binaries only. ARM64 is unsupported but buildable by advanced users.
1. Update the build target in scripts/setup-backend.js:
| Platform | Change rid to |
|---|---|
| Windows ARM | win-arm64 |
| Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3) | osx-arm64 |
| ARM Linux | linux-arm64 |
2. Update the Python engine URLs to Python 3.12.13 ARM64 standalone builds:
Or browse all builds: python-build-standalone releases
⚠️ Custom ARM builds are unsupported. Ensure .NET 8 SDK is installed before building.
See the docs/ folder for detailed build instructions.
- Fork the repository
- Clone your fork locally
- Make your changes
- Test thoroughly (required)
- Commit with clear messages
- Push and open a Pull Request
If LocalPDF Studio is useful to you, the best thing you can do is pass it on.
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The only thing that keeps a project like this alive is people who believe in what it stands for.
Licensed under AGPL-3.0. Free forever. No catch.