Comparison
An iLovePDF alternative with nothing to upload
iLovePDF is fast, generous and genuinely good. If what you want is the same set of jobs done without sending the file anywhere and without hitting a batch or size cap, here is the comparison, weaknesses included.
Why people look for an iLovePDF alternative
iLovePDF has one of the better free tiers on the internet, so the reasons to look elsewhere are narrower than with most comparisons, and they are worth naming precisely.
- The caps arrive mid-task. The free tier does not meter you by the day, it meters you by the job: a ceiling on how many files one merge accepts, a size ceiling on compression, another on image conversion. You find out where the line is by crossing it.
- OCR, PDF/A and the AI tools are Premium only. Reasonable, and it does mean the free tier stops short for scanned documents.
- The file still has to be uploaded. Well run, encrypted, deleted within a couple of hours, and still a non-starter for anything under an NDA or a data-handling policy that says the file stays on the device.
- Ads on the free tier. Removed on Premium. We should be straight about this one: our site is ad-supported too, and we have no ad-free tier to sell you.
The short answer
Use YoursTools if you want the same everyday PDF jobs with nothing uploaded, no account, and no cap on how many files a task will accept.
Use iLovePDF if you need OCR, PDF/A, e-signatures, Office conversion, native desktop and mobile apps, or a developer API. Those are genuine gaps on our side, not things we are downplaying.
At a glance
| YoursTools | iLovePDF Free | iLovePDF Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where files are processed | In your browser tab | Their servers, EU-hosted | Their servers, EU-hosted |
| Upload required | No | Yes | Yes |
| Account required | No | Not for basic use | Yes |
| Files per task | No limit | Capped per tool | Unlimited |
| File size ceiling | Your device's memory | Capped per tool | Much higher |
| Ads | Yes | Yes | No |
| Price | Free | Free | Shown as 500 rupees a month or 3,400 a year in September 2026; currency and figure vary by region |
| PDF tools | 22 | Most of the catalogue | Everything |
| Other tools on the same site | 858, across 13 other categories | Documents only | Documents only |
| OCR | No | No | Yes |
| PDF/A conversion | No | No | Yes |
| Digital signatures | No | Limited | Yes |
| Office conversion | No | Yes | Yes, with OCR |
| Desktop and mobile apps | No | No | Yes |
| Developer API | No | iLoveAPI, priced separately | |
| Works offline once loaded | Yes | No | Desktop app only |
Where your files actually go
This is the one difference that is structural rather than a matter of degree, so it is worth being precise about both sides of it.
The hosted model. You pick a file, it is uploaded over TLS to the vendor's servers, decrypted there, processed by their software, and the result comes back. The file then sits on their infrastructure until a deletion timer expires. Both Smallpdf and iLovePDF run this model competently: EU-hosted infrastructure, encryption in transit, published deletion windows, and a contractual commitment not to look at your content. For the overwhelming majority of documents that is completely fine, and it is precisely what buys you OCR, very large files and working phone apps.
The in-browser model. YoursTools ships the PDF machinery to you instead of
shipping your file to us. The page loads
pdf.js,
pdf-lib and
qpdf compiled to WebAssembly, all served from our own
domain rather than a third-party CDN, and your file is read with the browser's own
FileReader. It never goes onto the network, because there is no server to send it
to: the whole site is static files.
You do not have to take that on trust, which is the entire point of doing it this way. Open your browser's network tab and watch a merge run. Or load the page, switch off your wi-fi, and use the tool anyway. It keeps working.
One honest caveat. The page itself is funded by advertising, so it loads Google's analytics and ad scripts the way most free tool sites do, and those scripts can tell that somebody opened a PDF page. They never see the document, because the document never leaves the tab. The difference in one sentence: we can see that you used the merge tool, and we cannot see what you merged.
The caps, and why they exist
Every hosted tool has to cap something, because every job you run costs the vendor CPU time and bandwidth. iLovePDF spends that budget generously and then draws a line: so many files per merge, so many megabytes per compression. It is a fair deal and the free tier is more useful than most.
We do not have caps because we do not have that cost. Your laptop does the work, so a merge of sixty files costs us exactly what a merge of two costs us, which is nothing. That is not virtue, it is just a different architecture, and it comes with its own bill: your device has to be able to hold the file.
The trade-off runs the other way too. Processing in your browser means the work is done by your device, so a 400-page scanned report can be slow on an old phone, and a file large enough to exhaust the tab's memory will fail where a server would have chewed through it. There is no plan you can buy to fix that. If you routinely handle very large documents, a hosted service is genuinely the better tool and we would rather say so here than waste your afternoon.
What iLovePDF does that we do not
- OCR and PDF/A. Reading text out of a scan, and converting to the archival PDF/A format, are both Premium features there and absent here.
- Office conversion. PDF to Word and Excel, and back, in both tiers.
- A developer API. iLoveAPI lets you run these operations from your own server. We have no equivalent and no plans for one, because a static site cannot offer it.
- Native apps. Desktop and mobile applications on the paid tiers, which is what you want if PDF work is a daily part of your job.
- Signatures and workflows. Request signatures, track them, chain tools together.
- Business controls. SSO, a dedicated account manager, and a choice of regional processing locations for organisations that need to name one.
What we do that iLovePDF does not
- No upload at all. The one thing a hosted service structurally cannot offer.
- No caps on the free tier, because there is only one tier. Merge as many files as your machine can hold.
- Free AES encryption and decryption. Protect and unlock, both running qpdf locally.
- A much wider site. 880 tools across 14 categories rather than a document suite, so the same bookmark covers 53 image tools, 32 security tools and 34 SEO tools.
So which should you use
Use iLovePDF if you need OCR or PDF/A, you convert to and from Office formats, you want apps on your phone and desktop, you are automating through an API, or your organisation needs SSO and a named processing region.
Use YoursTools if the document should not be uploaded in the first place, you keep bumping into per-task caps, you want more than a couple of dozen files in one merge, or you simply do not want to sign up for anything.
The 22 PDF tools
Weighing up both of the big two? We compare Smallpdf and iLovePDF against each other, and there is a separate Smallpdf comparison.
Common questions
What are iLovePDF’s free limits?
The free tier restricts batch sizes and file sizes per tool, for example a cap on how many files one merge can take and a size ceiling on compression and image conversion, and it excludes OCR, PDF/A conversion and the AI tools. Check their pricing page for the current figures, since these move.
Does YoursTools have a batch limit?
No. There is no per-task file count and no size ceiling written into the tools. The practical limit is your device’s memory, because the work happens in your browser rather than on a server.
Is iLovePDF safe to use?
Yes, by any normal standard. Files go over HTTPS to EU-hosted infrastructure, are processed there and are deleted automatically within a couple of hours, and iLovePDF states it does not access or analyse your content. The question is not whether they are careful, it is whether your document is one you are allowed to upload at all.
Does YoursTools have an API like iLoveAPI?
No. iLovePDF offers a developer API for server-side automation and we offer nothing equivalent. Our tools are interactive pages that run in a browser. If you need to process PDFs from your own backend, use iLoveAPI.
Can I use YoursTools on my phone?
The site works in a mobile browser, and the tools run there the same way they do on a laptop, though a large file will be limited by the phone’s memory. There is no installable app. iLovePDF has native mobile and desktop apps on its paid tiers.
Which is better for merging a lot of files at once?
YoursTools, if your device can hold them. There is no file count cap on our merge tool. iLovePDF’s free tier caps how many files one merge accepts, and lifts that on Premium.
Competitor features, limits and prices on this page were checked against each vendor's own site on 10 September 2026. Plans change: follow the links above to confirm current terms before you decide. If something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will correct it.