Stirling-PDF
Open-core PDF editor with 60+ tools, available as desktop app, web app or self-hosted server.
Our verdict
What it does well
- Free plan with 60+ PDF tools on web, desktop and self-hosted
- Core code is on GitHub under the MIT licence
- REST APIs for nearly all tools and an interface in 40+ languages
Where it falls short
- Open-core: some directories use separate, non-MIT licences
- Free plan is capped at 1,000 monthly credits; Team is $99/month
- Pricing page does not say what a credit or run is
Stirling-PDF describes itself as a free, private PDF editor you can run on any infrastructure. Its GitHub README calls it an open-source PDF editing platform for editing, signing, redacting, converting and automating PDFs. It is offered as a desktop app, a browser UI and a self-hosted server (Docker, Kubernetes or a JAR file).
The pricing page lists four options. Free is $0 per month with no card required and includes 60+ PDF tools, 1,000 monthly credits, and web, desktop and self-hosted use. Team is $99 per month and includes 100 users, with SSO, a team workspace and central control of the tool catalog; capacity is added in blocks of 100 users. Enterprise is custom priced and adds air-gapped and self-hosted deployment, SCIM provisioning, data residency, audit logs and uptime SLAs. A separate PDF Processor add-on is priced at 1 cent per credit, prepaid or pay as you use.
The repository's LICENSE file applies the MIT licence to most of the code, with separate licences for the proprietary, saas and engine directories and several frontend subdirectories. The README calls the project open-core.
Stirling-PDF compared
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Last updated 17 October 2026. Facts checked against the official site on 16 October 2026. How we make money