Smallpdf is a big cloud suite: your files are uploaded to its servers to be processed. StayPutPDF does the everyday PDF jobs without ever uploading a file — merge, split, redact, sign, edit, OCR and convert — $9 a month, or $149 once for life.
How StayPutPDF compares
The same everyday PDF tools. The difference is where your file goes.
Compared with each service's web version, October 2026. Their features and prices change — check their sites. Full comparison →
What StayPutPDF does
More than people expect from a "no upload" tool — all of it on your own device:
Where StayPutPDF is ahead
- No upload, ever. There's no "we delete it after an hour" — the file is never sent, so there's nothing to delete.
- Redaction you can trust. Redacted pages are re-drawn, so the hidden text is gone from the file — and the result is checked before you download it.
- Pay once if you like. $149 once for life, or $9 a month, or $69 a year.
- Works offline once you've opened it — in a browser tab or as an installed app. Handy on a plane or behind a strict firewall.
Where Smallpdf is ahead
To be fair about it:
- More tools — PDF to PowerPoint, comparing two files, and more.
- Signature requests — sending a document to other people to sign. With StayPutPDF you sign your own copy.
- A longer track record and native apps. StayPutPDF is new.
Which one should you use?
You need PDF to PowerPoint, or you send documents out for signature — and uploading isn't a concern for those files.
You handle client contracts, patient records or financial statements — and want the file to stay on your device.
Free and Premium
15 pages a day
- Every tool except OCR — merge, split, organize, compress, redact, sign, edit, page numbers, protect, convert (incl. PDF to Word, Excel and JPG), extract text
- No watermark, no account, no email
- Counted across all tools; the count resets every day
$9/month
- No page limit on any tool
- OCR: make scanned PDFs searchable, 39 languages
- Your signature saved on this device (never uploaded), and your signature or initials on every page in one click
- Number a whole set of files in one go — plain or Bates, with an index
- One-click form filling with your saved details — name, address, email
- Or $69/year · $149 once, for life
Free or Premium, the tools work the same way: your files never leave your device.
Smallpdf's features, prices and free-plan limits are set by Smallpdf and change over time — check smallpdf.com/pricing for their current terms.