A PDF24 alternative that does the work in your browser
PDF24 is the most generous free PDF service of the big three, and this page is not going to pretend otherwise. It is free without limits, needs no account, keeps its servers in the EU, deletes your file within an hour and lets you delete it sooner by hand. The difference between it and Plume is not care or honesty. It is architecture: PDF24's online tools work by receiving your file, and Plume's work by never receiving it. Below is what that changes, in PDF24's own published words, and the several things they do better.
- Free
- 50 PDF tools
- No account
- Files stay on your device
The short version
Every PDF24 figure in this table is quoted and sourced further down the page. Checked 16 October 2026.
| What you are comparing | PDF24 | Plume |
|---|---|---|
| Where the work happens | Their servers, in EU data centres | Inside your browser, on your device |
| File upload | Required for the online tools | None for the PDF tools |
| How long your file is kept | Deleted within one hour, or at once if you remove it yourself | No server copy exists to keep |
| Free usage | Free without restriction, funded by advertising | Free, no daily cap on the PDF tools |
| Account | Not required | None, and none possible |
| Practical size limit | Their servers do the lifting, so a huge file is their problem | Up to 1 GB per file, as far as your device's memory allows |
| For a company | A data processing agreement when files hold other people's personal data | No processor relationship arises, because no file is sent |
The difference in one sentence
PDF24 asks you to trust a short, well documented hour on a server in Germany. Plume asks you to trust nothing, because there is no hour and no server.
What PDF24 says about your files
These are exact sentences from PDF24's own FAQ, fetched on 16 October 2026. They are unusually direct, which makes quoting them easy and arguing with them unnecessary.
“All file transfers are encrypted. All files are automatically deleted from the processing server within one hour after processing. We do not store files and do not evaluate them. Files will only be used for the intended purpose. PDF24 is operated by a German company, Geek Software GmbH. All processing servers are located in data centers within the EU.”
“Alternatively, you can get a desktop version of the PDF24 tools with the PDF24 Creator. All files remain on your computer here, as this software works offline.”
That is a clear and specific disclosure: a named operator, a named jurisdiction, a hard one-hour window, and an explicit statement that they do not store or analyse what you send. The second quote matters just as much. PDF24 already agrees that local processing is the stronger position, which is why they built the Creator. Their online tools and Plume simply answer the same question in opposite directions.
One hour, and the option to delete sooner
PDF24 publishes the same window in two places and adds a way to remove the file yourself, immediately, without waiting for the timer.
The window
“uploaded files in the online tools are automatically deleted from the server after one hour, but can also be removed manually immediately.”
What it means for a company
“To use the PDF24 Tools, you must conclude a data processing agreement if you do not use the services of PDF24 as a natural person exclusively in the course of personal or household activities (Art. 2(2)(c) GDPR) and the processed documents contain personal data (Art. 4(1) GDPR) of third parties (section 4.3 of the terms of use). No such agreement is required to use PDF24 Creator, as the data is processed exclusively on your own computer systems.”
The second quote is the most useful passage on this page, and it is theirs. PDF24 states the legal consequence of server-side processing themselves: when a business puts documents that contain other people's personal data through the online tools, it must conclude a data processing agreement with PDF24. For the Creator, no such agreement is required, because the data is processed only on the user's own computer systems. Plume's PDF tools sit on the Creator's side of that line for the same reason: the file is processed on your own device and never reaches us. If you have ever had to explain a free web tool to a compliance officer, that is the difference in practical terms.
On limits, PDF24 wins, and it is not close
This is the section where a comparison page is supposed to find a catch. There is not one. PDF24's own words:
“The PDF24 tools are available to all users, including companies, free of charge and without restriction. They are financed by means of discreet advertising on the websites, which is sufficient to maintain operations due to PDF24's highly cost-optimized structure.”
No account, no daily quota, no per-file megabyte tier, and the same terms for companies as for individuals. Their homepage says "100% free of charge" and "No limits" and, as far as we can tell, means it. The funding model is stated openly rather than buried.
Plume has no daily cap either, but it is not limit-free and saying so would be dishonest: each file can be up to 1 GB, and because the work happens on your own hardware, the real ceiling below that is your device's memory. A 400 MB scan will run on a laptop and struggle on an old phone. PDF24 does not have that problem, precisely because their servers do the lifting. That is a real advantage of their design, and it is the flip side of the one we are arguing for.
What Plume does instead
Plume's PDF tools are code that runs inside the page you are already looking at. Your browser opens the file, your own processor does the work, and the result is saved straight back to your disk. There is no upload step to secure, no retention window to publish, no processing agreement to sign, and no Plume server copy for us to retain, lose, or be compelled to hand over.
One exception, stated plainly
Plume's barcode and QR generator renders on our server, and our privacy page has always said so. Every PDF tool on this site, all 50 of them, runs in your browser. We would rather name the exception than have you find it. Read the privacy page.
Check it in thirty seconds, do not trust us
A privacy claim you cannot test is just marketing. Open any Plume tool, open your browser's developer tools, switch to the Network tab, and run a file through it. Nothing carrying your document goes out. Or skip the tools entirely: load the page, turn your Wi-Fi off, and keep working. Then try that on any tool that uploads.
We wrote up the full method here, including how to run the same test on any other site.
Where PDF24 is the better choice
PDF24 has been doing this since 2006 and it shows. If you need any of the following, they are genuinely the right choice and Plume is not:
PDF24 wins
Very large files on a weak device
Because their servers do the work, a 500 MB scan behaves the same on a six-year-old phone as on a workstation. Plume runs on your hardware, so on that phone it may simply run out of memory. If your file is enormous and your device is not, use PDF24.
PDF24 wins
A free, unlimited offline desktop app
PDF24 Creator is free Windows software for private and business use that works entirely offline and covers the whole tool set. Plume is a website you can install as an app, which is not the same thing as a native desktop program.
PDF24 wins
Tools Plume does not have
Webpage to PDF, PDF Overlay, Compare PDFs and Web optimize PDF have no Plume equivalent. Their PDF converter also accepts Office documents going in, which Plume still cannot do.
PDF24 wins
A data processing agreement on request
If your organisation needs a data processing agreement for the online tools, PDF24 generates one with your company details and emails it to you as a PDF, in German or English. Plume has no DPA to offer because it never becomes a processor, which answers the question differently rather than better for every procurement process.
PDF24 wins
Far more languages
PDF24's interface is available in over thirty languages. Plume is in 9.
Tool for tool
If you came here for one specific job, here is the Plume equivalent. Each of these runs in your browser.
These are the closest Plume equivalents, not a claim of feature-for-feature or output-quality parity. Converters especially: a server-side engine and a browser-side one will not always agree on a complicated layout.
| On PDF24 | On Plume |
|---|---|
| Merge PDF | Merge PDF |
| Split PDF | Split PDF |
| Compress PDF | Compress PDF |
| Edit PDF | Edit PDF |
| Sign PDF | Sign PDF |
| PDF OCR | OCR PDF |
| Images to PDF | JPG to PDF |
| PDF to Images | PDF to JPG |
Show all 21 equivalents
| On PDF24 | On Plume |
|---|---|
| PDF to Word | PDF to Word |
| PDF to Excel | PDF to Excel |
| Extract PDF images | Extract images |
| On PDF24 | On Plume |
|---|---|
| Rearrange PDF pages | Organize PDF |
| Rotate PDF pages | Rotate PDF |
| Remove PDF pages | Delete pages |
| Extract PDF pages | Extract pages |
| On PDF24 | On Plume |
|---|---|
| Add watermark | Watermark PDF |
| Add page numbers | Add page numbers |
| Annotate PDF | Annotate PDF |
| On PDF24 | On Plume |
|---|---|
| Redact PDF | Redact PDF |
| Protect PDF | Protect PDF |
| Unlock PDF | Unlock PDF |
Try it on a document you would rather not send anywhere
PDF24 will delete it within the hour. Plume never has it to delete. Pick the file where that distinction matters to you.
Sources
Every quote on this page is verbatim from PDF24's own pages, checked on 16 October 2026. If PDF24 changes something that changes this page, we will correct it.