PDFzen is open source on GitHub — star the repo to support private, in-browser tools that never upload your files.

Free PDF tools & guides that actually get the job done

Shrink a PDF to 100KB for a government portal. Merge twelve invoice scans into one file. Turn a PDF into an editable Word doc. Every guide here is free, needs no signup, and works in any browser on phone or desktop.

No file-size limit No daily cap No watermark No ads No upload — files stay on your device

Compress

Shrink to 50KB–1MB for any portal

Merge & split

Combine files or extract pages

Images ↔ PDF

JPG / PNG / WEBP to PDF and back

Convert

PDF to Word, Excel, JPG, Text, Markdown

Organize & edit

Rotate, crop, redact, reorder, add text

Secure & sign

Watermark, page numbers, metadata, unlock

Compare

Find what changed between two PDFs

Free tools you can use right now

Compress to 100KB

Strict portal limits.

Compress to 200KB

Most common cap.

Compress to 50KB

Tiny photo/signature limits.

Compression guide

How it works & which level.

Merge PDF

Combine files in any order.

Split PDF

Extract chosen pages.

JPG to PDF

Images into one PDF.

PNG to PDF

Clean image PDF.

WEBP to PDF

WEBP / BMP images.

PDF to PNG

Lossless page images.

PDF to JPG

Each page as JPG.

PDF to Word

Editable .docx.

PDF to Excel

Pull tables to .xlsx.

Excel to PDF

Sheets for print.

PDF to Text

Copy selectable text.

TXT to PDF

Plain text to PDF.

Rotate PDF

Fix sideways scans.

Rotate pages

Specific pages.

Delete pages

Drop unwanted pages.

Reorder pages

Change sequence.

Crop PDF New

Trim page margins.

Redact PDF New

Black out sensitive text.

Add text New

Stamp labels on a page.

Header & footer New

Add page labels.

Bates numbering New

Legal page labels.

OCR a PDF New

Scanned → editable text.

Compare PDFs New

Find changed pages.

Extract images New

Pull embedded pictures.

PDF to Markdown New

Text for notes/LLMs.

Flatten PDF New

Lock form fields.

Remove metadata New

Strip author/dates.

Unlock PDF

Remove known restrictions.

Sign PDF

Stamp a signature.

Watermark PDF

Add a watermark.

Page numbers

Number every page.

Grayscale PDF

Black & white.

All free tools

Every tool in one place.

How we protect files

100% in-browser, nothing uploaded.

Smallpdf alternatives

Free, private, no paywall.

iLovePDF alternatives

No ads, no caps, no upload.

Acrobat alternatives

Free for everyday jobs.

AdSense slot — paste your display ad <ins> code here (homepage, mid-page)
Why these guides? Most "PDF tool" pages are either paywalled or bury the real steps. PDFzen is a plain set of how-to guides built around the exact size limits people search for — 100KB, 200KB, 50KB — plus the everyday convert/merge/rotate jobs. No account, no watermark, no tricks.

About PDFzen

PDFzen is run by a small team that builds practical, no-nonsense PDF guides. Every method here is tested against the real size limits people hit on job, visa and government portals — then written down in plain steps anyone can follow. No accounts, no upsells, no watermarks.

Read how we test & write our guides →