How this page is written. ZetTool is one of the free options described below, not a neutral third party. We get nothing from the other services listed here: no affiliate links, no sponsorship, no referral fees. Limits and prices were read from each provider's own published pricing page in September 2026 and carry that provider's terms. Providers change their plans often, so confirm anything you rely on before you commit to it.
iLovePDF is the other name that comes up constantly in searches for free PDF tools, and its reputation is well earned: the interface is fast, the tool list is broad, and the company states it is ISO 27001 certified. What surprises people is how tight the free plan is once you read the pricing table properly. The limits are not a vague "some features are premium". They are counted per task, in small numbers.
What iLovePDF does well
The toolset is the strongest argument for it. iLovePDF publishes a long feature table covering merge, split, compress, Office-to-PDF, Word to PDF, PowerPoint to PDF, Excel to PDF, PDF to Word, PDF to PowerPoint, PDF to Excel, OCR PDF, PDF to JPG, image to PDF, page numbers, watermark, rotate, unlock, protect, remove pages, reorder pages, organize pages, PDF to PDF/A, repair, web to PDF, edit, sign, scan to PDF, redact, compare, forms, crop and PDF to Markdown. It also offers desktop apps for Mac and Windows, mobile apps, and a separate image toolset called iLoveIMG. Students and academics can get a full year of Premium free, which is a genuinely generous offer and worth checking against your own status before you pay for anything.
The free plan, task by task
Here is what the published comparison table actually says about the free Basic plan. These are per-task allowances, so the counter resets rather than accumulating.
| Capability | Basic (free) | Premium |
|---|---|---|
| Merge PDF | 25 tasks | 500 tasks |
| Split PDF | 1 task | 1 task |
| Compress PDF | 2 tasks | 10 tasks |
| Office to PDF | 1 task | 10 tasks |
| Batch processing | Limited | Unlimited |
| PDF to Word / Excel (OCR) | Not available | Available |
| PDF to PDF/A | Not available | Available |
| AI Summarizer | Not available | 2,000 AI credits |
| Translate PDF | Not available | AI credits |
| PDF to Markdown | Available | Available |
| Edit, Redact, Compare, Forms, Sign, Scan, Repair, Crop | Available | Available |
| Web, Mobile and Desktop apps | Web only in practice | All three |
| Price | Free | USD 5 per user per month billed annually (USD 60 a year), or USD 9 per month billed monthly. Business from 25 users is contact-sales. |
Read the top four rows again, because they are the whole reason people look for alternatives. Free iLovePDF allows twenty-five merges, one split, two compressions and one Office conversion. Not unlimited uses of everything. Twenty-five of one thing, then a wall. If you split a document and then realise you need a second split, you are already at the limit.
The Premium tier is the cheapest paid PDF plan of the three major providers: at USD 5 per user per month on annual billing it sits below the price of a coffee, and the monthly rate is USD 9. For a business that hits those limits daily, that is a defensible price and there is a strong argument that paying it is the right call rather than hunting for a workaround.
Who should look elsewhere
Plenty of people, and they fall into recognisable groups.
- Anyone doing a document assembly. A single job might mean ten splits and four compressions. Free iLovePDF will stop you partway through, and the tool cannot queue the rest.
- Students working through an assignment. If your status qualifies, the free year of Premium is the answer, and it removes the entire problem. Check this first.
- People who do not want to create an account. The Premium tier is tied to an account. If the reason you wanted an alternative is to avoid sign-ups, this is the wrong direction.
- Anyone handling confidential documents. iLovePDF is a certified, reputable company, but files are processed on its infrastructure. Some documents should not leave the device at all.
Alternatives with no counter at all
Browser-based tools
When a tool does its work with JavaScript inside the page, there is no server-side quota to enforce, because your file never reaches a server. That is the structural reason these tools have no task caps. ZetTool's PDF and image tools are built this way and cover the everyday jobs: merge, split, compress, rotate, protect, unlock, add page numbers, PDF to JPG, JPG to PDF, Word to PDF, image compression and image to text. No sign-up, no counters, and the file stays on your machine. The fair limitation is speed: a 100 MB PDF will be slower in a browser tab than on a server built for it.
Desktop apps
PDF24 Desktop and Sejda Desktop both do the job offline with no limits and no uploads. They require an install, which is a real cost on a shared or locked-down work machine, but for sensitive documents the trade is often worth it.
Paying iLovePDF
Worth saying plainly. Five dollars a month on annual billing is not an unreasonable amount for unlimited work, and the student free year removes the argument for anyone in education. Looking for an alternative is not always the right move.
How to decide
Count your real usage for a week before you choose. Most people who look for alternatives are using these tools a few times a month, and for them the free caps will not be the deciding factor at all, which means a paid plan is likely the honest answer. The people who genuinely need an alternative are the ones batching dozens of files at once, and for those a tool with no counter and no account is the structural fix.
The short version
Related comparisons
- Smallpdf alternative: what the free plan really limits
- 9 best free PDF tools, compared side by side
- Free online PDF tools vs desktop software
Run the job yourself, free and in your browser
Compress PDF
Reduce file size
↗Split PDF
Separate into pages
↗Merge PDF
Combine documents
↗Rotate PDF
Fix page direction
↗Protect PDF
Add a password
↗Unlock PDF
Remove a password
↗Add Page Numbers
Label every page
↗PDF to JPG
Save pages as images
↗JPG to PDF
Combine images
↗Word to PDF
Convert documents
↗Image Compressor
Shrink image file size
↗Image to Text
Pull text out of scans
↗Frequently asked questions
How many PDFs can iLovePDF merge for free?
The published free plan allows 25 merge tasks. Premium raises this to 500 tasks.
Is iLovePDF really free?
There is a free Basic plan with no time limit, but it comes with per-task caps: 25 merges, 1 split, 2 compressions and 1 Office to PDF conversion. Batch processing is limited, and OCR conversion of PDF to Word or Excel, PDF/A, the AI summarizer and PDF translation are not included on the free plan.
How much does iLovePDF Premium cost?
As published on their pricing page, Premium is USD 5 per user per month when billed annually, which is USD 60 a year, or USD 9 per month when billed monthly. It covers 1 to 25 users. Business plans start at 25 users and are priced on contact.
Can students get iLovePDF Premium free?
Yes. iLovePDF states that students and academic professionals can get a full year of Premium at no cost. Eligibility criteria are on their site.
What is the difference between iLovePDF and a browser-based free tool?
A browser-based tool processes the file inside the page using JavaScript, so there is no server quota to enforce and the file is not uploaded. iLovePDF processes files on its own servers, which is what makes its per-task limits possible in the first place.
Where these numbers come from
Every claim about another service on this page is taken from a public page published by that service. We did not test accounts or run trials, so this page reflects what each provider states, not our own benchmark of them.
- Smallpdf plan limits and free-tier feature table: smallpdf.com/pricing
- Smallpdf on the difference between its yearly and monthly billing: smallpdf.com blog, Free vs Pro compared
- iLovePDF plan limits, per-task caps and pricing: ilovepdf.com/pricing
Last checked: September 2026. If a provider has changed something, tell us and we will correct this page.