Vendor sources and our tests are labelled separately. Independent tests that have not been run are not implied.
Each claim shows its source and available task evidence. Totals show known charges in each product’s currency; no currency conversion, tax or future price increase is assumed. List charges exclude volume discounts.
PDF24
Online Tools
PlatformBrowser
Purchase basisFreePrice checked: 12 Sept 2026
Known 1-year cost · 1 person$0.00Tax excluded. Future upgrades and optional maintenance are not included unless stated.
Edit existing textNot supportedOfficial source · 12 Sept 2026Adds new text and drawings. The documented workaround for changing existing text is conversion to Word, editing there, then converting back.
Read scanned text (OCR)Available · official sourceOfficial source · 12 Sept 2026The online tools include OCR; documents are processed on servers.
Create fillable formsAvailable · official sourceOfficial source · 12 Sept 2026Creates fillable form fields including text boxes, checkboxes and dropdowns.
Fill existing formsNot established
Annotate & signAvailable · official sourceOfficial source · 12 Sept 2026New text, drawing and image annotations are documented; signature tools are also listed in the PDF24 tool collection.
Merge & organize pagesAvailable · official sourceOfficial source · 12 Sept 2026The PDF24 tool collection provides online merge and page tools.
Permanently redact textPassed in recorded scope · task test recordedOriginal test · 12 Sept 2026PASS for this one-page synthetic fixture and Browser workflow only. Neither W2D-VISIBLE-742913 nor W2D-HIDDEN-583201 was recoverable from extracted text or decoded streams. Visual inspection confirms the marked region is black. Output is one raster image (1240 × 1753); the page content only paints that image, with no text layer, annotations or embedded files. Tradeoff: all page text lost searchability. Original document metadata remains. Does not establish metadata sanitization, arbitrary PDF safety, Windows Creator behavior, other versions, offline use, or handling of attachments, layers, forms or signatures.
Offline core taskOnline required · task test pending
Online processing uploads files to PDF24 servers.
Stirling PDF
Free individual · self-hosted
PlatformBrowser
Purchase basisFree license · hosting extraPrice checked: 13 Sept 2026
Known 1-year cost · 1 personUnknownTax excluded. Free individual software license. Server, hosting, setup and operations are additional and unpriced, so the full workflow total remains unknown. Team, Enterprise and metered automation are separate paid scopes.
Edit existing textAvailable with limitsOfficial source · 13 Sept 2026The PDF Text Editor is labelled Alpha in the reviewed tool list.
Read scanned text (OCR)Available · official sourceOfficial source · 13 Sept 2026OCR makes scanned documents searchable; editable layout quality remains untested.
Create fillable formsSource reviewed · not establishedOfficial source · 13 Sept 2026The reviewed source does not establish this exact task for this edition.
Fill existing formsSource reviewed · not establishedOfficial source · 13 Sept 2026The reviewed source does not establish this exact task for this edition.
Annotate & signAvailable · official sourceOfficial source · 13 Sept 2026Read and Annotate is a documented tool.
Merge & organize pagesAvailable · official sourceOfficial source · 13 Sept 2026Merge and page operations are listed tools.
Permanently redact textTool documented · outcome test neededOfficial source · 13 Sept 2026A redaction tool is advertised. Permanent removal is unresolved until an original saved-output extraction test is published.
Offline core taskLocal core task documented · task test pending
This record covers the Free individual self-hosted tier. A remote instance receives uploaded files; self-hosting does not automatically mean local or air-gapped processing. Hosting and operations costs are excluded and unknown; paid team and automation scopes differ.