PDFsmith and SmallPDF solve the same problem from opposite directions: one is source-available software you can own outright for $29, the other is a subscription at $12–15/mo run entirely on someone else's servers.
Head to head
| PDFsmith | SmallPDF | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $29 once | $12–15/month ($144+/yr, forever) |
| Your files | Never leave your machine | Uploaded to their servers |
| Works offline | Yes | No |
| Account required | No | Yes |
| Merge / split / rotate | Yes | Yes |
| Watermark (text + image) | Yes | Pro only |
| Metadata editor | Yes | No |
| Source code | MIT, on GitHub | Closed |
What PDFsmith does well
- Merge PDFs — Drag-drop any number of PDFs, reorder them in the list, combine into one file.
- Split PDF — Extract any page ranges (1-2 | 3 | 4-6) into separate new PDFs.
- Rotate pages — 90° / 180° / 270°, all pages or a specific range, batched across files.
- Watermark — Text (position, size, opacity, diagonal) or image stamp — batch across files.
What SmallPDF still does better
There's a real reason SmallPDF costs what it does: a bigger team, broader integrations and dedicated support behind it. If that ecosystem is genuinely what you need, it's worth paying for.
Which one should you pick
If your workflow depends on SmallPDF's specific integrations or you'd rather not run anything yourself, stay put — that's a legitimate call. If you're comfortable owning the tool and want to stop paying $12–15/mo for a job your own hardware can do, PDFsmith pays for itself and then some: two and a half months of SmallPDF pays for PDFsmith outright. Everything after that is money you keep.
Try PDFsmith — $29, once
Merge, split, rotate, watermark & convert PDFs offline. No uploads, ever.