The price anchor
| PDFsmith | SmallPDF | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $0 — no subscription | $12–15/mo |
| Annual | $0 after purchase | $144 |
| 5-year total | $29 | $720 |
| 10-year total | $29 | $1,440 |
Subscription figures from the vendor's published pricing ($12–15/mo, ~$144/yr); the PDFsmith column is the full price, paid once.
Break-even analysis
Two and a half months of SmallPDF pays for PDFsmith outright. Everything after that is money you keep.
- After 1 year: PDFsmith has cost you $29 total — SmallPDF has cost $144.
- After 3 years: PDFsmith is still $29 — the subscription is at $432.
- After 5 years: PDFsmith is still $29 — the subscription is at $720.
What you get for $29 once
- 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.
- Images → PDF. JPG/PNG to PDF, one image per page, reorderable, A4-fit or native size.
- No renewal, ever. The license does not expire and there is no per-seat meter — $29 is the whole price.
Pricing questions
Is it really free on GitHub?
Yes. The full source code is MIT-licensed at github.com/bensblueprints/pdf-toolkit-mvp and always will be. Buying gets you the signed Windows installer, 1-click setup and updates — pure convenience, zero lock-in.
Do my PDFs get uploaded anywhere?
No. All processing runs locally with pdf-lib, a pure-JavaScript library. The app makes no network calls at all — you can run it with Wi-Fi off.
What platforms does it run on?
The packaged installer is for Windows. The MIT source runs anywhere Electron does (Windows, macOS, Linux) if you build it yourself with Node 18+.
Can it edit text inside a PDF?
No — and we'd rather tell you that upfront. PDFsmith covers merge, split, rotate, watermark, images-to-PDF and metadata. For rewriting body text inside an existing PDF you still need a full editor like Acrobat.
PDFsmith — $29, one time
Or get PDFsmith plus every other app in the suite: the OneTimeSuite bundle is currently $97, one time.