Quick answer
Yes — for the part of iLovePDF covered on this page, PDFsmith is a one-time-purchase alternative. It costs $29 once, while iLovePDF lists from $7/mo. Merge, split, rotate, watermark & convert PDFs offline. No uploads, ever. It is not a 1:1 replacement for everything iLovePDF does — the honest limits are spelled out below.
The verdict
Switch to PDFsmith if the slice of iLovePDF you actually pay for is the slice PDFsmith covers — and a $29 one-time price beats from $7/mo for as long as you use it.
Stay with iLovePDF if this sounds like you — iLovePDF needs no install, runs on any device with a browser, and its toolkit is wider (OCR, e-sign, PDF/A conversion, repair). PDFsmith covers the core offline jobs; the long tail of formats is iLovePDF's.
Head to head
| PDFsmith | iLovePDF | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $29 once | from $7/mo |
| Where it runs | Your own machine | Vendor cloud (hosted service) |
| Renewal | None — the license never expires | Recurring — access ends when you stop paying |
| 5-year cost | $29 | ~$240 |
About iLovePDF: iLovePDF is a web-based PDF toolkit (merge, split, compress, convert) that uploads files to its servers. Premium lists from about $7/mo (around $48/yr), with a capped free tier.
Where iLovePDF still wins
iLovePDF needs no install, runs on any device with a browser, and its toolkit is wider (OCR, e-sign, PDF/A conversion, repair). PDFsmith covers the core offline jobs; the long tail of formats is iLovePDF's.
Where PDFsmith wins
PDFsmith runs the same everyday jobs — merge, split, rotate, watermark, images-to-PDF, metadata — entirely on your machine, so contracts and invoices are never uploaded to anyone's servers. $29 once with no page limits, no account, and it works with the Wi-Fi off.
- Price, permanently. $29 once versus from $7/mo for as long as you use it. There is no renewal, no seat count and no tier gate.
- 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.
The math
iLovePDF lists from $7/mo. PDFsmith is $29, paid once:
- After 1 year: PDFsmith has cost you $29 total — iLovePDF has cost ~$48.
- After 3 years: PDFsmith is still $29 — the subscription is at ~$144.
- After 5 years: PDFsmith is still $29 — the subscription is at ~$240.
Common 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.
Try PDFsmith — $29, one time
Or get PDFsmith plus every other app in the suite: the OneTimeSuite bundle is currently $97, one time.