PDF Loft compared with other PDF tools
What each product publishes about its price, where it processes your files, how long it keeps them and what it includes, in one table.
Competitor facts as published on their websites, checked 4 November 2026. Where a page did not say, the table reads Not published. PDF Loft facts come from the product itself.
| Capability | PDF Loft | iLovePDF | Smallpdf | Adobe Acrobat | PDF24 Tools | Sejda | Soda PDF | PDFgear | Foxit PDF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main paid plan | Pro: USD 12 a month billed yearly (USD 144 a year), or USD 18 a month billed monthly. Team: USD 48 a month billed yearly. Business: USD 199 a month billed yearly. Prices exclude tax. | Premium: 242 INR a month on annual billing, or 500 INR billed monthly. No dollar price shown.Source | Pro (1 user) and Team (2 to 100 users), each per user and billed annually. Amounts not shown on the page read.Source | Acrobat Pro: USD 19.99 a month on an annual plan billed monthly, USD 239.88 a year prepaid, or USD 29.99 on a monthly plan. Acrobat Standard: USD 14.99 a month on the annual plan.Source | None stated. Tools are free.Source | Desktop and web, annual: USD 63 per user a year. Web week pass: USD 5 for 7 days.Source | Pro, Team and Business plans. Dollar amounts are not shown on the page; it shows "See prices" links.Source | None. Described as completely free and without signing up.Source | PDF Editor+: USD 159.99 per user a year. Subscriptions start at USD 10.99 a month. A perpetual licence is USD 209.99 once.Source |
| Free use | Every tool, 3 tasks a day, files up to 25 MB, up to 5 files in one run. No card needed. | Limited document processing, with limits that differ by tool. Examples shown: 1 Split task, 2 Compress tasks, 25 Merge tasks.Source | No cap stated. A 7-day trial gives unlimited access to all tools.Source | Acrobat Reader is free for viewing. Limits of the free online tools are not published on the pages read.Source | All tools free of charge and without restrictions; no artificial limits. Funded by ads.Source | Page and hourly limits, limited file uploads and tool-specific limits; no figures given. No sign-up needed.Source | Size and daily usage limitations may apply. No figures given.Source | Completely free; no limits statedSource | Free online tools, including PDF to Word, Merge PDF and Compress PDF. Limits not published.Source |
| Where files are processed | On the web, 21 of 39 tools run in your browser, so the file is not uploaded. The other 18 run on PDF Loft servers, and so does every tool in the mobile apps and the API. | Uploaded and processed on third-party cloud infrastructure, encrypted in transit and at rest.Source | Not published | Not published | Online tools run in the browser but process files on PDF24 servers. The desktop PDF24 Creator keeps files on the PC.Source | Web tools: documents are uploaded and processed on its servers. Sejda Desktop processes documents on your computer.Source | Not published | Online tools work directly in the web browser. Where files are processed is not stated.Source | Not published |
| Files kept after processing | On the web, browser tools keep nothing on our servers. Server tools, and every tool run from the mobile apps or the API, delete the files you give them when they finish, and delete a result you do not save 2 hours after it is made. | Automatically and permanently deleted within two hours of being processed.Source | Not published | Not published | Removed from its servers after a short time. No period given.Source | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published |
| Number of tools | 39 tools | 33 tools in its all-tools menuSource | 30 toolsSource | 25+ PDF and e-signing tools onlineSource | 24 tools listed on its tools pageSource | 44 tools in its menuSource | Not published | "Dozens" of online tools; no number givenSource | Not published |
| E-signing | Send a document for signature to people who need no account: signers sign one after the other or all at once, from a template or a one-off document, and each request has a timeline whose entries are chained so that a change shows, and a completion certificate. Signature requests a month: 2 on Free, 50 on Pro, 300 on Team and 1,500 on Business. Sign PDF also adds your own signature, drawn, typed or uploaded. | Yes (iLoveSign). Signing yourself is unlimited on all plans; advanced e-signature is on Premium.Source | Not published | Included in all three plansSource | A Sign PDF tool is listedSource | A Fill and Sign tool. No separate e-sign plan.Source | Included in all plansSource | An online e-signing platform (eSignGear) to send, track and collect signaturesSource | PDF Editor: fill and sign only. PDF Editor+: Foxit eSign with 150 envelopes a year.Source |
| OCR | OCR PDF makes a scanned PDF searchable in 10 languages, up to 3 in one run. | Basic OCR on all plans; advanced OCR on Premium and Business.Source | Not published | Pro and Studio include turning scans into editable PDFsSource | A PDF OCR tool: recognise text and create searchable PDF filesSource | Paid plans: OCR of documents up to 100 pagesSource | OCR search on Pro and Team; OCR editing on BusinessSource | Yes, 30+ languages supportedSource | Included: scan to searchable PDFSource |
| Several files at once | Up to 5 files in one run on Free, 25 on Pro, 50 on Team and 100 on Business, for the tools that take several files. Each output file counts as one task. | Limited on the free plan; unlimited on Premium and Business.Source | Not published | Batch processing and an Action Wizard described for Acrobat ProSource | Not published | Paid plans: processing multiple files at onceSource | IncludedSource | A batch conversion mode is providedSource | Not published |
| Team plans | Team and Business plans. For a team sharing one library, one set of stamps and one allowance. Business adds SAML and OpenID Connect single sign-on with automatic provisioning (SCIM). | Premium covers 1 to 25 users with teams and workflows. Business is for more than 25 users, with custom pricing and single sign-on.Source | A Team plan for 2 to 100 usersSource | Team licences from USD 16.99 a month per licence, with an admin console and 24 by 7 supportSource | Not published | Volume discounts: 10 percent for 2 to 4 users, 20 percent for 5 to 24, 40 percent for 25 to 49, 60 percent for 50 or moreSource | A Team plan with extra discounts per licence, and a Business plan with self-serve plan management, deployment on all platforms and phone supportSource | Not published | Not published |
| Developer API | A public REST API described by an OpenAPI 3.1 document, with API keys, scopes, idempotency keys and signed webhooks, and an MCP server for AI assistants. Included in the Team plan and above. The Zapier and Make apps are built but not yet published to their directories. | Yes (iLoveAPI)Source | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Sold separately (PDF Services API and eSign API); not included in the editor plansSource |
| Desktop and mobile apps | A web app that runs in the browser. Mobile apps for iOS and Android, a desktop app and a browser extension are built but are not yet in the app stores or published for download, so there is no separate desktop or mobile app to install today. | Desktop for Mac and Windows, and mobile for iOS and Android, on Premium and Business.Source | Not published | Desktop software, online access, Acrobat Reader and the Acrobat Scan mobile appSource | PDF24 Creator for Windows, a Chrome extension and an installable web appSource | Sejda Desktop, an installed application. No mobile app mentioned.Source | Windows desktop, and a web app on iOS and Android smartphonesSource | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and a Chrome extensionSource | Editor on Windows, macOS and web; Editor+ adds iOS and AndroidSource |
| Interface languages | 10 languages | 26 languagesSource | 24 options in the language selectorSource | Not published | 43 languagesSource | 29 languagesSource | 15 language versions in its selectorSource | Not published | Not published |
One page for each product
- PDF Loft and iLovePDF comparedPDF Loft and iLovePDF side by side: price, where files are processed, how long they are kept, tools, e-signing, OCR, API and apps, as each publishes them.
- PDF Loft and Smallpdf comparedPDF Loft and Smallpdf side by side: tools, languages, plans and where files are processed, using only what each publishes on its own pages.
- PDF Loft and Adobe Acrobat comparedPDF Loft and Adobe Acrobat online side by side: plan prices, tools, e-signing, OCR, team plans and apps, using only what Adobe publishes on its own pages.
- PDF Loft and PDF24 Tools comparedPDF Loft and PDF24 Tools side by side: price, limits, where files are processed, tools, OCR, languages and apps, using what PDF24 publishes on its own site.
- PDF Loft and Sejda comparedPDF Loft and Sejda side by side: prices, free limits, where files are processed, tools, OCR, desktop app and languages, as each publishes them.
- PDF Loft and Soda PDF comparedPDF Loft and Soda PDF side by side: plans, e-signing, OCR, team plans, apps, languages and where files are processed, using what Soda PDF publishes itself.
- PDF Loft and PDFgear comparedPDF Loft and PDFgear side by side: price, apps, OCR, e-signing, batch conversion and where files are processed, using what PDFgear publishes on its own site.
- PDF Loft and Foxit PDF comparedPDF Loft and Foxit PDF Editor side by side: plan prices, e-signing, OCR, apps and API, using only what Foxit publishes on its own pages.