iLovePDF
The one-tab PDF workshop: merge, compress, convert, and sign without installing anything.
About
iLovePDF has been running since 2010 out of Spain, and it is one of those sites that has quietly become infrastructure for office work: open it in any browser, drop in a PDF, and pick from around twenty tools covering merge, split, compress, convert to and from Word, PowerPoint, Excel and JPG, plus edit, watermark, unlock, protect, and e-sign. Files are processed in the cloud, and a desktop app for Windows and macOS handles offline work, with mobile apps and a Chrome extension rounding it out.
The free tier covers everyday use but caps how much you can process; heavier users step up to Premium at about $7 a month. There is also a developer API for wiring the same tools into your own app. Like every browser-based PDF tool, it means trusting a third party with your documents, so the genuinely sensitive stuff belongs in the desktop app or a local tool. No published independent benchmarks exist for conversion accuracy or speed, and the marketing claims about conversion quality are provider-claimed.
What it can do
- Merge, split, compress, rotate, and organize PDFs in the browser
- Convert between PDF and Word, PowerPoint, Excel, JPG, and HTML
- Add text, images, shapes, and annotations to PDFs
- Electronic signatures: sign yourself or request signatures from others
- OCR to make scanned PDFs searchable and editable
- Watermark, page-number, protect, and unlock PDFs
- Desktop app for offline processing on Windows and Mac
- Developer API for merge, compress, convert, and more
Setup
No install for the web tools: open ilovepdf.com, pick a tool, and drop in your file. Optional desktop and mobile apps from the site.
Prerequisites
A modern browser. Free account for heavier usage; Premium subscription for the top limits and the API.
Use cases
Works with
Trust score — 8/10
Scored 8/10 (verified tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: operating since 2010 out of Spain per third-party vendor data; Gizmodo's 2026 listing confirms the web, Windows/Mac desktop, iOS/Android, and Chrome extension lineup with 20+ tools; Slashdot comparison data confirms the ~$7/mo Premium tier. Strengths: one of the longest-running free PDF tool suites, broad format coverage, genuinely useful free tier, developer API. Docked for: (1) web processing means uploading documents to a third party; (2) free tier caps push regular users to a subscription; (3) conversion quality claims are provider-claimed with no independent benchmarks. License: proprietary freemium.
How the trust score is built
Full methodology →- Adoption · stars/downloads, log-scaled vs peers
- 9.0/10
- Maintenance · recency, releases, issue load
- 8.0/10
- Openness · license + docs
- 2.0/10
- Manual review · sanity read + red-flag check
- 8.0/10
- · iLovePDF; founded 2010, Spain
- · ~20 tools: merge, split, compress, convert PDF to/from Word, PPT, Excel, JPG
- · Edit, watermark, unlock, protect, OCR, e-sign with signature requests
- · Web app plus Windows/Mac desktop app, iOS/Android apps, Chrome extension
- · Developer API for merge, compress, convert, and more
- · Free tier caps push regular users to Premium
- · Web processing means uploading documents to a third party
- · No independent benchmarks; conversion quality claims are provider-claimed
Sources
Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.