PDF24 Tools alternative
The PDF24 alternative that does the work on your device instead of on a server.
PDF24 Tools is a long-running, genuinely free service from a German company — no account, no watermarks, more than ninety tools, and files it says are deleted from its EU servers an hour after processing, or removed manually the moment you are done. The difference between it and Filozy is architectural rather than commercial: PDF24 processes your document on its servers, Filozy processes it in your browser, so the document never travels. Below is the honest comparison, including the places where PDF24 is the better choice.
What PDF24 Tools says about your files
These summaries link to PDF24 Tools's published information. Plans, features and wording change; check the linked sources before choosing a service.
- PDF24's privacy policy states that files uploaded for processing are stored on a special server infrastructure, that upload and download are protected by SSL, that all servers processing files are located within the EU, and that uploaded files and the results created are usually deleted one hour after uploading or creating the results, with longer storage possible if processing takes more than an hour. PDF24 privacy policy
- PDF24 Tools is operated by Geek Software GmbH, a German company; its FAQ states that all file transfers are encrypted, that all files are automatically deleted from the processing server within one hour after processing and can also be removed manually immediately, that all processing servers are located in data centres within the EU, that PDF24 does not store or evaluate files, and that a data processing agreement is available on request for the online tools. PDF24 Tools FAQ
- PDF24's home page states that all PDF24 tools can be used free of charge and without any restrictions, that this is achieved via some advertising on the web pages, and that there are no artificial limits at PDF24 — adding that thanks to its scalable infrastructure it can make everything the tools can do available to users. PDF24 Tools home page
- PDF24's FAQ states that the tools are available to all users, including companies, free of charge and without restriction, financed by discreet advertising on the websites, and that the online tools and PDF24 Creator have been free for many years with no hidden costs, subscriptions or paywalls. PDF24 Tools FAQ — pricing
- PDF24 also offers PDF24 Creator, free Windows software that works offline with files remaining locally on the PC and not uploaded to the internet, including a virtual PDF printer and a Windows file explorer context menu extension; PDF24 states it can only be installed on Windows systems and that Linux and MAC are not currently supported. PDF24 Creator page
What Filozy does instead
Filozy's document tools process the files on your device and save the results locally, without uploading your document to our server. Multi-step workflows can temporarily store a result in your browser to carry it to the next tool; see the privacy policy for cleanup details. The website and supporting engine files still require ordinary web requests.
Tools for similar tasks
Each row pairs a task, not identical features or output. Check the tool's limits and your exported file.
| On PDF24 Tools | On Filozy |
|---|---|
| Merge PDF | Merge PDF |
| Split PDF | Split PDF |
| Compress PDF | Compress PDF |
| Edit PDF | Edit PDF |
| Sign PDF | Sign PDF |
| PDF OCR | OCR PDF |
| Rearrange PDF pages | Organize PDF pages |
| Remove PDF pages | Delete PDF pages |
| Extract PDF pages | Extract PDF pages |
| Rotate PDF pages | Rotate PDF |
| Extract PDF images | Extract images from PDF |
| PDF to Word | PDF to Word |
| Word to PDF | Word to PDF |
| PDF to Excel | PDF to Excel |
| PDF to JPG | PDF to JPG |
| Images to PDF | JPG to PDF |
| Protect PDF | Protect PDF |
| Unlock PDF | Unlock PDF |
| Redact PDF | Redact PDF |
| Webpage to PDF | Not offered |
| PDF to PowerPoint | Not offered |
| Create invoice | Not offered |
| Generate QR code | Not offered |
| Bookmark PDF | Not offered |
When PDF24 Tools is the better choice
- You need OCR in a language other than English. PDF24's OCR page offers a language menu of well over a hundred entries — Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, Japanese and Korean among them — and says the text is recognised on its servers. Filozy's OCR is English only, and that is not a close call.
- You want a native desktop application, or you work with no internet at all. PDF24 Creator is free Windows software that keeps files on your PC and never uploads them, with a virtual PDF printer and a Windows Explorer context-menu extension; PDF24 says Linux and MAC are not currently supported. Filozy has no native app — it is a website.
- Your file is larger than your device can comfortably hold in memory. PDF24 does the work on its own machines and its home page says there are no artificial limits at PDF24, thanks to its scalable infrastructure. Filozy's ceiling is whatever memory your browser tab can get, which on a phone is not much.
- You need a tool Filozy simply does not have: Webpage to PDF, PDF to PowerPoint, PDF to EPUB, Create electronic invoice, Generate QR code, Bookmark PDF or Publisher to PDF — all of them live on PDF24 today. Its all-tools page lists more than ninety, more than twice our thirty-nine.
- You do not read English. PDF24 publishes its interface in more than forty languages — its own language switcher links 43 localised versions of every page, from Arabic to Vietnamese. Filozy's interface is English only.
Questions people ask
Does PDF24 upload my files?
Yes, and it says so plainly. PDF24's privacy policy states that files uploaded for processing are stored on a special server infrastructure, that upload and download are protected by SSL, that all servers processing files are within the EU, and that files and results are usually deleted one hour after uploading — with longer storage possible if the job itself runs past an hour. Its FAQ adds that an uploaded file can also be removed manually, immediately, rather than waiting for the hour to elapse. That is a reasonable, well-documented arrangement. Filozy's difference is that there is no upload step at all: the PDF is opened and rewritten inside your browser, so there is nothing on a server to delete.
Is Filozy free like PDF24, and are there limits?
Both are free, with no account and no watermark. PDF24's FAQ says its tools are free for all users including companies, funded by discreet advertising, with no hidden costs, subscriptions or paywalls. Filozy has no daily quota, no file-count limit and no file-size cap that we impose — but there is a real ceiling, and it is your hardware. The work happens in your browser, so your device's available memory decides how large a file will go through; a very large scan can exhaust a phone and the tab will simply fail, where a laptop copes easily. PDF24 offloads exactly that to its servers, which is a genuine advantage when the file is big.
Which one is better for OCR or PDF to Word?
PDF24, on both, and it is not close on either. Its OCR language menu runs to well over a hundred entries; Filozy's OCR is English only, so if your scan is in German, Spanish, Chinese or anything else, use PDF24 — we would rather say that than have you waste time on ours. For PDF to Word, Filozy's converter is weak on multi-column layouts: academic papers, newsletters and two-column reports come back with the reading order scrambled. PDF24 converts on its servers and its page offers a choice between keeping the original layout and reflowing the text into paragraphs. Plain single-column documents convert well here; anything typeset in columns, check the result or use PDF24.
Can either one give me a legally certified signature?
No, and it is worth being blunt about that. Filozy's sign tool places a drawn, typed or uploaded signature image onto the page — it does not produce a certificate-based digital signature, and there is no identity check or trusted timestamp behind it. PDF24's Sign PDF works the same way, by drawing, uploading or photographing your signature, and its page mentions no certificate authority, timestamp or qualified electronic signature either. So this is not a reason to pick one over the other. If you need a signature that carries legal proof of who signed and when, neither tool is the right one: use a certificate-based signing service.
How can I check that Filozy really does not upload the document?
Open DevTools, go to the Network tab, and run a job. Every Filozy job also ends with a receipt reading "document bytes sent: 0". To be precise about what that does and does not claim: the page itself is served by Cloudflare and uses cookieless Cloudflare Web Analytics, described in our privacy policy, so the site does make network requests. What it never sends is your document, its contents or its filename.