Soda PDF alternative
The Soda PDF alternative for work you would rather keep on your own machine.
Soda PDF is a full commercial PDF product, and it is unusually direct about how it works: a published free-access policy that names its limits, a deletion window printed on its tool pages, a Windows desktop application that runs the whole feature set offline, OCR that handles more than one language in the same document, e-signatures with a real audit trail, cloud storage, and a site offered in many languages. Its catalogue is larger than Filozy's 39 tools. Filozy takes a narrower approach to the everyday jobs — merge, split, compress, convert, OCR, redact — by never sending the document anywhere: the work runs in a Web Worker on your device, and each job ends with a receipt like "3 pages · 412ms · 0 document bytes sent". Below is what Soda PDF states in its own words, which tools line up, and where Soda PDF is still the better answer.
What Soda PDF says about your files
These summaries link to Soda PDF's published information. Plans, features and wording change; check the linked sources before choosing a service.
- Soda PDF's free access policy states that some quick tools are free "but with certain limitations: up to 2 files per day OR a file size of 3 Mb max", and lists editing, optical character recognition (OCR), forms, reader, AI summarizer, translation and chat with a PDF as paid upgrades on Soda PDF online. Soda PDF free access policy
- The same policy explains how the paid features are trialled: "You can edit the document, but to obtain it (downloading, emailing, printing, or saving) requires payment", and "When it comes to downloading, printing, emailing or saving your file, a monthly or annual subscription is required." It adds that there is no perpetual licence — "Our solutions are available through a one-month or yearly subscription plan." Soda PDF free access policy
- Soda PDF's online tool pages carry the line "Your files remain private and will be deleted from our servers within 24 hours" — the Merge and PDF to Word pages both show it — and the Merge page repeats it as "You can rest assured your files are removed from our servers within 24 hours." The Merge page also offers Google Drive and Dropbox as file sources. Soda PDF Merge tool page
- Avanquest's privacy policy, which covers Soda PDF, says of uploaded files: "Certain Products allow you to upload documents, files, or media ('your Content')... We do not retain your Content, rather than any metadata required to operate, process and support your use of the Product. As a rule of thumb, your Content is retained locally on your local storage." E-signing is treated separately — it records name, email, IP address, timestamps, document content and an audit trail, and "Signed documents and their audit trails are retained for up to 10 years from the signature date, in accordance with French commercial law." Avanquest privacy policy
- Soda PDF ships as two products. The desktop application is described as "fully loaded with our entire feature set" with "Offline capability: No internet? No problem!" and "Performance: Leverage your device's hardware for smoother handling of large files and complex tasks", and the same page notes "Soda PDF Desktop is currently not available for macOS. You can use Soda PDF Online as an alternative version." Soda PDF product 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 Soda PDF | On Filozy |
|---|---|
| Merge PDF | Merge PDF |
| Split PDF | Split PDF |
| Delete PDF | Delete PDF pages |
| Rotate PDF | Rotate PDF |
| Compress PDF | Compress PDF |
| Edit PDF | Edit PDF |
| OCR PDF | OCR PDF |
| Protect PDF | Protect PDF |
| Unlock PDF | Unlock PDF |
| Watermark | Watermark PDF |
| E-Sign | Sign PDF |
| PDF Forms | Fill PDF forms |
| PDF to Word | PDF to Word |
| PDF to Excel | PDF to Excel |
| PDF to JPG | PDF to JPG |
| Word to PDF | Word to PDF |
| Excel to PDF | Excel to PDF |
| PPT to PDF | PowerPoint to PDF |
| JPG to PDF | JPG to PDF |
| TXT to PDF | Text to PDF |
| PDF to PPT | Not offered |
| HTML to PDF | Not offered |
| PDF Reader | Not offered |
| Chat with PDF | Not offered |
When Soda PDF is the better choice
- You want installed software. Soda PDF for Desktop is a real Windows application its product page calls "fully loaded with our entire feature set and advanced tools", with "Offline capability: No internet? No problem!" and performance that leans on your device's hardware for large files. Filozy has no native apps at all — it is a website, and it needs a browser. (Note the platform: Soda's page says Soda PDF Desktop "is currently not available for macOS".)
- Your scans are not in English. Soda PDF's OCR page says its service "can automatically detect different languages in the same document, allowing accurate and usable text extraction regardless of linguistic complexity". Filozy's OCR is English only and picks up nothing else reliably, so a Hindi, Japanese or Arabic scan is simply the wrong job for it.
- You need signatures that stand up later. Soda PDF's plans list e-signing as "Create & apply your e-signature to PDFs, plus send & track signature requests in real-time", and its privacy policy describes the audit trail behind that — signer email, IP address, approximate location, a timestamp for every action — with signed documents and audit trails retained for up to 10 years. Filozy's sign-pdf places a visible signature mark only; it is not a certificate-backed digital signature, and it cannot be, because certificates and timestamps are network calls by definition.
- The file is bigger than the free ceiling or bigger than your device. Soda PDF's own framing is "no subscription required — unless you want unlimited access with no size or daily limitations", so a paid plan lifts the free 2-files-a-day-or-3-Mb limit and does the work on their servers regardless of what your laptop holds. Filozy is bounded by your device's memory, and a phone can run out on a very large scan.
- You want accounts, storage, teams or a non-English interface. Soda PDF sells multi-licence plans, lists cloud storage and integrations with OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, Box and SharePoint, and publishes its site in many languages. It also has tools Filozy does not: AI summarise, translate and chat with a PDF, an online PDF reader, HTML to PDF, PDF to PowerPoint, Resize, and a long tail of image conversions (TIFF, GIF, BMP). Filozy has no accounts, no cloud storage, no team features and an English-only interface.
Questions people ask
Is Filozy a free Soda PDF alternative?
For the everyday jobs, yes, and without the free-tier ceiling. Soda PDF's free access policy caps free quick-tool use at "up to 2 files per day OR a file size of 3 Mb max", and puts editing, OCR, forms, reader, AI summarizer, translation and chat behind a subscription — with the editor you can work on the document but "to obtain it (downloading, emailing, printing, or saving) requires payment". Filozy has no daily quota, no size cap beyond your device's memory, no watermark and no account. It also has fewer tools: 39, against a larger Soda PDF catalogue.
Does Soda PDF upload my files, and how long are they kept?
Its online tools do — the file goes to their servers to be processed. Its tool pages state "Your files remain private and will be deleted from our servers within 24 hours", and Avanquest's privacy policy says of uploaded content, "We do not retain your Content, rather than any metadata required to operate, process and support your use of the Product." Soda PDF Desktop is the exception: it works offline on your own machine. On Filozy the document never leaves the page — every tool runs in a Web Worker in your tab, and each job ends with a receipt reading 0 document bytes sent, which you can check yourself in DevTools → Network.
What can Soda PDF do that Filozy cannot?
Enough that it is worth knowing before you switch. Filozy has no certified or digital signatures — sign-pdf places a visible mark, not a certificate-backed signature with a timestamp and audit trail. OCR is English only. PDF-to-Word is weak on multi-column layouts, so a two-column report comes back with the columns run together. A phone can run out of memory on a very large scan. And there is no AI summarising, translation or chat, no online PDF reader, no HTML to PDF, no PDF to PowerPoint, no native app, no cloud storage, no team features and no non-English interface.
Do I need an account for either one?
Filozy needs none — there is nothing to sign up for. With Soda PDF, the free quick tools are usable within the published limits, but anything on the paid list means a subscription: its free access policy says "There is no traditional free trial", that downloading, printing, emailing or saving from the editor "requires payment", and that there is no perpetual licence — "Our solutions are available through a one-month or yearly subscription plan."
Which should I use for a scanned contract?
Soda PDF, if the scan is in a language other than English — its OCR page says the service detects different languages in the same document — or if the file is past what your machine will comfortably hold, since a paid plan removes the size and daily limits and does the work server-side. Filozy, if the scan is English and of ordinary size: the recognition runs on your device, so a payslip, contract or medical record is never uploaded to be read by anyone's server, whatever the deletion window.