Stirling-PDF
Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDFReviewed by Radar
What it does
Stirling PDF is a PDF toolbox with more than 50 tools: merge, split, sign, redact, convert, compress, read text from scans (OCR) and edit PDFs. You can install it as a desktop app, or run it on your own server and use it in a web browser, so documents do not have to go to an outside website. It also offers no-code automation and an API for businesses. The core is open source; some parts and the Server and Enterprise plans are paid.
How easy it is to install
A · download and open · Windows
The latest release includes Windows installers (Stirling-PDF-windows-x86_64.msi and an arm64 setup.exe); the Docker command in the README is only needed for the server version.
Numbers on GitHub
- Stars
- 95,481on Oct 31, 2026
- Downloads
- 2,871,58761,782 this week
- Growth
- +474stars in 6 days
Stars over time
Facts
- Runs on
- Windows, macOS, Linux
- You need to install
- Nothing extra
- Disk space
- 257 MB–770 MB · from the installer
- Accounts or keys
- None
- Cost
- Freemium · Open-core: most code is MIT, but some folders have their own licenses, and the README links to paid Server and Enterprise plans.
- License
- MIT (Permissive)
- Can replace
- Acrobat
- Last update
- Oct 30, 2026
Risk signals (1)
- Infoopen core license
LICENSE: content under "app/proprietary/", "app/saas/", "engine/" and "frontend/src/editor/desktop/" (among others) "is licensed under the license defined in" separate LICENSE files, not MIT; README: "Stirling PDF is open-core."
AI review
Evidence is shown in its original language.
What Radar could not check
- Which features in the desktop app are free and which need a paid plan
- Whether the desktop app sends any data or usage statistics online
- How well PDF editing keeps the original layout on complex documents
- Real disk use after installing, which Radar estimates from the installer size