iLovePDF and Smallpdf upload your file. This site never receives it.

Every PDF site looks the same from the outside: drop a file, get a file back. The difference is on the wire.

Last reviewed October 2026. If a page like this is ever rewritten, the date moves with it.

Where your file actually goes

On iLovePDF and Smallpdf the file is sent to their servers, processed there, and deleted on a timer. Their own policies say so. iLovePDF's privacy policy states that it will "delete the files of your Content ... within TWO (2) HOURS of being processed on ILOVEPDF's servers". Smallpdf's blog says that "for most PDF tasks Smallpdf deletes files after one hour of processing", and that eSign documents are kept for fourteen days, with the timer restarting each time someone opens one.

That sentence only makes sense because the file is on their servers in the first place. On this site the file is opened by your own browser and never leaves the device. There is no copy to delete, because no copy was ever made.

The part both of them get right

This is not a hit piece. iLovePDF and Smallpdf are both ISO/IEC 27001 certified, GDPR compliant, encrypted in transit, and unusually clear about how long they keep a file. They delete on a schedule and they say so in writing. Plenty of small PDF sites do neither.

They also both sell a desktop app that processes files locally. If the only question is whether a file leaves your laptop, their desktop apps answer it too — for a download and, usually, a paid plan.

Why "deleted after an hour" is still not "never sent"

Deletion is a promise about the future, made by whoever is holding the file. It depends on a timer running, a policy being followed, a backup expiring, and nobody asking for the file in the meantime. It is a good promise. It is still a promise.

A file that was never sent needs no promise. There is no retention window to read, no region to wonder about, and nothing to take on trust — you can watch the browser's network tab stay empty while a document is processed.

When they are the better choice

A comparison that says one side wins everything is not worth reading, so:

You need e-signatures. Both offer full signing workflows with audit trails; this site has no signing at all. You need a phone app. Both have real iOS and Android apps; this is a website. You need an API. iLovePDF has one. Your file is very large — everything here is bounded by your device's memory, so a 300-page scan on an old phone will be slow. And if you need OCR in dozens of languages, this site's OCR covers English, Sinhala and Tamil only, which is a deliberately narrow choice rather than a claim to cover the world.

What this site does instead

Merge, split, organise, compress, crop, page numbers, watermark, fill PDF forms, redact, images and HEIC to PDF, and making a scan searchable — all in the tab, with no upload, no account and no file size paywall.

It is a smaller product built on one idea, and that idea is the only thing here that a server-based tool cannot copy without becoming a different kind of company.

Questions

Is iLovePDF safe?

Yes — ISO 27001, GDPR, TLS, and a stated two-hour deletion window. The question is not whether they are trustworthy; it is whether this particular file needs to be sent anywhere.

Is Smallpdf safe?

Also yes, with a one-hour window for most tools and fourteen days for eSign documents. The same question applies.

Can they read my document while they have it?

Both policies say file contents are not read except to provide the service. Encryption in transit is not encryption from them, though — that is how server-side processing works by definition.

Does Heron PDF work offline?

Yes. The processing code, the PDF engine and the OCR engine are served from this site rather than a CDN, so once a page has loaded the tools keep working with the network off. OCR language data is about 4 MB and is fetched the first time you use OCR; that is code, not your file.

Is Heron PDF as capable as iLovePDF?

No. It is missing e-sign, mobile apps, an API, Office conversions and most OCR languages. It is better at exactly one thing: not receiving your file.

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