Side-by-side tool comparison
iLovePDF vs Smallpdf: Complete Comparison
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iLovePDF offers a more generous free tier with fewer daily limits and a lower Pro price ($7/mo vs $12/mo), making it the better budget choice. Smallpdf provides a more polished UX, higher file size limits, and broader format conversion support. Choose iLovePDF for everyday free PDF tasks; choose Smallpdf if you value design and workflow polish.
| Feature | ||
|---|---|---|
| Developer | iLovePDF S.L. (Barcelona) | Smallpdf GmbH (Zurich) |
| Free Tier Limits | Generous — most tools free, 1-2 tasks/hour | Limited — 2 free tasks per day |
| Pro Price | $7/mo (billed annually) | $12/mo (billed annually) |
| PDF Merge | Yes, unlimited pages in Pro | Yes, drag-and-drop reorder |
| PDF Split | Yes, by pages or ranges | Yes, extract or split by pages |
| PDF Compress | 3 compression levels | 2 compression levels (basic/strong) |
| PDF Convert | Word, PPT, Excel, JPG | Word, PPT, Excel, JPG, CAD, more |
| OCR | Yes (Premium feature) | Yes (Pro feature) |
| E-Sign | Yes, request signatures | Yes, built-in eSign workflow |
| Batch Processing | Yes in Pro, multiple files at once | Yes in Pro, batch convert & compress |
| File Size Limit | Free: up to 100 MB per task | Free: up to 5 GB per task |
| Privacy / Data Handling | Files deleted after 2 hours | Files deleted after 1 hour, ISO 27001 |
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