Stirling PDF brings more than 60 PDF tools to your own computer, free for individual use
The PDF chores nobody enjoys, merging, splitting, compressing, signing, can all be done tonight without handing the file to a website you have never heard of.
Stirling PDF is an open-source PDF workbench with more than 60 tools for reading, editing, signing, redacting, converting, and automating documents, and its own site says the editor runs on your machine, is free for individual use, and has passed 30 million downloads. Its GitHub repository carries 90,700 stars and 8,200 forks and calls itself the number one PDF application on GitHub. XDA's August 27 write-up describes the version 2.0 interface, a Multi-Tool Workspace that chains several edits without re-uploading the file, and a Mobile Scanner that hands a phone photo to the desktop app over a QR code. The honest limit is that a few features still want server-side processing, and those prompt you to connect to Stirling Cloud or a server you run yourself.
