PDF24
Worth it
Confidence: Medium
Use it if you need merge, split, compress, edit, or convert: it is genuinely 100% free, well rated, and works online or offline on Windows.
New check
Comparison
PDF24 and Smallpdf both land on Worth it.
Use it if you need merge, split, compress, edit, or convert: it is genuinely 100% free, well rated, and works online or offline on Windows.
Buy it if you occasionally compress, convert, or sign PDFs and want one simple browser tool.
| Compare | ||
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Worth it | Worth it |
| Best for | Occasional merge/split/compress tasks | Occasional PDF users |
| Who it's not for | Enterprises needing compliance sign-off or support SLAs | High-volume batch processing teams |
| Privacy | Widely trusted site (Gridinsoft 100/100, 20.7-year domain); one 2023 local privilege-escalation disclosure for the Windows installer.⁹ | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.14 |
| Support quality | No support-quality evidence found | No support evidence in sources |
| Public sentiment | Users praise the breadth of free tools and the offline option, with occasional complaints about tools breaking and a softer Microsoft Store rating.⁴ | Sentiment is positive: Trustpilot reviews (2,236) are overwhelmingly favorable and Capterra reviewers rate value for money as reasonable for regular PDF use.12 |
| Biggest gotcha | Windows installer had a local privilege escalation flaw disclosed October 2023; keep it updated.⁹ | Free tier has daily usage limits; frequent users must move to a paid plan |