PDFsam AlternativesTop PDF Editors and other similar apps like PDFsam

PDFsam is described as 'Free and open source desktop application to split, merge, extract pages, rotate and mix PDF files' and is a very popular PDF Editor in the office & productivity category. There are more than 100 alternatives to PDFsam for a variety of platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Web-based and Flathub apps. The best PDFsam alternative is PDF Arranger, which is both free and Open Source. Other great apps like PDFsam are PDF-XChange Editor, PDF24 Creator, Stirling-PDF and Master PDF Editor.

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PDFsam alternatives are mainly PDF Editors, but if you're looking for PDF Readers or Text to Speech Services you can filter on that. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to PDFsam.
PDFsam iconPDFsam
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Free and open source desktop application to split, merge, extract pages, rotate and mix PDF files.

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PDFsam alternatives page was last updated Feb 17, 2025
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  1. PDF Arranger icon
     95 likes
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    Small python-gtk application, which helps the user to merge or split pdf documents and rotate, crop and rearrange their pages using an interactive and intuitive graphical interface.

    68 PDF Arranger alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • International

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub
    • Snapcraft

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused
    2.  Lightweight
    3.  Support for Themes

    Features

    1.  Split and merge PDF files
    2.  Visual Organization
    3.  Split PDF files
    4.  Combine PDF
    5.  Edit PDF
    6.  Rotate pages
    7.  Works Offline
    8.  Image sorting
    9.  No Tracking
    10.  Ad-free
    11.  Dark Mode
    12.  Portable

    PDF Arranger VS PDFsam

     
    Comments about PDF Arranger as an Alternative to PDFsam
    Most Recent Comment
    Guest
    Positive Dec 14, 2020
    5

    So far, PDF Arranger is the first completely free PDF document toolkit that allows me to merge various PDF documents and/or images and rearrange the pages in the resulting document. Just what I am looking for right now. Great. :)

    Guest
    Positive Oct 31, 2021
    3

    Older PDF Sam was great as a visual and fast tool to build 1 pdf from several by selection of the pages ; the free feature disapeared. Here PDF Arranger does exactly the same and is still as fast and free in 2021

    Guest
    Positive Aug 14, 2023
    1

    It's very simple but it gets the job done well.

    Show more comments
    3 of 4 comments
    PDFsam Icon
    PDF Arranger icon
    • Almost everyone thinks PDF Arranger is a great PDFsam alternative.

    • PDF Arranger is the most popular Windows & Linux alternative to PDFsam.

    • PDF Arranger is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to PDFsam.

    • PDF Arranger is Free and Open SourcePDFsam is Freemium and Open Source
    • PDF Arranger is Privacy focused and LightweightPDFsam is not according to our users
  2. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Feature-rich PDF editor offering direct content editing, ABBYY OCR, viewing, annotation, form filling, PDF merging, compression, and encryption. Operates efficiently offline, requiring no registration and no ads, while providing privacy-focused features and convenient portability.

    140 PDF-XChange Editor alternatives

    License model

    • FreemiumProprietary

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • CA flagCanada

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • PortableApps.com
    • Wine

    Properties

    1.  Customizable
    2.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  PDF annotation
    2.  PDF OCR
    3.  Add/remove pages
    4.  Edit PDF
    5.  Portable
    6.  Split PDF files
    7.  Stamps
    8.  Create PDF files
    9.  OCR
    10.  Split and merge PDF files
    11.  No registration required
    12.  Dark Mode

    PDF-XChange Editor VS PDFsam

     
    Comments about PDF-XChange Editor as an Alternative to PDFsam
    Guest
    Negative Mar 23, 2021
    2

    Merge Documents requires paid license

    PDFsam Icon
    PDF-XChange Editor icon
    • Some users think PDF-XChange Editor is a great PDFsam alternative, some don't.

    • PDF-XChange Editor is Freemium and ProprietaryPDFsam is Freemium and Open Source
    • PDF-XChange Editor is Customizable and LightweightPDFsam is not according to our users
  3. PDF24 Creator icon
     139 likes
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    PDF24 Creator is free and feature-filled PDF creation, merging and conversion tool for Windows. Its unique feature among the free PDF printer tools is an editor, which allows to easily assemble, create and modify PDF files with Drag & Drop.

    147 PDF24 Creator alternatives

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Windows

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Combine PDF
    2.  Convert PDF to image
    3.  PDF OCR
    4.  Print to PDF
    5.  Split and merge PDF files
    6.  Create PDF files
    7.  Add/remove pages
    8.  Works Offline
    9.  PDF compression
    10.  PDF annotation
    11.  Convert images to PDF
    12.  Split PDF files

    PDF24 Creator VS PDFsam

     
    Comments about PDF24 Creator as an Alternative to PDFsam
    Most Recent Comment
    Eyji
    Positive May 2, 2021
    0

    Only missing feature is the capacity to really EDIT PDF : change text, images...

    Guest
    Negative Jun 28, 2016
    -2

    Free version does not allow you to split/merge/combine PDFs. It's not equivalent software.

    Guest
    Negative Jul 26, 2016
    -4

    only creates pdf, don't "split and merge" them

    PDFsam Icon
    PDF24 Creator icon
    • Some users think PDF24 Creator is a great PDFsam alternative, some don't.

    • PDF24 Creator is Free and ProprietaryPDFsam is Freemium and Open Source
    • PDF24 Creator is LightweightPDFsam is not according to our users
  4. Stirling-PDF icon
     28 likes
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    locally hosted web application that allows you to perform various operations on PDF files.

    53 Stirling-PDF alternatives

    License model

    • FreemiumOpen Source

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Docker Hub

    Properties

    1.  Privacy focused
    2.  Support for Themes

    Features

    1.  Combine PDF
    2.  No registration required
    3.  PDF compression
    4.  Ad-free
    5.  PDF annotation
    6.  Works Offline
    7.  Split PDF files
    8.  No Tracking
    9.  Dark Mode
    10.  Sign PDF files
    11.  PDF encryption
    12.  OCR

    Stirling-PDF VS PDFsam

     
    • Stirling-PDF is the most popular Web-based, Mac & Self-Hosted alternative to PDFsam.

    • Stirling-PDF is Freemium and Open SourcePDFsam is also Freemium and Open Source
  5. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Master PDF Editor is complete solution for editing PDF and XPS files. You can insert, edit, remove, copy, add images or graphics. Export, import, remove and change page layouts. Also Master PDF Editor provides full functionality for changing PDF information, including author...

    128 Master PDF Editor alternatives

    License model

    • FreemiumProprietary

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • GB flagUnited Kingdom

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Flathub

    Top Master PDF Editor Features

    1.  Multiple languages
    2.  PDF annotation
    3.  Dark Mode
    4.  Ad-free
    5.  Sign PDF files
    6.  Split PDF files
    7.  Combine PDF
    8.  Works Offline
    9.  No registration required
    10.  PDF compression
    11.  Fill PDF Forms
    12.  PDF encryption

    Master PDF Editor VS PDFsam

     
    Comments about Master PDF Editor as an Alternative to PDFsam
    tuva-hayabi
    Positive Aug 20, 2024
    0

    It is not free of charge (no subscription model, just a one-off license fee of around 75 €), but it has a multitude of functions, nothing is missing. It is a great tool for manipulating PDF files to your heart's content.

    PDFsam Icon
    Master PDF Editor icon
    • Master PDF Editor is Freemium and ProprietaryPDFsam is Freemium and Open Source
  6. Sejda icon
     32 likes
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    Sejda helps with your PDF tasks: edit existing text, split, merge, extract, compress, export to other formats and more.

    101 Sejda alternatives

    License model

    • FreemiumProprietary

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • NL flagNetherlands
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Google Chrome
    • Flathub
    • Flatpak

    Top Sejda Features

    1.  Edit PDF
    2.  Combine PDF
    3.  Works Offline
    4.  Crop PDF
    5.  Sign PDF files
    6.  Split PDF files
    7.  PDF compression
    8.  PDF annotation
    9.  Convert PDF to image
    10.  Create PDF files
    11.  PDF OCR
    12.  Convert images to PDF

    Sejda VS PDFsam

     
  7. PDFTK Builder icon
     63 likes
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    PDFTK Builder is a free graphical interface to for PDFtk, making it much easier to use. It is a easy to use tool to collate (merge), split, encrypt, decrypt, stamp and rotate (only 90°, 180° or 270°) pdf documents.

    86 PDFTK Builder alternatives

    License model

    • FreeOpen Source

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • AU flagAustralia

    Platforms

    • Windows
    Discontinued

    The latest version (3.10.0) is from July 2018.

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Split and merge PDF files
    2.  Password protection
    3.  Combine PDF
    4.  Portable
    5.  Ad-free
    6.  No registration required
    7.  Works Offline
    8.  Split PDF files
    9.  PDF encryption
    10.  Create PDF files
    11.  Reorder pages

    PDFTK Builder VS PDFsam

     
  8. Nitro PDF  icon
     71 likes
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    Nitro offers comprehensive PDF solutions for editing, creating, and converting, alongside OCR and e-signature tools. Supports Mac, Windows, and iOS, providing a user-friendly interface with industry-standard security features. Ideal as an Adobe Acrobat alternative.

    166 Nitro PDF alternatives

    License model

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • iPhone
    • iPad

    Top Nitro PDF Features

    1.  Edit PDF
    2.  Convert PDF to Excel document
    3.  Text to Speech
    4.  Sign PDF files
    5.  PDF encryption
    6.  OCR
    7.  Scan to PDF
    8.  PDF Redaction
    9.  PDF OCR
    10.  Batch conversion
    11.  Convert PDF to Word document
    12.  Create PDF files

    Nitro PDF VS PDFsam

     
    • Nitro PDF is the most popular iPhone & iPad alternative to PDFsam.

    • Nitro PDF is the most popular commercial alternative to PDFsam.

    • Nitro PDF is Paid and ProprietaryPDFsam is Freemium and Open Source
  9. Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard

    Create, Convert, Review and Edit PDF Documents on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

    171 Qoppa PDF Studio alternatives

    License model

    Application types

    Country of Origin

    • US flagUnited States

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Chrome OS

    Properties

    1.  Lightweight

    Features

    1.  Edit PDF
    2.  Sign PDF files
    3.  Scan to PDF
    4.  PDF Redaction
    5.  Convert PDF to Word document
    6.  Create PDF files
    7.  Fill PDF Forms
    8.  Dark Mode
    9.  Text to Speech
    10.  OCR
    11.  Spell Checking
    12.  Ad-free

    Qoppa PDF Studio VS PDFsam

     
  10. PDF24 Tools icon
     14 likes
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    The Swiss Army Knife for PDFs.

    138 PDF24 Tools alternatives

    License model

    • FreeProprietary

    Application type

    Country of Origin

    • DE flagGermany
    • European Union flagEU

    Platforms

    • Online

    PDF24 Tools Features

    1.  Combine PDF
    2.  Export to PDF
    3.  Works Offline
    4.  Create PDF files
    5.  No registration required
    6.  OCR
    7.  Progressive Web App

    PDF24 Tools VS PDFsam

     
10 of 140 PDFsam alternatives