PDFtk Alternatives for Linux

Alternatives list

1. 

   

   PDFsam

    230 likes

   Free and open source desktop application to split, merge, extract pages, rotate and mix PDF files.

   149 PDFsam alternatives

   Cost / License

   • Freemium
   • Open Source (AGPL-3.0)

   Application type

   • PDF Editor

   Origin

   • Italy
   • EU

   Platforms

   • Mac
   • Windows
   • Linux

   

   

   

   +5

   

   More about PDFsam  

   

   Is PDFsam a good alternative to PDFtk?

    
2. 

   

   Master PDF Editor

    73 likes

   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...

   143 Master PDF Editor alternatives

   Cost / License

   • Freemium
   • Proprietary

   Application types

   • PDF Editor
   • PDF Reader

   Origin

   • Russia

   Platforms

   • Mac
   • Windows
   • Linux
   • Flathub

   

   

   

   More about Master PDF Editor  

   

   Is Master PDF Editor a good alternative to PDFtk?

    
4. 

   

   pdftl

    2 likes

   pdftl: A modern Python-based successor to pdftk. A CLI tool for PDF manipulation, merging, and geometry (crop/chop) powered by pikepdf and qpdf.

   Cost / License

   • Free
   • Open Source (MPL-2.0)

   Platforms

   • Windows
   • Mac
   • Linux
   • BSD

   

   Is pdftl a good alternative to PDFtk?

    
5. 

   

   PDF4QT

    9 likes

   Open-source PDF viewer and editor using Qt framework, featuring hardware-accelerated rendering, encryption, multithreading, text-to-speech, annotation tools, form filling, high-res monitor support, document compression, audio book conversion, and signature validation.

   112 PDF4QT alternatives

   Cost / License

   • Free
   • Open Source (MIT)

   Application types

   • PDF Reader
   • PDF Editor

   Origin

   • Czechia
   • EU

   Platforms

   • Windows
   • Linux
   • Flathub

   

   

   More about PDF4QT  

   

   Is PDF4QT a good alternative to PDFtk?

    
6. 

   

   PDF-Shuffler

    34 likes

   Merge, split, rotate, crop and rearrange pdf documents and their pages using an interactive and intuitive graphical interface.

   93 PDF-Shuffler alternatives

   Cost / License

   • Free
   • Open Source (GPL-3.0)

   Application type

   • PDF Editor

   Origin

   • International

   Alerts

   • Discontinued

   Platforms

   • Linux

   

   

   More about PDF-Shuffler  

   

   Is PDF-Shuffler a good alternative to PDFtk?

    
7. 

   

   QPDF

    15 likes

   It could have been called something like pdf-to-pdf. It also provides many useful capabilities to developers of PDF-producing software or for people who just want to look at the innards of a PDF file to learn more about how they work.

   Cost / License

   • Free
   • Open Source

   Platforms

   • Windows
   • Linux
   • BSD

   

   Is QPDF a good alternative to PDFtk?

    

   |

   3comments

   Expand

   QPDF vs PDFtk Comments

    

   Guest

   Positive comment•Dec 7, 2025

   0

   The app "unlocks/save as" all password-protected PDF by passing to it the password

   Review by a new / low-activity user.

   Guest

   Positive comment•Jun 6, 2017

   1

   Has the no nonsense simple features that are needed.

   Review by a new / low-activity user.

   Guest

   Negative comment•Feb 1, 2017

   -2

   Missing basic function: rotate pages

   Review by a new / low-activity user.

   

   

   • QPDF is Free and Open SourcePDFtk is Freemium and Open Source
9. S

   S

   Stapler

    Like

   Stapler is a pure Python alternative to PDFtk, a tool for manipulating PDF documents from the command line. Like pdftk, stapler is a command-line tool.

   Cost / License

   • Free
   • Open Source

   Platforms

   • Linux
   • BSD

   S

   

   Is Stapler a good alternative to PDFtk?

    
10. 

    

    Document Pack

     Like

    Document Pack is a self-hosted automation engine that converts folders of mixed documents into a single submission-ready PDF, with a generated audit manifest.

    Cost / License

    • Paid
    • Proprietary

    Platforms

    • Linux

    

    Is Document Pack a good alternative to PDFtk?

     
11. 

    

    Online PDF Watermark Generator

     Like

    PDF watermark creator is an online free software can be used to insert text or image watermark into Adobe PDF documents. Simply watermark PDF files online by using this one click web based PDF watermark generator.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Proprietary

    Origin

    • India

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Google Chrome
    • Firefox

    

    Is this a good alternative to PDFtk?

     
12. E

    E

    endesive

     Like

    en-crypt, de-crypt, si-gn, ve-rify - smime, pdf, xades and plain files in pure python.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Platforms

    • Windows
    • Linux

    E

    

    Is endesive a good alternative to PDFtk?