BentoPDF is a toolkit for everyday PDF jobs: merge, split, reorder, compress, convert, sign, and protect. Its defining design choice is that all processing happens in your browser. The server only delivers the web app; your documents are never uploaded.

Why client-side matters

Most online PDF tools upload your file to someone’s server, which is a poor idea for contracts, medical records, or tax documents. Self-hosting a server-side tool fixes the “someone else’s server” part. BentoPDF goes further: even on your own instance, the file stays on the device of whoever is using it. That also means the server needs almost no resources, since your users’ browsers do the work.

It achieves this with WebAssembly builds of real document engines: PDF.js, pdf-lib, PyMuPDF, Ghostscript, and even LibreOffice, compiled to run in the browser.

Features

• 50+ tools across organising, editing, converting, and securing PDFs
• No file size limits or usage caps
• Office-to-PDF conversion via LibreOffice WASM
• Compression via Ghostscript

Deployment

It is a static web app, so hosting is trivial:

docker run -d -p 127.0.0.1:3000:8080 ghcr.io/alam00000/bentopdf-simple:latest

The bentopdf-simple image is the self-hosting build. Because processing is client-side, large conversions depend on the user’s device: a phone will be slower than a desktop.

How it compares

Stirling PDF is the best-known alternative. It processes files on the server, which allows heavier operations such as OCR on scanned documents and API automation, at the cost of your files passing through the server. In September 2026, Stirling PDF 3.0 removed the paywall on OAuth single sign-on. Choose BentoPDF when privacy and a tiny server footprint matter most; choose Stirling PDF for OCR, automation, and heavier processing.

License

Dual-licensed: AGPL-3.0, or a commercial license for those who cannot meet AGPL terms.

Links

• Repository