What PDF Hub is
PDF Hub is a free web-based collection of PDF utilities — merge, split, compress, convert, sign, edit, OCR, translate and more — accessible from any browser without installing software. The goal is to make everyday PDF chores fast, private and understandable, without wading through cluttered interfaces or paywalls for basic operations.
Who this is for
Students bundling assignments into a single file, professionals compressing invoices for email, small business owners preparing signed contracts, freelancers converting PDFs to editable Word documents, and researchers running OCR on scanned papers. If a task involves a PDF and you don't want to open a heavyweight desktop suite for it, PDF Hub aims to be the shortest path from problem to result.
How the site is built
PDF Hub is a small full-stack application: a React front-end for the interface, a Python (FastAPI) back-end for the actual PDF processing, and MongoDB for the accounts and history features. The back-end uses established open-source libraries — PyMuPDF, pypdf, WeasyPrint, LibreOffice (for Office conversions), Tesseract (for OCR), and Ghostscript (for compression and PDF/A) — rather than reinventing PDF handling from scratch.
How we handle your files
For the vast majority of tools (merge, split, compress, rotate, convert, watermark, OCR, etc.) your uploaded file is written to a temporary directory that the operating system deletes as soon as the request finishes — typically within seconds. No copy is kept in the database.
A small number of features intentionally keep files longer because the feature requires it: workflow deliveries (auto-deleted after 24 hours by MongoDB TTL), share links (auto-deleted when the link expires, up to 168 hours), and signature requests (kept until you delete them or the request expires, up to 60 days). We document each of these clearly in the Privacy Policy.
What we don't do
- We do not sell your data. We don't have anyone to sell it to.
- We do not train AI on the content of your uploaded documents.
- We do not show fake usage statistics, fabricated reviews, or made-up testimonials on this site.
- We do not lock basic PDF operations behind a paywall.
AI features
Two tools — AI Summarizer and Translate PDF — send the extracted text of your document to an LLM provider (currently via Emergent's LLM proxy, which itself calls providers like OpenAI, Anthropic and Google). We pass only the text needed to answer your request, not the raw PDF file. If a task requires strict confidentiality, use an offline tool instead.
Who runs it
PDF Hub is maintained by the PDF Hub Team. This is a small independent project — no venture capital, no acquisition plans, no dark patterns. If something is broken, unclear or could be genuinely improved, tell us: Contact us.
Open feedback
The tools you use today are the ones we thought were most useful. If we're missing a tool you keep needing, or a language you'd like the interface in, please reach out. Real feedback is how PDF Hub improves — feature ideas from real users are prioritised over what looks impressive on a landing page.