SHSelfHostIndex

BentoPDF vs Stirling PDF

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted document management options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
BentoPDF Powerful, privacy-first, client-side PDF toolkit that allows you VS Stirling PDF Powerful locally hosted web-based PDF toolkit
FeatureBentoPDFStirling PDF
Deploy effort≈5-minute setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score95 · Excellent100 · Excellent
CategoryDocument ManagementDocument Management
LicenseAGPL-3.0MIT
LanguageJavaScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdockerdocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 15,687★ 92,839
First releasedNone2023
ReplacesAdobe AcrobatAdobe Acrobat, Smallpdf

What are BentoPDF and Stirling PDF?

BentoPDF

Powerful, privacy-first, client-side PDF toolkit that allows you to manipulate, edit, merge, and process PDF files directly in your browser.

  • Merge, split and rotate PDFs
  • Runs entirely client-side
  • No uploads to a server
  • Static site deployment

Stirling PDF

Stirling PDF is a self-hosted web application that provides a comprehensive set of PDF manipulation tools. It can merge, split, convert, compress, OCR, and edit PDFs entirely on your own server.

  • Dozens of PDF tools
  • OCR support
  • Convert to and from PDF
  • Runs entirely locally

Read the full Stirling PDF guide →

BentoPDF vs Stirling PDF: key differences

BentoPDF is written in JavaScript, while Stirling PDF is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for BentoPDF versus MIT for Stirling PDF. Stirling PDF has the considerably larger community, at 92,839 GitHub stars versus 15,687.

Why pick each one

Choose BentoPDF if…

  • Fully client-side privacy
  • Files never leave device
  • Easy Docker deploy

Watch out for

  • Relatively young project
  • Large files strain browser
BentoPDF details

Choose Stirling PDF if…

  • Keeps documents private
  • Huge range of features

Watch out for

  • Not a full document archive
  • Java memory footprint
Stirling PDF details

Frequently asked questions

Is BentoPDF or Stirling PDF better?

Stirling PDF is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider BentoPDF if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are BentoPDF and Stirling PDF free and open-source?

Yes. BentoPDF is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Stirling PDF under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run BentoPDF and Stirling PDF with Docker?

BentoPDF: yes. Stirling PDF: yes.

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