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We all have to deal with PDFs every day. Whether you’re dealing with work papers, reports, or contracts, having a good PDF tool is something you just can’t avoid. For a long time, the self-hosted tool Stirling PDF was my favorite. It was fast and seemed like the perfect private choice for my workflow. But then, when questions about its tracking came up, it broke the trust of many users. I knew I had to find something else. I was worried about switching, but I quickly found a newer, better tool that respects my privacy and makes my work easier.

Privacy issue with Stirling PDF

Self-hosted but still tracking?

Stirling PDF gained popularity quickly because it was a great, free tool for working with PDFs directly on your own server. But many users in the self-hosting community got worried when they saw a cookie pop-up banner. People wondered: “Why does a tool I run locally on my server need to ask for cookie permission?”

This concern grew when users found out the tool had hidden features like analytics cookies and a “tracking pixel” turned on by default. To the privacy-focused community, this was a huge problem. They felt that in a self-hosted app, tracking should be something you choose to turn on (opt-in), not something you have to find the settings to turn off. Even though the developers later fixed this to be optional, for many people, the original secret tracking broke their trust. They needed a PDF tool that truly respected their privacy from the start.

Self-hosted alternative to Stirling PDF

BentoPDF has a pretty great UI

After discovering the privacy issues with Stirling PDF, I began searching for a replacement that offers solid privacy. That’s how I discovered BentoPDF, and honestly, it provided a great experience right from the start.

The first thing that grabbed me was the look and feel. BentoPDF’s user interface is truly wonderful. It’s super-clean, modern, and has a professional dark-mode design that makes it look like a high-end paid app. Unlike other self-hosted tools that can look a little basic, this one is smooth and inviting.

All the different tools are laid out on a simple, organized dashboard. This means everything is in its own neat box, so it’s impossible to get lost or feel overwhelmed. Merging, splitting, or editing files is simple and quick because everything is clearly labeled with sharp icons. It proved to me that a self-hosted tool can be powerful and have an amazing design. The fantastic user experience alone made switching to BentoPDF a no-brainer.

A complete PDF toolkit

The only PDF toolbox I’ll ever need

The beautiful, clean look of BentoPDF was just the start. The main reason I love it and think it’s a better tool is that it can accomplish many powerful tasks while keeping my files private. It really is a complete toolkit. The main page is full of tools, so I almost never need another app for my documents.

Here is a breakdown of the best ones:

• Organizing Your Files: It easily handles the basics like Merge PDFs (put files together) and Split PDFs (break them apart). But it also has clever tools like Interleave Merge (mix pages from two documents) and Posterize PDF, which is useful for printing giant pictures across many sheets of paper. The Organize Pages feature is super helpful; you can use drag-and-drop to quickly reorder, delete, or pull out pages.
• Editing and Changing Documents: You get a full PDF Editor for making direct changes. I can also add watermarks, page numbers, and footers to my files. For truly sensitive information, the Redact Content tool is key; it completely blacks out the text so no one can ever see it.
• Security and Size: I feel safe knowing I can easily encrypt a PDF by adding a password and decrypt it when I need to unlock it. To save space on my server, I use Compress PDF to shrink files without ruining the quality. I even used the Repair PDF feature to fix a document that was broken.
• Conversions: This is where the power shines. It handles tasks such as converting a PDF into an image (like JPGs, PNGs, and many other file types). The biggest plus point was the OCR PDF. This tool takes scanned pictures of documents and makes the text searchable and copyable, a feature usually found in expensive software!

The best part is that all of these 50+ tools run entirely on the client side. This means everything happens right inside my web browser on my own server. My files never leave my network or go to anyone else’s cloud. BentoPDF gives me power, a great look, and complete peace of mind about my sensitive data.

I don’t regret it at all

When I first decided to switch from Stirling PDF, I was really nervous. Moving all my workflows and data to a brand-new self-hosted tool felt risky, and I was worried I’d miss some features. However, after spending a considerable amount of time with BentoPDF, I can confidently say that I don’t regret the switch at all.

BentoPDF gave me everything I was looking for and more. The app is simply a joy to use. The beautiful, clean interface and the massive list of powerful tools, from OCR to secure redaction, make working with PDFs faster and smoother.

BentoPDF

BentoPDF provides fast, private, and free PDF tools. It processes files locally in your browser, ensuring privacy as your documents never reach their servers. It requires no account, offers all tools for free, and is built for speed.