The private PDF24 alternative
The privacy PDF24 reserves for its Windows app — in your browser.
PDF24 is genuinely free and genuinely broad, and it is honest about the trade: its online tools upload your file. Its own site says so, and points you at PDF24 Creator, a Windows download, if you want files to stay on your machine. DiemDesk gives you that on any operating system, in the browser, with nothing to install.
On-device without a download
PDF24 tells you to install PDF24 Creator for Windows if you want files to stay on your PC. Our in-browser tools already do that — on macOS, Linux, Android and iOS too.
No ads on your document
PDF24 funds unlimited free use with advertising on the tool pages. We do not run ads, and we never will on a page where you are handling a private file.
More than PDF
Image, video, QR, developer and data tools sit alongside the PDF suite, and Saved Workflows chains them into one drop.
| Feature | DiemDeskFree during launch | PDF24 |
|---|---|---|
| Files stay on your device | Yes, in the browser | Only in the Windows app |
| Works without installing anything | Online tools only (which upload) | |
| Offline on macOS / Linux / phone | ||
| Ads on tool pages | ||
| Free use | Every in-browser tool, no daily cap | Free, ad-supported |
| Tool count | 114 | ~100 |
| Chain tools into one workflow |
PDF24 figures are from their published plans as of July 2026 and may change — verify at the source. See the full comparison for more names.
Fair disclosure: DiemDesk is in pre-launch. Annotate, Redact and OCR are marked coming soon, and the Pro plan isn’t on sale yet — so everything is free right now. We’d rather show the full roadmap than hide it.
Switching from PDF24 — your questions
Is PDF24 safe?
PDF24 is upfront about how it works, which is more than most: it encrypts transfers and says files are removed from its servers after a short time. But the file does go to their servers first. If that is the part you would rather avoid, our in-browser tools never send it anywhere — there is nothing to delete afterwards because nothing arrived.
Why not just use PDF24 Creator?
It is a good answer if you are on Windows and happy to install software. It is not an answer on a Mac, a Chromebook, a Linux desktop or a phone, and it is not an answer on a work machine where you cannot install anything. That is the gap this fills.
Does DiemDesk have as many tools as PDF24?
Yes — 114 against their roughly 100, and the overlap is high on the everyday PDF jobs. Where we differ is what sits around them: on-device processing by default, no ads, and Saved Workflows for chaining several tools into a single drop.
Give it a try — nothing to install
No signup, no upload, no watermark. Drop in a file and watch it work entirely in your browser.
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