0 bytes
uploaded, ever
Redaction runs in your browser via WebAssembly. There is no server in the path of your document, so there is nothing for anyone to store, log, or expose.
Compare
The only PDF redactor that never sees your file.
Smallpdf, iLovePDF and most online tools upload your document to their servers to redact it. AegisPDF does everything in your browser — and removes the sensitive data for real, across all six leak vectors, instead of laying a black box on top.
No account · No upload · Works offline
6 / 6
leak vectors removed
Visible text, hidden/OCR layers, annotations, metadata, prior revisions, and embedded files — all stripped, and verified by automated tests on every release.
$0
to start, no account
Manual redaction is free and unlimited. Upgrade once for $179 — or $14/mo — to add automatic Find & Redact, OCR, and e-signatures.
Side-by-side
How AegisPDF compares
The tools people weigh before choosing a redactor. We credit each one where it genuinely competes — and flag the things only AegisPDF does.
| AegisPDF You | Smallpdf | iLovePDF | easyPDF | Acrobat Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Where your file is processed | Your browser — never uploaded Every step runs locally via WebAssembly. The file never touches a server. | Uploaded to their servers Files are sent to the cloud for processing, then deleted on the vendor’s schedule. | Uploaded to their servers Processing happens server-side after the file is uploaded. | Uploaded to their servers Free web tools process your file in the cloud. | Desktop (local) or cloud (upload) The Acrobat desktop app processes locally; the online / Document Cloud path uploads your file. |
| Account or sign-in to redact | None No account, ever — open a file and go. | Sign-in · limits on free Free use is capped; an account or subscription unlocks more. | Free tier limited Caps on file size / count without an account. | Varies Free, often ad-supported; limits vary. | Adobe account + subscription Redaction requires an Acrobat Pro subscription. |
| Works fully offline | Yes — after first load Installable as a PWA; no network needed to redact. | No Requires a connection to the service. | No | No | Yes — desktop app The installed desktop application runs offline. |
| Redaction removes the content (not a black box on top) | Yes — verified Glyphs and image pixels are deleted from the file, then the document is re-serialised clean. Checked by automated tests on every release. | Verify before relying Confirm the export burns redaction in — test by copying text or extracting it from the output. | Verify before relying Verify the underlying text is gone, not just covered by a shape. | Verify before relying Overlay-style free tools can draw a black rectangle without deleting the text beneath it. | Yes — true content removal Acrobat genuinely removes redacted content from the file. |
| Strips the hidden leak vectors (hidden/OCR text, metadata, annotations, prior revisions, embedded files) | All six Including text hidden inside Form XObjects, which overlay-based redactors miss. See the six below. | Partial / varies Visible text may go while metadata, earlier saved revisions, or attachments remain — verify. | Partial / varies | Partial / varies | Yes — “Sanitize Document” Acrobat’s redaction plus Sanitize Document removes metadata and hidden data. |
| Auto-detect PII (SSNs, cards, national IDs) with validation | Yes — confidence tiers + checks Luhn / structural checks cut false positives; every match is tiered for review. | Limited / manual | Limited / manual | Manual | Pattern-search redaction Acrobat can find patterns and whole words to mark for redaction. |
| Built-in OCR for scanned pages | Yes — in-browser | Yes (server-side) Available, but runs in the cloud on your uploaded file. | Yes (server-side) | Varies | Yes |
| Compress / reduce file size | Yes — in-browser, free Downsamples and re-encodes images locally. Your file is never uploaded, and it’s free with no account. | Yes (server-side) Available, but your file is uploaded to the cloud to compress it. | Yes (server-side) Compresses after uploading your file. | Yes (server-side) Free, but the file is processed in the cloud. | Yes Acrobat’s “Reduce File Size”; the desktop app is local, the online path uploads. |
| Protect / unlock with a password | Yes — AES-256, in-browser Encrypt or remove a password you know, locally — the file and the password never leave your device. Unlock is for PDFs you can already open, not cracking. | Yes (server-side) Available, but you upload the file — and type its password into the cloud — to protect or unlock it. | Yes (server-side) Protect/unlock after uploading the file and its password. | Yes (server-side) Cloud-processed. | Yes Acrobat sets/removes passwords; desktop is local, the online path uploads. |
| Price | Free manual · $179 lifetime · $14/mo Manual redaction is free with no account; Pro adds Find & Redact, OCR, and e-signatures. | ~$9–12 / month Subscription for full access. | Free limited · ~$7/mo | Free / ad-supported Free, but server-side and feature-limited. | ~$20–30 / month Acrobat Pro subscription (redaction is a Pro-only feature). |
Comparison reflects publicly available information and typical product behaviour at the time of writing; features, pricing, and processing models change. Cells marked “verify” are ones we do not assert either way — confirm each tool’s current behaviour, and especially whether its redaction permanently removes underlying content, directly with the vendor before relying on it. Product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
What “redacted” has to mean
Real redaction removes six things. We remove all six.
A black rectangle is not redaction. Sensitive data hides in six places inside a PDF — miss any one and it’s still recoverable. AegisPDF clears every one, and a test suite proves it on each release.
1
Visible text
The glyphs under your black box are deleted from the content stream — not painted over. Copy-paste and text extraction come back empty.
2
Hidden & OCR text layers
The invisible text layer behind a scan is stripped too — including text drawn inside Form XObjects, the case most overlay redactors silently leave behind.
3
Annotations
Comments, highlights, free-text notes, form fields and links routinely carry a second copy of the data. They’re removed, not just hidden.
4
Metadata
Title, author, keywords and the XMP packet often echo the very name you redacted. The document’s metadata is cleared.
5
Prior revisions
PDFs quietly keep your earlier saves as incremental updates — the pre-redaction version is still in the bytes. We re-serialise to a single clean revision.
6
Embedded files
Attachments riding along inside the PDF are independent copies of data. The embedded-files tree is dropped so nothing tags along.
Most online redactors handle #1 and stop there. The ones people get burned by leave the OCR layer (#2), the prior revision (#5), or an embedded copy (#6) intact behind the black box.
Redact your next PDF without it ever leaving your laptop.
Open the workstation and try it on a real document — manual redaction is free, no account, and nothing is uploaded.