Processing
Self-hosted
How product activity is processed.
INDEPENDENT SOFTWARE
Stirling PDF
An open-core PDF toolbox that can run as a desktop application or on a private self-hosted server.
- Web · Desktop · Self-hosted
- Self-hostable
- Pricing
- Open core
Privacy at a glance
A quick view of the dimensions most useful for comparing this product. Unconfirmed facts stay explicitly unconfirmed.
Identity
Optional account
Whether an account is needed to use it.
Tracking
Optional telemetry
Reported analytics and tracking posture.
Ownership & source
Mixed
Availability of the product source code.
Offline support
Yes
Whether core use can continue offline.
Self-hosting
Yes
Whether you can run it on your own infrastructure.
What to know
Why it stands out
- The community edition can be deployed on infrastructure controlled by the user, and the desktop edition can process documents locally.
- Operational analytics are documented and can be disabled system-wide; standard temporary files are designed to be deleted after processing.
Trade-offs
- A server administrator can normally access files, process memory, logs and storage unless the deployment adds separate isolation and encryption controls.
- Optional persistent storage, hosted AI/SaaS features and analytics can create provider-side data flows that are absent from a local or air-gapped deployment.
Best for
Individuals and teams that need a broad PDF toolkit without uploading documents to an unrelated public converter.
Consider another option when
Users who need end-to-end encryption from the browser against their own server administrator or a zero-maintenance hosted service with uniform guarantees.
Technical details
Complete privacy-profile dimensions, grouped for easier review. Each value is retained from the catalogue record.
4 groups · 18 dimensions
- Processing
- Self-hosted
- Storage
- Temporary
- Offline support
- Yes
- Self-hosting
- Yes
- Data export
- Yes
- Data deletion
- Yes
Alternatives
LibreOffice
A free open-source desktop office suite for documents, spreadsheets, presentations, drawings, formulas, and databases.
View profile
ONLYOFFICE
An office-suite family with desktop, mobile, hosted, and self-hosted document-editing and collaboration products.
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Paperless-ngx
An open-source self-hosted document-management system for scanning, OCR, classification, search and archival.
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Evidence
6 public sources collected
- Stirling PDF documentationdocs.stirlingpdf.com · Documentation · deployment modes, PDF operations and temporary-file handling
- Analytics and telemetrydocs.stirlingpdf.com · Documentation · optional analytics services and disable controls
- File sharing and storagedocs.stirlingpdf.com · Documentation · optional persistent document storage
View all 6 sources
- Stirling PDF source repositorygithub.com · Source repository · community source, open-core model and desktop/self-hosted editions
- Stirling Privacy Policystirling.com · Privacy policy · hosted-service, account, analytics, user-file and retention practices
- Stirling Terms of Servicestirling.com · Terms · open-core model and the distinction between self-hosted and hosted AI/SaaS services
Review status: ListedLast reviewed: Not yet reviewedCatalogue updated: 21 Jul 2026
Listed means this profile was compiled from public sources and has not yet been reviewed.
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Makers can request a listing claim, and anyone can submit an evidence-backed correction. Requests are reviewed before public profile information changes.