IXPDF vs PDF24: Browser-Local vs Desktop App

PDF24 ships as a Windows desktop application (and a web helper at pdf24.org). The desktop app processes files locally on your machine — no upload, no account, genuinely free. IXPDF is a website: you open it in any browser on any OS, drop a file in, and the file is processed in the browser. No install, no account, no upload.

• IXPDF: Browser-based. No install. Works on Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, iOS, Android. File stays on your device.
• PDF24 desktop: Windows install. Runs locally on your machine. No upload. Does not work on macOS, Linux, or ChromeOS (the pdf24.org web tools do, but those upload).
• PDF24 web (pdf24.org): Browser-based, but uploads the file to PDF24 servers. Different model from the desktop app — read the fine print.

The desktop app and the web tools are different products with different privacy properties. This comparison is against the PDF24 desktop app, which is the privacy-respecting one.

As of 2026-09-06, PDF24's desktop suite offers a broad set of tools including OCR, PDF to Word, PDF to Excel, PDF signing, PDF/A conversion, and a virtual PDF printer that lets any Windows app "print to PDF". IXPDF offers 15 tools focused on the operations a browser can do well.

• Both: Merge, Split, Compress, Rotate, Delete/Remove pages, Extract pages, Reorder, Watermark, Edit metadata, PDF to image, image to PDF, Protect (password), Unlock (remove password).
• PDF24 only: OCR, PDF to Word/Excel, PDF/A conversion, sign with digital certificate, virtual PDF printer, scan to PDF, redact text, compare PDFs, PDF/A validation.
• IXPDF only: None that PDF24 lacks — IXPDF's differentiator is the no-install, cross-platform browser model.
• IXPDF Research Required: Protect PDF and Unlock PDF — honest limits of the current browser PDF library. PDF24's desktop app does both.

PDF24 Desktop is genuinely free — no account, no Pro tier, no file size cap beyond your machine's memory. It is one of the few "free" PDF tools that is actually free. The trade-off is that it is Windows-only and requires an install.

IXPDF is also free, no account, no install, no per-task cap. The bound on file size is your device's memory, same as PDF24 desktop. The trade-off is the browser PDF library is less mature than PDF24's native toolchain, so some operations (encryption, OCR) are not yet available in IXPDF.

• IXPDF file size: Bounded by your device's RAM.
• PDF24 desktop file size: Bounded by your machine's RAM. No server cap.
• IXPDF account: None.
• PDF24 desktop account: None.
• IXPDF cost: Free.
• PDF24 desktop cost: Free.
• IXPDF platform: Any modern browser, any OS.
• PDF24 desktop platform: Windows only.

Both IXPDF and PDF24 Desktop keep your file on your device. Neither uploads file content, file names, metadata, or extracted text. This is the one comparison where the privacy properties are essentially equivalent — the difference is the platform model, not the privacy model.

The PDF24 web tools at pdf24.org are a different story: those upload the file to PDF24 servers. If you want PDF24's privacy property, use the desktop app, not the website.

Use IXPDF when you are on macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, or a mobile device; when you cannot or do not want to install software; when you are on someone else's machine (a library, a colleague's laptop); or when you only need the operations IXPDF supports. Use PDF24 Desktop when you are on Windows, you want a richer toolset (OCR, PDF to Word, signing, redaction, PDF/A), and you do not mind installing. If you are on Windows and need OCR or password protection today, PDF24 Desktop is the better choice — IXPDF's Protect and Unlock tools are still under research.