6 self-hosted options
Open-source alternatives to Adobe Acrobat
The best open-source alternative to Adobe Acrobat is Stirling-PDF (Apache-2.0, 95,215 GitHub stars, Docker image). Docuseal stands out for its Ruby codebase, and BentoPDF stands out for its JavaScript codebase.
About Adobe Acrobat: Adobe's PDF software for viewing, editing, converting, signing and organizing PDF files.
Updated · data from GitHub, refreshed daily
Top picks
- Rank 1:
Stirling-PDF
Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF
Local hosted web application that allows you to perform various operations on PDF files, such as merging, splitting, file conversions and OCR.
Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026
Document ManagementTypeScriptDockerStands out for the most GitHub stars.
- Rank 2:
Docuseal
docusealco/docuseal
Create, fill, and sign digital documents (alternative to DocuSign).
Active · last commit Oct 26, 2026
Document ManagementRubyDockerStands out for its Ruby codebase.
- Rank 3:
BentoPDF
alam00000/bentopdf
Powerful, privacy-first, client-side PDF toolkit that allows you to manipulate, edit, merge, and process PDF files directly in your browser.
Active · last commit Oct 28, 2026
Document ManagementJavaScriptDockerStands out for its JavaScript codebase.
At a glance
Adobe Acrobat alternatives compared
Open-source apps come first, then source-available ones and apps whose license appsgit could not verify; within each group, projects with at least 12 commits in the last 12 months come before less active or archived ones, then by GitHub stars.
| App | Stands out for | License | GitHub stars | Commits (12 mo) | Last commit | Docker image |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stirling-PDF | the most GitHub stars | Apache-2.0 | 95,215 | 2,068 | Oct 28, 2026 | Yes |
| Docuseal | its Ruby codebase | AGPL-3.0 | 18,873 | 1,013 | Oct 26, 2026 | Yes |
| BentoPDF | its JavaScript codebase | AGPL-3.0 | 16,172 | 1,030 | Oct 28, 2026 | Yes |
| Documenso | – | AGPL-3.0 | 15,589 | 723 | Oct 28, 2026 | Yes |
| Gotenberg | a permissive MIT license | MIT | 13,465 | 396 | Oct 27, 2026 | Yes |
| Signature PDF | – | AGPL-3.0 | 830 | 122 | Oct 22, 2026 | Yes |
Full list
All 6 Adobe Acrobat alternatives
Open any app for live stats, license details and a deploy option.
- 1
Stirling-PDF
Local hosted web application that allows you to perform various operations on PDF files, such as merging, splitting, file conversions and OCR.
Document ManagementDockerStands out for the most GitHub stars. Stirling-PDF has 95,215 GitHub stars, uses the Apache-2.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 2,068 commits in the last year.
- 2
Docuseal
Create, fill, and sign digital documents (alternative to DocuSign).
Document ManagementDockerStands out for its Ruby codebase. Docuseal has 18,873 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,013 commits in the last year.
- 3
BentoPDF
Powerful, privacy-first, client-side PDF toolkit that allows you to manipulate, edit, merge, and process PDF files directly in your browser.
Document ManagementDockerStands out for its JavaScript codebase. BentoPDF has 16,172 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 1,030 commits in the last year.
- 4
Documenso
Digital document signing platform (alternative to DocuSign).
Document ManagementDockerDocumenso has 15,589 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 723 commits in the last year.
- 5
Gotenberg
Developer-friendly API to interact with powerful tools like Chromium and LibreOffice for converting numerous document formats (HTML, Markdown, Word, Excel, etc.) into PDF files, and more.
Document ManagementDockerStands out for a permissive MIT license. Gotenberg has 13,465 GitHub stars, uses the MIT license, ships a Docker image and had 396 commits in the last year.
- 6
Signature PDF
Sign and manipulate PDFs with collaboration, organization, compression and metadata editing.
Document ManagementDockerSignature PDF has 830 GitHub stars, uses the AGPL-3.0 license, ships a Docker image and had 122 commits in the last year.
Is there a free alternative to Adobe Acrobat?
Yes. All 6 apps on this page are open source and free to self-host, so you can replace Adobe Acrobat without per-user fees. You pay only for the server.
Can I self-host an alternative to Adobe Acrobat with Docker?
Yes. All 6 apps here publish a Docker image, including Stirling-PDF, Docuseal and BentoPDF, so you can run them on a home server or VPS with Docker Compose.
Which Adobe Acrobat alternative is the most actively developed?
Stirling-PDF (Apache-2.0), with 2,068 commits in the last 12 months. Activity is a good sign that bugs and security issues get fixed.
How is this list ranked?
Open-source apps come first, then source-available ones and apps whose license appsgit could not verify; within each group, projects with at least 12 commits in the last 12 months come before less active or archived ones, then by GitHub stars.