Why is this free?
No subscription, no “3 tasks per day” limit, no watermark and no account wall. Here is how that is possible, and what the catch is not.
Running costs are small
Almost every tool runs inside your own browser, so there are no expensive servers crunching other people's PDFs. The bills are a domain, static hosting, a content delivery network and a small conversion service for Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. Those costs are paid by sponsors.
What sponsors get
- A mention on pages where their product is genuinely relevant, always labelled “Sponsor”.
- A link to their product. Links carry a campaign tag that shows which placement was clicked, nothing about who clicked.
- Occasionally a guide that shows how their app helps with a PDF task. Those articles are labelled “Sponsored guide” at the top.
What sponsors do not get
- Your files, file names or anything about their contents.
- Personal data, tracking pixels, cookies or analytics about you.
- Pop-ups, interstitials, or placements above the tool that get in your way.
- Any say over how the tools work or what the guides recommend.
Current sponsors
These independent apps currently cover the hosting costs. They are not made by MakePDFFree.
Other ways to help
- Share a tool with someone who is about to upload their bank statement to a random converter.
- Report a PDF that does not work via the contact page, so it can be fixed for everyone.
Become a sponsor
There is one sponsor slot per page context, sold as a flat monthly fee that can be cancelled any time. Products must be useful to people working with documents, photos or productivity, and placements stay labelled and unobtrusive. Write to hello@makepdffree.com with your product and the pages you are interested in.