head to head · open source
bento vs Pdf_Tools
bento has 5,134 GitHub stars, 356 forks, 38 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Pdf_Tools has 582 stars, 38 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped yesterday. bento leads on adoption by 782% (5,134 vs 582 stars). bento is written in TypeScript under MIT; Pdf_Tools is written in Kotlin under Apache-2.0. bento has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, Pdf_Tools 7%. bento was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (open-source), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| bento | Pdf_Tools | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.1K | ★ 582 |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | TypeScript | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 356 | ⑂ 38 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick bento if
- You weight community size — 5.1K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Pdf_Tools if
- You want the Pdf_Tools feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Kotlin
- You evaluated both and Pdf_Tools fits your workflow better
About bento
Bento is an MIT licensed, local first PowerPoint alternative that ships as a single self contained HTML file, in which the deck carries its own viewer, presenter and editor so that anyone who opens it in a modern browser can edit or present it without installing anything.
read the full bento overview →
About Pdf_Tools
PDF Toolkit is an open source, privacy first PDF editor for Android, written in Kotlin and aimed at anyone who needs to merge, split, compress, convert, annotate, or sign PDF documents entirely on the device, with no internet connection and no account.
read the full Pdf_Tools overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is bento or Pdf_Tools more popular?
bento has 5,134 GitHub stars and Pdf_Tools has 582. bento has the larger community by that measure.
Are bento and Pdf_Tools free?
Both are open source. bento is licensed under MIT and Pdf_Tools under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between bento and Pdf_Tools?
bento is written in TypeScript and Pdf_Tools in Kotlin. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, bento or Pdf_Tools?
Choose bento if you want the larger community (5,134 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose Pdf_Tools if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.