head to head · open source
bentopdf vs pdfcpu
bentopdf has 15,578 GitHub stars, 1,339 forks, 156 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pdfcpu has 8,842 stars, 633 forks, 121 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. bentopdf leads on adoption by 76% (15,578 vs 8,842 stars). bentopdf is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; pdfcpu is written in Go under Apache-2.0. bentopdf has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, pdfcpu 7%. bentopdf was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (pdf, pdf-tools), 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
| bentopdf | pdfcpu | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 8.8K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Go |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-14 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 633 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick bentopdf if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick pdfcpu if
- You want the pdfcpu feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and pdfcpu fits your workflow better
About bentopdf
BentoPDF is a JavaScript, browser based PDF toolkit that merges, edits, converts, and processes documents entirely on the client, and it is aimed at individuals and teams who need those document workflows without sending files to a third party service.
read the full bentopdf overview →
About pdfcpu
pdfcpu is a PDF processing library and command line tool written in Go. It lives in the Go and Golang ecosystem, is distributed under the Apache 2.0 license, and is listed under Business Software in the Document Management and E Signatures category. The project has existed for nine years, carries 8,835 stars and 628 forks, and lists 121 open issues. Its maintainer, Horst Rutter, is a member of the PDF Association, and the project documentation lives at pdfcpu.io. The GitHub topics attached to the repository are cli, go, golang, golang library, pdf, pdf files, and pdf tools, which describes both halves of what the…
read the full pdfcpu overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is bentopdf or pdfcpu more popular?
bentopdf has 15,578 GitHub stars and pdfcpu has 8,842. bentopdf has the larger community by that measure.
Are bentopdf and pdfcpu free?
Both are open source. bentopdf is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and pdfcpu under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between bentopdf and pdfcpu?
bentopdf is written in JavaScript and pdfcpu in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, bentopdf or pdfcpu?
Choose bentopdf if you want the larger community (15,578 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose pdfcpu if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.