head to head · open source
bentopdf vs pdfx
bentopdf has 16,233 GitHub stars, 1,450 forks, 156 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pdfx has 1,088 stars, 126 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. bentopdf leads on adoption by 1,392% (16,233 vs 1,088 stars). bentopdf is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; pdfx is written in TypeScript under MIT. bentopdf has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, pdfx 12%. bentopdf was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 3 topic tags (pdf, pdf-tools, pdf-viewer), 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 | pdfx | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 1.1K |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | JavaScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.4K | ⑂ 126 |
| 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 pdfx if
- You want the pdfx feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and pdfx fits your workflow better
About bentopdf
BentoPDF BentoPDF is a powerful, privacy first, client side PDF toolkit that is self hostable and allows you to manipulate, edit, merge, and process PDF files directly in your browser. No server side processing is required, ensuring your files remain secure and private. Table of Contents Join Us on Discord Documentation Licensing Stargazers over time Thank You to Our Sponsors Why BentoPDF? Features / Tools Supported Organize & Manage PDFs Edit & Modify PDFs Convert to PDF Convert from PDF Secure & Optimize PDFs Other Products Translations Getting Started Prerequisites Quick Start Static Hosting Self Hosting…
read the full bentopdf overview →
About pdfx
PDFx One file. Many documents. Still a PDF. What it is PDFx is an open, backwards compatible extension of PDF that bundles many documents into a single file, plus a minimal desktop viewer for macOS, Windows, and Linux. The files produced are fully valid PDFs: open them anywhere and every page shows in sequence. Open them in PDFx and it splits back into the original documents. Plain single PDFs work as they are. Drag and drop .pdf files, images or folders anywhere in the window. Each document renders as a horizontal strip of pages, and documents stack vertically. Reorder or remove them, then Export PDF to save…
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Frequently asked questions
Is bentopdf or pdfx more popular?
bentopdf has 16,233 GitHub stars and pdfx has 1,088. bentopdf has the larger community by that measure.
Are bentopdf and pdfx free?
Both are open source. bentopdf is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and pdfx under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between bentopdf and pdfx?
bentopdf is written in JavaScript and pdfx in TypeScript. 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 pdfx?
Choose bentopdf if you want the larger community (16,233 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose pdfx if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.