head to head · open source
bentopdf vs pdfx
bentopdf has 15,578 GitHub stars, 1,339 forks, 156 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pdfx has 1,063 stars, 122 forks, 3 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. bentopdf leads on adoption by 1,365% (15,578 vs 1,063 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 11%. 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 | 2026-09-17 | 2026-08-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.3K | ⑂ 122 |
| 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 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 pdfx
PDFx is a free, MIT licensed, open source desktop application and file format that bundles many PDF documents into a single valid PDF, aimed at people who need to organise, view, reorder and export large collections of documents on macOS, Windows or Linux.
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Frequently asked questions
Is bentopdf or pdfx more popular?
bentopdf has 15,578 GitHub stars and pdfx has 1,063. 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 (15,578 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose pdfx if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.