head to head · open source
CryptPad vs Pdf_Tools
CryptPad has 8,039 GitHub stars, 873 forks, 401 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Pdf_Tools has 684 stars, 44 forks, 11 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. CryptPad leads on adoption by 1,075% (8,039 vs 684 stars). CryptPad is written in JavaScript under AGPL-3.0; Pdf_Tools is written in Kotlin under Apache-2.0. CryptPad has attracted 11% as many forks as stars, Pdf_Tools 6%. CryptPad was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| CryptPad | Pdf_Tools | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.0K | ★ 684 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | JavaScript | Kotlin |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-31 |
| Forks | ⑂ 873 | ⑂ 44 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick CryptPad if
- You weight community size — 8.0K 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 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 CryptPad
CryptPad CryptPad is a collaboration suite that is end to end encrypted and open source. It is designed to facilitate collaboration by synchronizing changes to documents in real time. Since all the user data is encrypted, in the event of a breach, attackers have no way of accessing the stored content. Furthermore, if the administrators do not modify the code, they and the service also cannot access any information about the users' content. Installation For development Our developer guide provides instructions for setting up a local instance without HTTPS or our more advanced security features. For production…
read the full CryptPad overview →
About Pdf_Tools
PDF Toolkit A privacy first, offline PDF utility for Android 📱 Get it on Android 📥 F Droid Installation & Benefits PDF Toolkit is published on F Droid , the repository of free and open source Android software: 100% Free & Open Source : Built using the fdroid build flavor with 0 proprietary dependencies or trackers. Offline Tesseract OCR Engine : Performs Optical Character Recognition completely on device without Google Play Services or network connections. Reproducible & Verified : Standard F Droid automated builds compiled from source. To Install via F Droid: 1. Download the F Droid Client App. 2. Search for…
read the full Pdf_Tools overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is CryptPad or Pdf_Tools more popular?
CryptPad has 8,039 GitHub stars and Pdf_Tools has 684. CryptPad has the larger community by that measure.
Are CryptPad and Pdf_Tools free?
Both are open source. CryptPad is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Pdf_Tools under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between CryptPad and Pdf_Tools?
CryptPad is written in JavaScript 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, CryptPad or Pdf_Tools?
Choose CryptPad if you want the larger community (8,039 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Pdf_Tools if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.