head to head · open source
pdfcpu vs browserytools
pdfcpu has 8,895 GitHub stars, 644 forks, 121 open issues and last shipped yesterday. browserytools has 719 stars, 82 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped 8 days ago. pdfcpu leads on adoption by 1,137% (8,895 vs 719 stars). pdfcpu is written in Go under Apache-2.0; browserytools is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. pdfcpu has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, browserytools 11%. pdfcpu was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (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
| pdfcpu | browserytools | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.9K | ★ 719 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Go | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-26 |
| Forks | ⑂ 644 | ⑂ 82 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick pdfcpu if
- You weight community size — 8.9K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick browserytools if
- You want the browserytools feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and browserytools fits your workflow better
About pdfcpu
pdfcpu: PDF tooling for Go and the command line pdfcpu is a PDF processing library and command line tool written in Go. It supports validation, optimization, encryption, signing, document assembly, content extraction, and other common PDF operations. pdfcpu supports PDF versions through PDF 2.0 (ISO 32000 2). PDF 2.0 validation support is basic and continuously improving. Horst Rutter, the maintainer of pdfcpu, is a member of the PDF Association. Installation Usage CLI Validate a PDF: Merge two PDFs: Go API See API documentation for usage examples. Features Validate, optimize, split, trim, and merge PDFs Extract…
read the full pdfcpu overview →
About browserytools
BrowseryTools A comprehensive collection of 152 browser based tools built with Next.js, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS. Your files and text are processed in your browser — no uploads, no accounts required. Includes on device AI tools (transcription, translation, summarization, image upscaling, and more) powered by Transformers.js. Free, no accounts, no ads, no tracking. If it saves you time, star the repo. That is the fastest way to help other people find it. Two caveats worth stating plainly, since "everything is local" is the headline claim: Tools that run an AI model download the model weights from a third…
read the full browserytools overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is pdfcpu or browserytools more popular?
pdfcpu has 8,895 GitHub stars and browserytools has 719. pdfcpu has the larger community by that measure.
Are pdfcpu and browserytools free?
Both are open source. pdfcpu is licensed under Apache-2.0 and browserytools under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pdfcpu and browserytools?
pdfcpu is written in Go and browserytools 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, pdfcpu or browserytools?
Choose pdfcpu if you want the larger community (8,895 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose browserytools if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.