head to head · open source
pdfcpu vs pdfcraft
pdfcpu has 8,861 GitHub stars, 639 forks, 121 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. pdfcraft has 2,684 stars, 903 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped today. pdfcpu leads on adoption by 230% (8,861 vs 2,684 stars). pdfcpu is written in Go under Apache-2.0; pdfcraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. pdfcpu has attracted 7% as many forks as stars, pdfcraft 34%. pdfcraft 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
| pdfcpu | pdfcraft | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 8.9K | ★ 2.7K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Go | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-10-04 | 2026-10-08 |
| Forks | ⑂ 639 | ⑂ 903 |
| 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 pdfcraft if
- You want the pdfcraft feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and pdfcraft fits your workflow better
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 →
About pdfcraft
PdfCraft is an open source, clean room reimplementation of Adobe Acrobat built in pure Rust, aimed at anyone who wants a fast native tool to read, organize, secure and edit PDFs without an account or a cloud connection.
read the full pdfcraft overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is pdfcpu or pdfcraft more popular?
pdfcpu has 8,861 GitHub stars and pdfcraft has 2,684. pdfcpu has the larger community by that measure.
Are pdfcpu and pdfcraft free?
Both are open source. pdfcpu is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pdfcraft under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pdfcpu and pdfcraft?
pdfcpu is written in Go and pdfcraft in Rust. 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 pdfcraft?
Choose pdfcpu if you want the larger community (8,861 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pdfcraft if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.