head to head · open source
pdfcraft vs pdfcpu
pdfcraft has 19,220 GitHub stars, 7,216 forks, 68 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pdfcpu has 8,895 stars, 644 forks, 121 open issues and last shipped yesterday. pdfcraft leads on adoption by 116% (19,220 vs 8,895 stars). pdfcraft is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; pdfcpu is written in Go under Apache-2.0. pdfcraft has attracted 38% as many forks as stars, pdfcpu 7%. 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
| pdfcraft | pdfcpu | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 19K | ★ 8.9K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 7.2K | ⑂ 644 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick pdfcraft if
- You weight community size — 19K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick pdfcpu if
- You want the pdfcpu feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and pdfcpu fits your workflow better
About pdfcraft
PdfCraft The PDF workbench; an open source, clean room reimplementation of Adobe Acrobat, rebuilt in pure Rust. Read, organize, combine, split and secure PDFs in a fast, native app, written in Rust from the ground up. macOS · Windows · Linux · FreeBSD · the web PdfCraft on getartcraft.com · ArtCraft · All Crafting Apps The PdfCraft Showcase, a 13 page specimen PDF, open with the All tools panel and threaded comments. [!NOTE] ArtCraft is a community of artists from all walks of life. Digital, generative, music, games — if you make things, you're one of us. Come say hi on Discord. Highlights · Read · Find ·…
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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…
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Frequently asked questions
Is pdfcraft or pdfcpu more popular?
pdfcraft has 19,220 GitHub stars and pdfcpu has 8,895. pdfcraft has the larger community by that measure.
Are pdfcraft and pdfcpu free?
Both are open source. pdfcraft is licensed under Apache-2.0 and pdfcpu under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between pdfcraft and pdfcpu?
pdfcraft is written in Rust and pdfcpu in Go. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, pdfcraft or pdfcpu?
Choose pdfcraft if you want the larger community (19,220 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose pdfcpu if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.