Sejda PDF bundles PDF utilities that run either in a browser tab or as an installed desktop program. Its free online edition asks for no account but meters every tool by pages, megabytes and tasks per hour. Paid passes and subscriptions lift those caps.

This review is about sejda.com. For it we went through the homepage, the pricing and desktop pages, four tool pages (editor, compress, merge and OCR), the help center, the security, about, privacy and terms pages, and the domain record, all on October 29, 2026. No document was uploaded by us, so nothing here is a test result. Each fact links to its Sejda source page, checked October 29, 2026.

Sejda PDF in Brief

Two Ways to Run It

Sejda splits its product in two. Per the pricing page, Sejda Web is the browser version: you upload documents and Sejda’s servers do the processing. Sejda Desktop is an app you install, and the page says it handles documents on your own computer without sending them to Sejda’s servers. The homepage describes the online side as needing “no installation” and says files are permanently removed once processing ends.

The Company and Its Background

The about page says Sejda began in 2010 as an open source project, is based in Amsterdam and now offers 30+ PDF tools. It also explains that the name means “silk” in a dialect from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The legal entity is Sejda BV. The privacy policy calls it a Dutch company with its registered office at Kanteel 91, 1083DC Amsterdam, entered with the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce as KvK 68286945. The terms give a different address for postal notices: Keurenplein 41 (Unit G7171) in Amsterdam, postcode 1069 CD. The privacy policy lists hi@sejda.com as the contact.

Domain Age and Copycat Names

RDAP data, viewable through the ICANN lookup for sejda.com, dates the sejda.com registration to May 1, 2010. The registrar is Cloudflare, Inc., the registration runs to May 1, 2035, and the latest change is dated April 7, 2026.

Nearby names behave very differently:

  • sejda.org was also registered on May 1, 2010 and hosts Sejda SDK, described as a free and open source Java library for editing PDFs. That matches the open source origin on the about page, though sejda.com does not link to it from the pages we read.
  • sejda.net, registered February 4, 2025 through GoDaddy, answered with a 503 error.
  • sejdapdf.com, registered February 19, 2021, bounced us to a tracking style subdomain that returned a server error.
  • sejda.app, registered May 22, 2026 through Dynadot, serves a Bengali language casino and betting site with no tie to PDF tools.

sejda.io had no RDAP record. Enter the address by hand, and check the spelling, before uploading anything.

What the Toolset Covers

On October 29, 2026 the sejda.com tool menu sorted the tools into these groups:

  • Merge: Alternate & Mix, Merge, Organize
  • Split: Extract Pages, plus splitting by pages, bookmarks, size or text, and Split in half
  • Edit & Sign: the Edit tool, Fill & Sign, Create Forms, Delete Pages
  • Compress
  • Security: Protect, Unlock, Watermark, Flatten
  • Convert from PDF: to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, JPG or plain text
  • Convert to PDF: from HTML, JPG and Word
  • Other: Bates Numbering, Create Bookmarks, Crop, Edit Metadata, Extract Images, Flip, Grayscale, Header & Footer, N-up, Page Numbers, Rename, Repair, Resize, Rotate, Remove annotations
  • Scans: Deskew and OCR
  • Automate: Workflows, which chain several tasks on one document

The editor works on existing text, which sets it apart from tools that only add overlays. A notice on the about page says editing scanned documents is not supported, so a scan needs OCR first. The terms also mention an HTML to PDF API hosted at api.sejda.com, and the site footer links to versions for G Suite and education.

Editing a File in Nine Steps

The homepage spells out the editing flow, which we summarise here:

1. Open the file in the online PDF editor.

2. Pick the Text tool in the menu bar.

3. Type new text, or click existing text to change it.

4. Insert images, then drag to move, resize or rotate them.

5. Fill form fields and sign by drawing, typing or uploading a signature image.

6. Annotate with highlights or strikethrough.

7. Add or edit links to web addresses or to other pages.

8. Use find and replace, whiteout or shapes as needed.

9. Press Apply changes and download the new file.

On a Mac, the page offers two routes: edit online in Safari, or install Sejda Desktop and work offline.

Free Use, Tool by Tool

The free tier has no single number. Each tool page prints its own line, and on October 29, 2026 those lines said:

Tool (Sejda Web) Free cap shown on the page
[PDF editor](https://www.sejda.com/pdf-editor) 200 pages or 50 MB, 3 tasks per hour
[Compress](https://www.sejda.com/compress-pdf) 200 pages or 100 MB, 3 tasks per hour
[Merge](https://www.sejda.com/merge-pdf) 50 pages or 50 MB, 3 tasks per hour
[OCR](https://www.sejda.com/ocr-pdf) 10 pages or 50 MB, 3 tasks per hour

The tool pages also carry alerts reading “You reached your free limit of 3 tasks per hour” and a second one for 30 files per hour. The pricing page sums up the free plan as “Forever free to use” with no signup, along with page and hourly limits, limited file uploads and limits that vary by tool.

The desktop page lists separate free limits for Sejda Desktop:

  • A daily allowance of 3 tasks
  • Files capped at 200 pages and 50MB
  • Compression for files to 100MB
  • OCR on files up to 10 pages
  • Images up to 5MB
  • Combining up to 30 files and 50 pages
  • Conversions one file at a time

So the browser counts tasks per hour while the app counts per day.

Prices as Sejda Displays Them

The pricing page showed these prices in US dollars ($) for one user on October 29, 2026. Tax is added at checkout, and other regions may see a different currency, so confirm the figure before you pay.

Plan Price shown Billing Desktop access
Web Week Pass $5 per user for 7 days One-time payment No
Web Monthly $7.50 per user per month Recurring No
Desktop Week Pass $7.95 per user for 7 days One-time payment Yes, plus Web
Desktop+Web Annual $63 per user per year Recurring Yes, plus Web

The annual plan carries a “Save 30% over monthly” label, and each plan advertises a 20 % volume discount at 10 users. The desktop page adds that enterprise volume discounts begin at 2 licenses and reach “up to 60% off”. The Desktop Week Pass is listed on the desktop page rather than the main pricing page.

According to the pricing page, every paid plan includes browser access to all tools, no page or hourly limits, OCR for documents of up to 100 pages, several files processed at once, up to 21 minutes of processing per task, uploads up to 500MB per file and email support.

The Week Passes are one-time charges. Sejda says they do not renew and revert to free after 7 days. Recurring plans can be stopped with “Stop auto-renewal” on the account page or by emailing hi@sejda.com. The desktop FAQ says one license can cover your laptop and desktop if you are its only user, and that perpetual licenses are no longer sold.

Refund Wording in the Terms

In the terms (in force since March 28, 2026), section 7.1 is headed “No Refunds”. It says refunds are issued only where the law requires them, giving the example of EU users, who may cancel within 14 days of signing up, upgrading or renewing. A refund switches off the license key or the hosted access. If you cancel a subscription, it runs to the end of the billing cycle with no credit for time already paid.

Privacy, Storage and Security

Retention of Uploaded Files

Sejda gives two retention statements. Each tool page promises deletion of files 2 hours after upload. The privacy policy, effective October 1, 2026, says uploaded and output files are permanently removed after upload or processing and are held only long enough for you to process and download them. It adds that these files are not backed up and that Sejda does not open them without your explicit permission.

Exceptions to note:

  • Shared links: a public share link keeps a copy of the file for as long as the link lives, and both are removed automatically 7 days after sharing.
  • Support uploads: files you send to support are kept for troubleshooting and deleted “after an unspecified period of time”.
  • Saved signatures, images and watermarks sit in your browser storage until you delete them, log out or clear site data.

With Sejda Desktop, per the desktop FAQ, documents are processed on your computer and never uploaded.

What Else the Policy Collects

The privacy policy lists account email, billing details (name, card details, billing address and VAT number) and server logs with IP address, pages visited, browser type, time of request and cookie data. The desktop app sends error reports that can include settings, edits, file names, RAM, hostname and the logged-in username; you can switch this off in the app settings. Licensing and update checks send the product version, hostname, username and IP.

Cookies come from Sejda and partners in analytics and advertising, as well as cloud storage providers such as Google Drive and Dropbox. AI-assisted features, for example form field detection, send the relevant content to an AI sub-processor in the EU, or in the US during a temporary capacity failover.

Sub-processors named in the policy: Google, Mailgun, Postmark, Stripe, Paypal, FastSpring, DigitalOcean, Cloudflare and Google Cloud. FastSpring acts as reseller and merchant of record for new orders. EEA users can request access (usually answered within 30 days), correction, deletion, objection and portability, and can lodge a complaint with the Dutch data protection regulator. The policy bars users under 18.

Security Claims

The security page says traffic runs over HTTPS, documents stay encrypted both while moving and while stored, login passwords are hashed one way, employees open documents only with your consent, and card data is held by PCI-compliant payment processors rather than on Sejda’s servers. We could not audit any of this ourselves.

Desktop Platforms and Setup

Downloads on the desktop page cover Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, 64 bit Windows (installer or portable), and Linux as .deb or .rpm packages, plus a Chromebook guide. The help center explains that Chromebooks run it inside the Linux development environment, also called Crostini, and that the Linux build relies on the OCR engine already present on the system instead of bundling one.

Pros and Cons of Sejda PDF

Points in Its Favor

  • Free use without an account
  • Per tool limits printed on each tool page
  • Week Passes for short projects that do not renew
  • A desktop app that keeps files off Sejda’s servers
  • A stated 2 hour deletion window plus a no backup statement
  • A named Dutch company, registration number and governing law

Points Against It

  • 3 tasks per hour online and 3 per day on desktop go quickly
  • OCR is capped at 10 pages for free users
  • Scanned pages cannot be edited directly
  • The refund policy only covers what the law requires
  • Two different Amsterdam addresses across the legal pages
  • Advertising and analytics partners are mentioned in the cookie section

Comparable PDF Services

Named neutrally, with each fact taken from the vendor’s own page on October 29, 2026.

PDF24 Tools

PDF24 Tools describes its browser tools as free with no limits and no watermarks, paid for through advertising. It says files are encrypted on upload and removed from its servers after a short time, and it offers a desktop version where files stay on your PC.

PDFgear

PDFgear presents free PDF software and online tools for reading, editing, converting, merging and signing. It lists apps for PC, Mac, iPhone and iPad and an online e-signing platform.

Stirling PDF

Stirling PDF calls itself a free, private and open source PDF editor that you can run on your own computer or server, with 60+ tools. Its homepage title cites 30M+ downloads, a figure it publishes about itself.

Quick Comparison

Service Where files are processed Free use as stated by the vendor Paid entry point shown
Sejda PDF Sejda servers (Web) or your computer (Desktop) Capped per tool and per hour or day $5 Web Week Pass
PDF24 Tools PDF24 servers, or your PC with its desktop app No limits, ad supported Not listed
PDFgear Online or in its apps Described as free Not listed
Stirling PDF Your computer or server Free and open source Check on the site

Is Sejda PDF Right for You?

Sejda suits people who edit or reshape a short PDF now and then: a freelancer correcting an invoice, an office assistant merging a few forms, or a marketer trimming a brochure to a size that will travel well as an attachment. Sending PDFs to prospects? The email side is in the cold outreach guide on our blog, and our transactional email guide looks at sending receipts and documents automatically.

Heavy daily users will run into the hourly cap and should price the annual plan or a different tool. People handling medical, legal or HR files may prefer Sejda Desktop or another tool that keeps processing on their own machine, since the web version uploads every document.

FAQs

Can I use Sejda without paying?

Yes. The free tier needs no signup, but each tool page sets a page or MB cap and 3 tasks per hour.

What does the Web Week Pass cost?

$5 per user for 7 days on the pricing page we viewed, as a one-time payment that does not renew.

Does Sejda Desktop upload my files?

The desktop FAQ says no. Files are processed locally on your computer.

How quickly are web uploads removed?

Tool pages say 2 hours. The privacy policy says files are deleted after processing and are not backed up.

Will Sejda refund a subscription?

The terms limit refunds to cases the law demands, such as the 14 day EU cancellation right.

Who is behind sejda.com?

Sejda BV, a Dutch company registered in Amsterdam under KvK 68286945.

Our Verdict on sejda.com

Sejda PDF offers a broad set of PDF tools, real text editing and a desktop app that keeps files local. Its free web tier is generous on features but tight on volume, and it states those limits clearly on every tool page. Prices are low for short bursts thanks to the Week Pass, the company is identifiable, and file retention is short and documented. Before you rely on it, check the free caps for your tool, note the strict refund rule and double check that you are on sejda.com and not one of the lookalikes.

For a wider look at tool budgets, Email Finder Online publishes its plan costs on a dedicated pricing page.