Comparison

PyMuPDF vs Stirling-PDF

No clear leader: Stirling-PDF (59.0) and PyMuPDF (57.2) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

PyMuPDF full profile →Stirling-PDF full profile →

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.

PyMuPDF57

Stirling-PDF59

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	PyMuPDF	Stirling-PDF
vioscaleAI score	57 / 100medium · 63%	59 / 100medium · 67%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	open_source	freemium
Price levelpricing.price_level	free	high
Starting pricepricing.starting_price	-	$99
Transparentpricing.transparent	✗	✓
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	1	4
Security
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	5.2	-
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	Count: 1 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=pymupdf&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 1 · Max severity: MODERATE	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=nixpkgs&package_name=stirling-pdf&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	1,798	0
Github starsadoption.github_stars	10,910	94,282
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	100	100
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	35	6
Historyrelease.history	20 items	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	AGPL-3.0	-
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	Python	TypeScript
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	-	Available worldwide · Popular in US
Content
Faqcontent.faq	5 items	4 items

Score

vioscaleAI score

PyMuPDF57 / 100medium · 63%

Stirling-PDF59 / 100medium · 67%

Pricing

Free tier

PyMuPDF✓

Stirling-PDF✓

Model

PyMuPDFopen_source

Stirling-PDFfreemium

Price level

PyMuPDFfree

Stirling-PDFhigh

Starting price

PyMuPDF–

Stirling-PDF$99

Transparent

PyMuPDF✗

Stirling-PDF✓

Integrations

Count

PyMuPDF1

Stirling-PDF4

Security

Scorecard

PyMuPDF5.2

Stirling-PDF–

Vulnerabilities

PyMuPDFCount: 1 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=pymupdf&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 1 · Max severity: MODERATE

Stirling-PDFCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=nixpkgs&package_name=stirling-pdf&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Adoption

Dependent repos

PyMuPDF1,798

Stirling-PDF0

Github stars

PyMuPDF10,910

Stirling-PDF94,282

Activity

Commits last 30d

PyMuPDF100

Stirling-PDF100

Release

Cadence days

PyMuPDF35

Stirling-PDF6

History

PyMuPDF20 items

Stirling-PDF20 items

License

Spdx

PyMuPDFAGPL-3.0

Stirling-PDF–

Language

Primary

PyMuPDFPython

Stirling-PDFTypeScript

Market

Availability

PyMuPDF–

Stirling-PDFAvailable worldwide · Popular in US

Content

Faq

PyMuPDF5 items

Stirling-PDF4 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for pdf editors. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for PDF Editors
Capability	PyMuPDF	Stirling-PDF
Capabilities
Deployment model	Native desktop	Cloud saas
Base text and image editing within PDF	✓	✓
Page merging extraction and splitting	✓	✓
OCR optical character recognition scanning	✓	✓
Permanent blackout redaction engine	✓	✓
Password protection and encryption	✓	-
Interactive form field creation	✓	✓
Digital signature certification enforcement	-	✓
Microsoft office docx xlsx conversion	✓	✓
File size compression engine	✓	✓
SOC2 type ii	-	-
ISO 27001	-	-
Pricing model	Freemium	Freemium

Capabilities

Deployment model

PyMuPDFNative desktop

Stirling-PDFCloud saas

Base text and image editing within PDF

PyMuPDF✓

Stirling-PDF✓

Page merging extraction and splitting

PyMuPDF✓

Stirling-PDF✓

OCR optical character recognition scanning

PyMuPDF✓

Stirling-PDF✓

Permanent blackout redaction engine

PyMuPDF✓

Stirling-PDF✓

Password protection and encryption

PyMuPDF✓

Stirling-PDF-

Interactive form field creation

PyMuPDF✓

Stirling-PDF✓

Digital signature certification enforcement

PyMuPDF-

Stirling-PDF✓

Microsoft office docx xlsx conversion

PyMuPDF✓

Stirling-PDF✓

File size compression engine

PyMuPDF✓

Stirling-PDF✓

SOC2 type ii

PyMuPDF-

Stirling-PDF-

ISO 27001

PyMuPDF-

Stirling-PDF-

Pricing model

PyMuPDFFreemium

Stirling-PDFFreemium

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

PyMuPDF

A Python library providing efficient, precise control over PDF documents for reading, editing, and converting their contents. Built on a lightweight C engine with both low-level control and high-level convenience functions.

Independently observed

Stirling-PDF

A comprehensive PDF platform offering 60+ tools for editing, signing, redacting, and converting documents. Available as desktop applications, a web interface, or self-hosted server with API access.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

PyMuPDF

Open sourceFree tier

as of 2026-09-13verify ↗

Stirling-PDF

from $99/moHybridFree tier

Free for individuals. Team plan from $99/month for 100 users. Enterprise with custom pricing.

FreeFree
- 60+ PDF tools
- Web, desktop, and self-hosted options
- Private and open-source
- 1,000 monthly credits for automation
Team$99/month for 100 users
- Everything in Free
- Single sign-on (SSO)
- Team workspace and invites
- Add capacity in blocks of 100 users
- One bill instead of per-seat licenses
- +1 more
EnterpriseContact sales
- Everything in Team
- Air-gapped and self-hosted deployment
- SCIM provisioning
- Data residency and audit logs
- Uptime SLAs
- +1 more

as of 2026-10-15verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	PyMuPDF	Stirling-PDF
WebPlatforms	✗	✓
macOSPlatforms	✓	✓
WindowsPlatforms	✓	✓
LinuxPlatforms	✓	✓
CLIPlatforms	✗	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✗	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✓
Air-gappedDeployment	✗	✓

Platforms

Web

PyMuPDF✗

Stirling-PDF✓

macOS

PyMuPDF✓

Stirling-PDF✓

Windows

PyMuPDF✓

Stirling-PDF✓

Linux

PyMuPDF✓

Stirling-PDF✓

CLI

PyMuPDF✗

Stirling-PDF✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

PyMuPDF✗

Stirling-PDF✓

Self-hosted

PyMuPDF✓

Stirling-PDF✓

Air-gapped

PyMuPDF✗

Stirling-PDF✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

PyMuPDF

1 total

Tesseract

Independently observed

Stirling-PDF

4 total

SharePoint
S3
FTP
OAuth

Independently observed

Still deciding?

PyMuPDF or Stirling-PDF: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.