PenwiseA Smallpdf alternative with no daily limit and no upload
Smallpdf is popular and does a lot. But its free plan caps how much you can do each day, and its web tools work on a copy of your file on their servers. If all you need is to fill in and sign a PDF, there are free options with neither catch.
What Smallpdf's free plan limits
As of October 2026, Smallpdf's help page says free account holders get "limited access to basic features of 21 online tools" and can "process up to 2 conversions per day". Smallpdf's own wording and limits can change, and the exact count that applies to a given tool (fill, sign, compress) isn't spelled out there, so check Smallpdf's pricing page for the current terms. The pricing page also offers a 7-day free trial of the paid plan, which it says you can cancel and be downgraded to free without being charged.
Pro prices vary by region and billing period, so check Smallpdf's pricing page above for the current figure before you start a trial.
What happens to your file
Smallpdf's form filler page says "Files are deleted after one hour unless you save or share them for longer", and describes TLS encryption in transit, ISO 27001 and GDPR compliance. That is a reasonable policy. The point is only that your file does leave your computer. For a tax form, ID scan or lease, some people would rather it didn't.
A fair note on reviews
Smallpdf is well liked: its Trustpilot page showed 4.7 out of 5 from about 5,200 reviews as of October 2026, and roughly 85% were five-star. The complaints that do appear are mostly about billing. One reviewer reports signing up for a trial, forgetting to cancel and being charged $108 for an annual plan. That is one person's account, not a verdict, but it is a good reason to set a calendar reminder if you start any trial.
Free options with no daily cap
Mac Preview
Fills forms, adds text and stores a reusable signature. Good for: Mac users. Limits: Mac only, and fiddly on complicated forms.
Adobe Acrobat Reader
The free Fill & Sign tool handles forms and signatures. Good for: complex forms. Limits: a big install with regular prompts to buy paid features.
Chrome or Edge's built-in viewer
Chrome 149 (June 2026) added basic fill, add text and drawn signatures, and Edge has had Add text and Draw for longer. Good for: a quick one-off. Limits: basic. A drawn mouse signature can look rough, and Chrome's own help says the feature "doesn't provide signature verification or security".
Penwise (Chrome extension)
Disclosure: we make Penwise.
Fill form fields, add text anywhere (so flat and scanned PDFs work), add check marks, crosses and today's date, highlight, white-out, and sign by drawing, typing in a handwriting font, or uploading an image. Signatures can be saved on your device. There is no daily limit, no account and no watermark, and the file is never uploaded: it is processed in your browser. You can try it in your browser first, with the same fill, sign and download.
Pro is a one-time $9.99 payment, not a subscription. It adds true redaction (the text and images are removed from the file), page reordering, rotation and deletion, and merging PDFs. Those are extension-only.
Side by side
| Option | Daily or hourly cap on free use | Uploads your file? | Fill and sign | Compress, convert, OCR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smallpdf (free) | Yes, see its help page | Yes (deleted after one hour per its form filler page) | Yes | Yes |
| Mac Preview | No | No | Yes | No |
| Acrobat Reader | No | No | Yes | No (paid Acrobat does) |
| Chrome / Edge viewer | No | No | Basic | No |
| Penwise | No | No | Yes | No |
Based on what each tool's first-party pages said on 8 October 2026. Plans and limits change, so check before you rely on this.
When Smallpdf is the better fit
Smallpdf covers far more than filling and signing. Penwise has no compression, no format conversion (PDF to or from Word, Excel and so on), no OCR, no multi-party e-signature workflow, no audit trail and no certificate-based digital signatures. If you need to shrink a file under an upload limit, turn a scan into editable text, or convert a document, Smallpdf is the better tool, and a handful of tasks a month may fit inside its free tier anyway.
The two work together fine: do the fill and sign locally, and use Smallpdf only for the odd job a local tool can't do, ideally on files without sensitive data.
Tip: check the limit before you start. A daily cap is most annoying when it hits mid-form. If you'll fill several documents in one sitting, use a local tool from the start.
FAQ
How many free tasks does Smallpdf allow per day?
Its help page says free account holders can "process up to 2 conversions per day", with limited access to basic features. Limits change, so see the pricing page.
Does Smallpdf upload my files?
Yes, its web tools do. Its form filler page says files are deleted after one hour unless you save or share them longer. Penwise never uploads files.
Is there a free alternative with no daily limit for filling and signing?
Yes: Preview, Acrobat Reader, your browser's viewer, or Penwise. See also how to sign a PDF without uploading it and how to fill a PDF form for free.
Can Penwise compress, convert or OCR PDFs?
No. It fills, signs, annotates, redacts, merges and reorganizes. For compression, conversion or OCR, use Smallpdf or a similar tool.
Related: pdfFiller alternatives · redacting a PDF properly
Fill and sign PDFs with no daily limit. Penwise is free for filling, signing and downloading, and your files never leave your computer. Or try it in your browser, free.
Add Penwise to Chrome, free