PDF Redactly vs PDFgear
PDFgear is a genuinely capable free PDF editor — desktop and online — that covers editing, conversion, signing, and an AI chat assistant. It's a lot of software for free, and for general PDF work it's a strong pick.
But redaction in PDFgear is a manual, mark-it-yourself feature inside a general editor, and its AI and online features process your file in the cloud. PDF Redactly is the opposite: a focused tool that automatically finds sensitive data and redacts it entirely in your browser, with nothing uploaded. Here's how they compare for the specific job of redaction.
Why people switch
In a general editor you have to find and mark every SSN, name, and account number yourself — and the ones you miss are exactly the ones that leak. PDF Redactly scans the page and flags 30+ categories for you before you redact.
PDFgear's desktop editing is local, but its AI and online tools send your file to the cloud. PDF Redactly has no upload endpoint at all, for any feature — verifiable in your browser's network tab.
PDF Redactly runs in any browser on any device — nothing to download or keep updated. Open the tab, redact, done.
Where PDFgear wins: it's a free, full-featured PDF suite with a real offline desktop app — editing, conversion, forms, signing, and an AI assistant. If you want one free tool for everything PDF, it's excellent. For automatic, private, browser-based redaction specifically, PDF Redactly is the focused choice.
FAQ
No — PDFgear's redaction is manual: you mark each region yourself inside the editor. PDF Redactly automatically detects 30+ categories of sensitive data for you before you redact.
Its desktop editing is local, but PDFgear's AI and online features process your file in the cloud. PDF Redactly never uploads your file for any feature.
Yes — the free tier redacts unlimited PDFs in your browser with automatic detection and no account required.