Sejda

The one thing people assume only Acrobat can do is edit the text inside an existing PDF — clicking into a paragraph and changing a word. Sejda does it, in a browser, from a Dutch company, and does it better than most of the alternatives.

It also states its retention plainly: uploaded files are deleted after two hours, and the desktop version does not upload at all.

Actual Text Editing

Sejda's editor lets you click into existing text and change it, with reasonable font matching and reflow within a text block. It is not a word processor and complex layouts will fight back, but for correcting a typo in a contract or updating a date on a form it does exactly what people expect and rarely get.

Form creation and filling are handled well too, including flattening a completed form so the values cannot be changed.

Two-Hour Deletion and a Desktop Option

Files uploaded to the web service are deleted after two hours, which is stated clearly rather than buried. The desktop version, available for Windows, macOS and Linux, processes everything locally with no upload — the option to use for anything genuinely confidential.

Linux support on the desktop is unusual in this category and worth noting.

Free Tier

Three tasks per hour, with page and size limits, free without an account. That is enough for occasional use, and unlike some competitors the free tier includes the text editor rather than reserving it for paying users.

Limitations to Consider

Text editing works well on simple, well-structured documents and struggles with complex layouts, scanned pages and unusual fonts — expectations should be calibrated accordingly. The free tier's hourly task limit is restrictive for real work. The interface is plain, and the toolset is narrower than iLovePDF's or PDF24's.

Who Should Use Sejda

Anyone who needs to change text inside existing PDFs regularly — contracts, forms, reports — without an Acrobat subscription, and Linux users who want a proper local PDF editor.