DocHub vs Sejda

DocHub is a browser-based PDF editor and e-signature app. Chris Devor, who earlier built the iPhone utility maker Macroplant, launched it in October 2014, and it grew mainly through its Google Workspace Marketplace add-on, which has passed 57 million installs. In July 2022 airSlate acquired DocHub. Its core job is to open a PDF from Drive, Gmail or your computer, edit or fill it, sign it and send it out without installing desktop software.

The editor handles text edits, highlights, drawings, comments, page reordering, merging and splitting. Documents can go to several signers in a set order, with templates and an audit trail. Files can be opened from Google Drive, Gmail and Google Classroom as well as Dropbox, Box and OneDrive. The free plan shares three uses per month across core features; Basic and Pro are low-cost per-user subscriptions, and a Site License covers whole schools or companies.

DocHub fits teachers, freelancers and small teams living in Google Workspace who sign and annotate documents occasionally. It is not a full replacement for Adobe Acrobat when you need advanced PDF production or desktop editing, and its signing workflows are lighter than dedicated e-sign suites. pdfFiller has a bigger form library and signNow focuses on high-volume e-sign workflows and APIs, both from the same parent company.

Buying tip: prices are localised, so European visitors see euros instead of dollars, and annual billing cuts about 25%. Because airSlate owns three overlapping products, compare limits across DocHub, pdfFiller and signNow before you commit.

Sejda is a PDF editing and conversion toolkit run by Sejda B.V. in Amsterdam, which grew out of an open source PDF project started in 2010. It runs as Sejda Web in any browser and as Sejda Desktop for Windows, macOS and Linux, which processes files locally without uploading them. Its job is everyday PDF work: editing existing text, filling and signing forms, merging, splitting, compressing and converting.

The toolset is deep for the price: edit text and add images and links, create fillable forms, merge, split by pages, bookmarks, text or size, compress, crop, watermark, Bates numbering, OCR, password protection, and conversion to and from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, JPG and HTML. The free tier needs no signup but allows three tasks per hour and documents up to 200 pages, with size caps that vary by tool. Paid options are a $5 one-time Web Week Pass, Web Monthly at $7.50 and a $63 Desktop+Web annual plan, all with unlimited tasks, 500 MB uploads and batch processing.

Sejda suits freelancers, students and small offices that edit PDFs occasionally and do not want an Acrobat subscription. It lacks signature workflows with audit trails and team collaboration. iLovePDF and Smallpdf offer similar tools with stronger mobile apps and team features, while Foxit fits full desktop editing and enterprise deployment better.

Buying tip: the Week Pass does not renew automatically, which suits one-off projects. Uploaded web files are deleted after two hours; for sensitive documents use Desktop, which keeps files on your computer.