Stirling-PDF

Stable

Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF94.7k11.4k14h agoDocument Management

Specs verified September 3, 2026 · against v2.14.3

Overview

Self-hosted PDF editor with OCR, signing, redaction, and automation.

Stirling-PDF is a self-hosted PDF editor and document-processing platform for people who want to merge, convert, sign, redact, OCR, and automate PDFs without sending sensitive files to third-party websites.

Why people choose Stirling-PDF

Official product and documentation pages position Stirling-PDF around privacy, breadth of tooling, and the ability to move from one-off edits to repeatable document workflows. It fits operators who want an internal PDF toolbox instead of juggling multiple browser-based converters or desktop-only utilities.

What is included in the stack

The current docs describe 55 plus PDF tools, a stateful workspace, REST APIs, pipelines, folder scanning, and an MCP server, along with deployment options that range from Docker to desktop apps and manual server installs. The broader platform also covers OCR, redaction, signing, and configurable security controls.

What to know before you deploy

Stirling-PDF is straightforward to start in Docker, but the official docs make two caveats clear: login is enabled by default on a fresh server install, and deeper features such as OCR, automation, and logging work best when you persist the right volumes and choose the right image variant for your hardware.

Best fit

Choose Stirling-PDF when you need a self-hosted Adobe Acrobat and sketchy online PDF-tool alternative for private document editing or repeatable server-side processing. If you only need lightweight scanned-document archiving, a document management app may be a better primary system.

Quick deploy

Paste into docker-compose.yml and run docker compose up -d

docker-compose.yml

1services:
2  stirling-pdf:
3    image: docker.stirlingpdf.com/stirlingtools/stirling-pdf:latest
4    container_name: stirling-pdf
5    ports:
6      - '8080:8080'
7    volumes:
8      - ./stirling-data/configs:/configs
9      - ./stirling-data/tessdata:/usr/share/tessdata
10      - ./stirling-data/logs:/logs
11      - ./stirling-data/pipeline:/pipeline
12    environment:
13      - SECURITY_ENABLELOGIN=false
14      - SYSTEM_DEFAULTLOCALE=en-GB
15    restart: unless-stopped

Configuration

Environment variables

Variable	What it does	Example
`SECURITY_ENABLELOGIN`	Controls whether the web UI requires authentication. Official docs say login is enabled by default on fresh server deployments.	false
`SYSTEM_DEFAULTLOCALE`	Sets the default interface locale for the Stirling-PDF UI.	en-GB

Ports

8080/tcp — Default Stirling-PDF web interface and API port in the official Docker examples.

Volumes to back up

/configs — Primary persisted configuration and application data path in the official Docker docs.
/usr/share/tessdata — Optional OCR language data mount used when enabling richer OCR support.
/logs — Optional log directory used for server-side logging.
/pipeline — Optional pipeline configuration path for automation workflows.

Interface previews

Feature support

Feature support in Stirling-PDF
Feature	Support
55 plus PDF tools in one interfaceOfficial documentation says Stirling-PDF ships with 55 plus tools for merging, splitting, converting, signing, OCR, redaction, and related PDF operations.	Supported
Browser-based PDF editing and signingThe official site positions Stirling-PDF as a private browser-accessible editor so files can be processed on your own instance instead of an external service.	Supported
OCR and scanned-document handlingThe docs call out OCR support and additional tessdata volume paths for language files on fuller self-hosted deployments.	Supported
API and automation pipelinesOfficial docs and README describe REST APIs, pipelines, folder scanning, and an MCP server for integrating document workflows into other systems.	Supported
Multiple image variants for different hardwareThe Docker guide documents standard, fat, and ultra-lite image tags so operators can trade off size versus conversion quality and tool coverage.	Supported
Self-hosted security controlsThe platform docs include login controls, configuration files, environment variables, and broader system-security settings for private deployments.	Supported
SSO, permissions, and audit featuresThe docs surface SSO, user management, permission controls, and audit logging as part of the broader platform, but some enterprise-oriented capabilities depend on the chosen plan or deployment mode.	Partial support
Cross-platform deployment optionsOfficial guidance covers Docker, bare metal, Kubernetes-oriented docs, and native desktop apps for Windows, macOS, and Linux.	Supported

Community signals

Stars: 94.7k
Forks: 11.4k
Open issues: 547
Last commit: 14h ago
Latest release: v3.2.0
Repo created: Jan 2023

Refreshed nightly from the GitHub API.

Questions

What is Stirling-PDF used for?

Stirling-PDF is used for self-hosted PDF editing, OCR, redaction, signing, conversion, compression, and batch document workflows on infrastructure you control.

Is Stirling-PDF open source?

Partly. The project positions itself as an open-source PDF platform, but the current README says Stirling PDF is open-core and points readers to the license details for the exact split.

Does Stirling-PDF support OCR?

Yes. The official docs describe OCR support and show extra tessdata mounts for self-hosted setups that need language files and fuller PDF-processing features.

Does Stirling-PDF require login by default?

On a fresh server container, yes. The official Docker guide says login is enabled by default and the initial admin credentials should be changed immediately unless you explicitly disable login.

Can Stirling-PDF run on low-resource hardware?

Yes, to a point. The docs provide an ultra-lite image for constrained systems, while the standard and fat images are better when you want broader format support and higher-quality conversions.

Does Stirling-PDF have an API for automation?

Yes. Official documentation and the README describe REST APIs, pipelines, folder scanning, and an MCP server for automating document tasks.

What is the main Stirling-PDF tradeoff?

Stirling-PDF gives you privacy and a huge feature surface, but self-hosting means you still own upgrades, authentication choices, storage mounts, and the extra dependencies that make OCR and automation work well.

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