Filzy vs iLovePDF
Two PDF toolkits, two architectures. iLovePDF runs on a server farm, Filzy runs in your browser. Here is the side by side, with no marketing fluff.
TL;DR
iLovePDF is the more established product with a wider language list and a desktop app. Filzy is the better fit if you do not want your file to leave your device, do not want a watermark on the free tier, and do not want to think about a daily cap. Compression ratios are essentially identical, both rely on the same image codecs.
Feature by feature
| Filzy | iLovePDF | |
|---|---|---|
| Files uploaded to a server | No, runs locally in WebAssembly | Yes |
| Watermark on free tier | No | No on web, yes on some apps |
| Daily cap | None | Yes (varies) |
| Account required | Beyond 3 files, free | Beyond daily limit |
| Typical compression ratio | 40-80% | 40-80% |
| Processing speed | Local, depends on CPU | Server, depends on network |
| PDF tool surface | 18+ | 25+ |
| Image and video tools | Yes, 50+ | PDF only |
| Languages | EN, FR | 25+ |
| API | On the roadmap (Pro) | Yes |
| Desktop app | Installable PWA | Windows, macOS |
| Pricing (free tier) | Free, 3 files/tool without account, free with account beyond | Capped, paid beyond |
Frequently asked questions
Yes. The Rust core is compiled to WebAssembly and runs in a Web Worker inside your browser tab. The PDF you drop never leaves the page, no temporary copy ends up on a server. You can even disconnect from the network after the page has loaded.
Not in any meaningful way. Both rely on libimagequant for PNG palette quantization and an optimised JPEG encoder. On a typical scanned PDF you get a 40 to 80% reduction with either tool. The differences are upstream, not in the codec.
It depends on your audience. iLovePDF supports 25+ languages, Filzy ships in English and French today, with localised tool slugs for SEO (e.g. /heic-to-jpg, /fr/convertir-heic-jpg). If you need more languages, the Paraglide-based stack makes it cheap to add.
They run a fleet of servers that process millions of PDFs per day. Bandwidth and storage are real costs, free users would otherwise be unbounded. Filzy avoids the constraint by pushing the work to the user device, so daily caps and watermarks are unnecessary.
For everything that runs in a browser, yes. For batch automations driven by an API or for files larger than what a typical laptop can handle (multi-gigabyte PDFs), iLovePDF or Adobe Acrobat are still better fits today. A Filzy Pro plan with optional server-side processing is on the roadmap.
Try Filzy on the same files
Same compression ratio, no upload, no daily cap, no watermark. Switching back to iLovePDF takes one click.
Open Filzy compress PDF