Adobe Acrobat seems to be one of those subscriptions people keep paying for out of habit. You might only open it to merge a few PDFs or rotate a couple of pages once in a while, yet still get charged monthly. And the wild part is a lot of the paid features can be found for free elsewhere.

This is why I’ve been using OmniTools instead. It’s a free, open-source, and self-hostable web app that bundles a massive collection of everyday PDF and file utilities into a single clean interface. No account needed and your files don’t go into the cloud.

Since many people aren’t using Acrobat for advanced document review or enterprise workflows anyway, there’s no need to pay for it. OmniTools covers everyday usage, including things like merging, compression, conversion, OCR, password protection, and more. And since I started self-hosting it, it also feels more responsive.

Self-hosting OmniTools

Setting it up on my own server for the first time

I’ve been using the browser-based app for a while already, but never actually self-hosted it. After using NotebookLM to help me learn how to self-host, I’ve been more intentional about moving my productivity stack into my own setup. OmniTools is dead simple to self-host; all you need are the commands provided in their GitHub repo.

I started by creating a dedicated folder on my PC to contain all the files. From PowerShell, I ran mkdir omnitools to make the folder, and cd omnitools to navigate to it. Then I created a docker-compose.yml file in that folder using Notepad and pasted the snippets from the OmniTools GitHub repo.

Once that was saved, I went back to PowerShell and ran docker compose up -d. Docker pulled the image and started the container in the background, and just a few seconds later, everything was up and running. I headed to my browser, entered the localhost address, and OmniTools was ready to go.

OmniTools covers everyday PDF needs

There’s no reason to pay for the basics

Let’s be real: most of us don’t need an Acrobat Pro subscription. Features like OCR, password protection, and advanced editing are great, but overkill for many of our PDF use cases. Most users only really need tools for merging, converting, compressing, splitting, and rotating their PDF files on a daily basis. This is where OmniTools shines - it provides all the basics:

• Split - This function lets you split off specific pages from a PDF file. It’s great for extracting certain sections of research or sending only parts of a confidential file.
• Rotate - Easily and quickly rotate the orientation of your PDF pages. OmniTools lets you rotate all pages or just the ones you select.
• Compress - This is the function I rely on most since I occasionally have to email PDF files. Compression reduces the file size, making it easier to share or upload them.
• Merge - This is another function I rely on quite a bit because of NotebookLM’s source cap. It combines multiple PDF files into one.
• Conversion - OmniTools supports multiple conversion formats, including PDF to EPUB, PDF to PNG, and Image to PDF. Conversion makes it easier to share your files on certain platforms and works better for embedding files in some presentations.

Each of these tools is designed to be fast and intuitive so you don’t have to look through long menus or waste time on extra clicks. That’s why every feature is laid out on the main page, and it also has a search function so you can navigate to any feature even quicker.

OmniTools has more advanced features, too

Tools for heavy PDF users

OmniTools doesn’t stop at the basics. It also has a couple of more advanced features that you’d need to pay for in Acrobat. There’s a PDF editor that lets you add and edit text, create checkbox lists, and add images. It also lets you create and add your signature. While this editing kit is not a full replacement for Acrobat’s offerings, it covers the vast majority of PDF use cases.

Password protection is another feature that can save you from needing an Acrobat subscription. You can encrypt documents with a password to keep sensitive information secure before sending them off the clients or colleagues.

OCR is also supported, but with a caveat: it’s part of OmniTools’ image editing toolkit, not its PDF tools. This means that you’d need to convert your PDF files to images first, then run OCR to extract the text. While a small extra step, it still allows you to digitize content from scanned documents or image-heavy PDF files.

Combined with the basic tools, these more advanced functions make OmniTools a very capable alternative for nearly every PDF workflow.

Paying for Acrobat just isn’t necessary

Adobe Acrobat still does things that most alternatives don’t. It offers deep text editing and complex form handling, and collaborative workflows are real advantages if PDFs are central to your job. But for the average user, that power is overkill, and you’re better off with a free, and more secure, option.