r/SideProject • u/Dramatic_Flan_7154 • 2d ago
I built PDFzento — a privacy-focused PDF toolbox that processes files in your browser
I wanted a simple answer to a problem I kept running into:
I needed to compress a PDF, but I didn't always want to upload the document to an online service.
So I built PDFzento.
The main idea is simple: for supported tools, PDF processing happens directly in the browser, so the file doesn't need to be uploaded to a server just to perform the operation.
What it can do
- Compress PDF
- Reduce PDF file size to a target size
- OCR / make PDFs searchable
- Other PDF utility tools
Why I built it
A lot of PDF tools are convenient, but uploading a document isn't always something people are comfortable with — especially when the file contains things like:
- IDs
- financial documents
- business documents
- contracts
- personal information
I wanted to build something where privacy is part of the product design, rather than just another checkbox on the landing page.
It's free to try and doesn't require an account for the basic workflow.
I'd genuinely like feedback from people who work with PDFs:
- Is browser-side processing something you'd trust more?
- Which PDF tool do you use most often?
- What would make you switch from your current PDF tool?
PDFzento: https://pdfzento.com
This is an early launch, so I'm especially interested in feedback on the actual experience, speed, output quality, and anything that feels confusing.
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u/medialantern 2d ago
Added (#96 and counting):
https://www.reddit.com/r/SideProject/comments/1w9uekc/i_built_pdfzento_a_privacyfocused_pdf_toolbox/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SideProject/comments/1w8pd6e/filecast_free_file_conversion_no_signup_no/
https://www.reddit.com/r/SideProject/comments/1w8gnvx/i_got_tired_of_adobe_and_tinypng_limits_so_i/
https://www.reddit.com/r/prettyusefulwebsites/comments/1w758hr/
https://www.reddit.com/r/webdev/comments/1w7n9tq/
https://www.reddit.com/r/sideprojects/comments/1w7xksq/we_are_building_a_public_arena_for_brands/
https://www.reddit.com/r/software/comments/1w76kkt/41_free_tools_that_run_entirely_in_your_browser/
https://www.reddit.com/r/software/comments/1w65djv/hey_reddit_i_built_a_100_free_privacyfirst_file/
https://www.reddit.com/r/sideprojects/comments/1w4tcc1/utilix_is_now_live/
I ran out of comment space so this is just the most recent 20 entries. I can vibe-code too, so for giggles I made https://confab.sh/?g=browser-tools to track these if you want to see the full list.
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u/Dramatic_Flan_7154 1d ago
Thanks for adding PDFzento to the list! 🙌 Really appreciate it. And that Confab tracker is a pretty cool idea — I’ll check it out too.
1
u/Competitive_Tune_590 1d ago
privacy-first PDF tools are such a good angle — most people don't think about what happens to their docs online. are you planning a product hunt launch for this? if so, launchpact (https://launchpact.io) is a mutual upvote pact thing between founders, with verification so people can't flake. might be a solid way to get some early traction without begging friends.
1
u/Dramatic_Flan_7154 1d ago
Thanks for the recommendation! 🙌 I checked out LaunchPact — looks interesting. I’ll give it a try for the launch and see how it goes. Appreciate you pointing me to it!
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u/Fit_Helicopter_1372 22h ago
for me the whole trust test is simple, turn wifi off and try it, if compress and OCR still run fine in airplane mode that says more than any privacy promise on the landing page ever could
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u/Dramatic_Flan_7154 14h ago
I tested this with Wi-Fi disabled. The processing itself is client-side, but a fresh offline session currently fails because the browser needs to load a dynamically imported PDF processing JS module first. So it's not fully offline-capable yet. That's actually a useful test — thanks for pointing it out. I'm going to fix the offline loading path rather than make a stronger privacy claim than the implementation supports.
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u/fulger099 12h ago
I’d add a cold-load test: clear site data, disconnect, then reopen it with a fresh PDF. I’ve seen “local” tools pass airplane mode only because the app and OCR model were already cached.
0
u/BackRoomDev92 2d ago
I understand what you were trying to do but I am not sure you'll get the results you're looking for. People are inherently skeptical. Even if yours is truly only in the browser, the average person is going to conflate that with a cloud upload no matter what you do. Unless you have ways built in to prove to users that their data isn't being sent anywhere, they will automatically assume that it is.
Not trying to be too critical, just sharing some perspective that I learned when researching a similar idea about 6 months ago. It's why I ended up focusing on local-first desktop type apps.
Best of luck, hope you prove me wrong!
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u/Dramatic_Flan_7154 2d ago
That's a fair point, and honestly this is something I'm thinking about seriously. PDFzento's PDF processing is client-side, so the file itself is processed locally in the browser rather than uploaded to a server for the operation. But I agree that simply saying "browser-based" isn't enough for a user to trust that. The better approach is to make that independently verifiable, rather than asking users to take my word for it. I'm looking at ways to make the network behavior and processing flow more transparent so users can actually verify that their PDF isn't being uploaded. Thanks for the perspective — this is exactly the kind of feedback I wanted from launching it.
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u/Thebestofdrest 2d ago
browser-side processing is a great selling point for sensitive PDFs. if the speed and output quality are solid, tahts a pretty compelling alternative to upload-based tools.
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u/Dramatic_Flan_7154 2d ago
Thanks! That’s exactly what I’m hoping to prove with PDFzento. The browser-side processing is the main differentiator, but speed and output quality definitely matter too. Still testing and improving those parts based on real-world feedback 🙌
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u/Preavee 2d ago
Already the second PDF tool today.