Best PDF Croppers in 2026: the buyer's shortlist

ToAny's Crop PDF runs inside your browser tab. You drop a PDF, set how much to trim from the top, right, bottom and left, and choose every page or only the pages you type, such as 2, 5-7. The file is not uploaded: no PDF tool on ToAny uses the conversion server.

It works by setting each page's CropBox, the area a viewer shows and prints. Nothing else in the file is rebuilt or compressed again, so text stays sharp and pictures keep their resolution. Margins are set as a share of each side, so one setting fits a document whose pages differ in size.

The page is also honest about what a crop is. The trimmed margins are hidden, not deleted, so text outside the crop is still in the file. If a margin holds something private, a crop is not enough, and the page says so rather than letting you believe it is gone.

It has gaps. ToAny does not find white margins for you, and one run applies one set of margins, so it cannot give each page its own crop the way Sejda can. There is no desktop app, no API and no cloud import. It can work offline: get it ready from the privacy panel, then drop the file with the network off. To take whole pages out instead, Delete PDF pages removes them from the file.

The tool is free with no account or email. The terms say ToAny may show advertising, and none was visible at the time of writing. Large files depend on your device's memory, so a very large PDF may struggle on a phone.

Sejda's Crop PDF has the most ways to set a crop on this list. You can crop the whole document in one go, with the pages blended on top of each other so one size fits them all. You can crop pages separately, each with a different size. An Auto-crop button finds the white margins, and you can type exact margins in inches or centimetres.

It is also the only competitor here that states what a crop does. Next to the crop controls the page says content outside the crop area is hidden but not completely removed from the document. That matches how ToAny describes it.

The web version uploads your file. The tool page says files are uploaded over an encrypted connection and deleted automatically after 2 hours. The free web service covers documents up to 200 pages or 50 MB and 3 tasks per hour. To avoid the upload, Sejda Desktop runs the same tools on your computer; its free tier is 3 tasks per day, with documents up to 50MB and 200 pages.

Prices showed in US dollars from our connection, and Sejda has shown Australian dollars to us before, so yours may differ. A Web Week Pass was $5 for 7 days, one time. Web Monthly was $7.50 per user per month. Desktop+Web Annual was $63 per user per year. Paid plans list uploads up to 500MB per file and no page or hourly limits.

Sejda says it has built PDF tools since 2010. It is the pick when the crop has to be exact or different on each page.

PDF24's Crop PDF is free and paid for by advertising. Its tool page says no registration is needed and lists no limits. You type a margin in millimetres for each edge, or switch to a visual mode and adjust the cut on a page preview.

It has one control the others here lack: you choose whether the margins set the Crop Box or the Trim Box. The Trim Box matters for print work, where it marks the finished size of a page after it is cut. Most people who only want to hide a margin on screen need the Crop Box.

The web tool uploads your file. The page says the cropping is done by special PDF24 servers, that the servers are in Germany, and that files are deleted from the server after one hour. It does not say whether content outside the crop stays in the file, so treat a crop there as hidden rather than removed.

To avoid the upload, PDF24 Creator is free Windows software with the same tools, and its page says it works offline so files stay on your PC. The Creator page does not offer a Mac or Linux version of the desktop app.

PDF24 is a project of geek software GmbH, a Berlin company founded in 2006. The crop page showed a rating of 4.7 from 315 votes, collected on PDF24's own site. It is the pick for a free crop with exact numbers and no account.

iLovePDF's Crop PDF works by dragging. You click and drag over the area you want to keep, resize it if needed, then pick All pages or Current page. The tool page describes no typed margins and no automatic trimming of white margins.

The file is uploaded to iLovePDF's servers. Its security page says all processed files are deleted automatically and permanently within two hours, and you can delete them yourself from the download screen. The crop tool also reminds you to review the result before sending private information. It does not say whether content outside the crop stays in the file.

The free tier is tight for this tool. iLovePDF's pricing table allows 1 file per Crop PDF task and 100 MB per task for free, against 4 GB on Premium. Premium showed $5 per month billed annually, which is $60 a year, or $9 billed monthly, in US dollars from our connection. It has shown Australian dollars to us before, so check the price in your own currency.

iLovePDF says it was born in Barcelona in 2010. Besides the web tools it offers desktop apps for Mac and Windows and mobile apps for iOS and Android, plus an API for developers.

It makes most sense if you already use iLovePDF for merging or compressing and want cropping in the same place. For a crop that must be exact to the millimetre, a typed-margin tool is easier.

Smallpdf's Crop PDF also works by dragging. You upload a file, flip a toggle to crop one page or all pages, drag over the area to keep and confirm with the check mark. The upload box takes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PNG and JPG files as well as PDF, which none of the other tools here offer on their crop page.

Files are uploaded. The page says they are encrypted during processing and deleted automatically after one hour, and that Smallpdf is GDPR compliant and ISO/IEC 27001 certified. Its FAQ says cropping only removes unwanted areas. It does not say whether the text outside the crop stays in the file, and we did not test it, so treat a crop there as hidden rather than removed.

Free use is capped. The crop page mentions usage limits for free users, and the pricing table lists a daily download limit for Crop on the free plan. Pro removes that limit and starts with a 7-day free trial; if you cancel, the account drops back to the free plan. We do not quote Pro's price, because the page did not show clearly which billing period the figure belonged to.

The crop page shows a rating of 4.6 out of 5 from 347 votes on Smallpdf's own site. The company was founded in Switzerland in 2013.

Smallpdf suits people who want cropping next to editing, signing and converting in one account, and who are happy to upload.