FireConvertApp vs iLovePDF: honest head-to-head

Feature-by-feature matrix

18 rows. We don't win all of them. Orange check = meaningful advantage. Grey = roughly equivalent.

Where iLovePDF beats us

Being honest beats being defensive. If any of these are must-haves for your workflow, iLovePDF is the better fit.

• Feature breadth. iLovePDF has watermark, rotate, page numbers, digital signatures, OCR, and unlock/protect live today. We ship merge, split, compress, to-JPG, PDF↔Word, DOCX↔PDF, EPUB↔PDF. The rest is on our roadmap; if you need all of it today, use their suite.
• Desktop + mobile apps. Native apps for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android. Useful when offline or when you're already inside a file-management workflow (Finder, Explorer). We're web-only.
• OCR for scanned PDFs. Turn a scanned image PDF into a text-searchable one. Required for archiving contracts, tax docs, research scans. On our roadmap but not shipped.
• PDF to Word fidelity. Both do text extraction; their layout-preserving conversion catches more nuance (tables with borders, footers, embedded images) than our text-first v1 path.
• Digital signatures. PKI-backed e-signatures with audit trail are a Business-tier feature there. Not on our near-term roadmap.

Where we beat iLovePDF

• Free tier that actually works for real use. 50 conversions per day, no watermark, no sign-up. iLovePDF Free soft-blocks after a few uses and watermarks some outputs — the classic "trial, then paywall" pattern.
• Honest compression. When our wrapper-compress can't save at least 1% on your file (typical for image-heavy PDFs), we return your original with a notice and point you at the deep-compress opt-in. iLovePDF always hands back a "compressed" file, even when it's the same size or slightly larger. Trust-building over dark-pattern framing.
• AI bundled, in your browser. Background removal ( /remove-background) and 2×/4× image upscaling ( /upscale-image) — free, unlimited, no upload. iLovePDF doesn't ship these at all. Most competitors charge $9–$99/month for just the background remover.
• Image conversion the PDF suite doesn't have. 60+ image tools including HEIC ↔ JPG/PNG (iPhone photos), WebP / AVIF / TIFF / JFIF conversions, ICO favicons, batch mode, presets for Instagram / YouTube / print. iLovePDF handles JPG ↔ PDF and little else on the image side.
• Privacy we can prove. Our AI image tools run 100% locally — open DevTools → Network and watch: zero requests during inference. Server-side conversions process in memory and auto-delete within the hour. iLovePDF uploads everything to their servers per standard cloud-SaaS behaviour.
• Public API live today. Bearer-authed, rate-limited /api/v1 with 5 live endpoints (image convert + PDF merge/split/compress/to-jpg). iLovePDF has an API too, paid. Ours is included in all tiers.

Pricing — side-by-side

Listed tiers verified on both vendors' public sites as of 2026-04-24. Prices shift; re-verify before quoting in a contract.

Coming from iLovePDF? The 3-minute switch

1. Pick the tool you use most there. Most likely: compress, merge, or PDF-to-JPG. Our matching tools are at /pdf-compressor, /pdf-merge, and /pdf-to-jpg.
2. Drop the file + download. No sign-up for anonymous use. Same UX model as iLovePDF, fewer interstitials.
3. Use the features they don't ship. While you're here: try the free AI /remove-background and /upscale-image — both run in your browser, both are free, both would be extra subscriptions elsewhere.

If you hit a tool we don't have yet (OCR, sign, watermark), keep iLovePDF Premium for those specific workflows and use us for everything else. That's the honest answer.

Common questions

Is FireConvertApp really free for unlimited PDF conversions?

Yes — 50 conversions per day on the free tier, no watermark, no sign-up, no daily-trial-then-paywall surprise. Paid plans exist ($12.99/mo Basic and up) but they unlock bigger per-file size caps and API usage, not the core tools themselves.

Is the PDF compression as good as iLovePDF's?

The wrapper-compress path (our default) is equivalent — both re-save with object streams and strip metadata. Where we differ: we're honest when the result is no smaller than the input, and we return the original with a notice pointing to our deep-compress option. iLovePDF hands back a 'compressed' file either way. For image-heavy PDFs, enable our 'Re-encode images' option and expect 60-90% savings.

Can I sign or password-protect PDFs?

Not yet. Password protect + unlock have landing pages and waitlists live now (we'll email when they ship). Digital signatures are further out. If you need either today, iLovePDF Business is the more complete fit. We ship what we have without over-claiming.

What about OCR on scanned PDFs?

On the roadmap (next 90 days per /roadmap). iLovePDF has it behind their paid tier today. For a one-off scan-to-searchable workflow right now, their Premium is the pragmatic choice. For recurring scan-archive workflows, pair our deep-compress with a desktop OCR tool for now.

Are my files uploaded when I use the PDF tools?

The PDF tools run on our server (sharp, pdf-lib, pdfjs). Files arrive, get processed in memory, and the response streams back — we retain nothing beyond a temporary working buffer, auto-deleted within the hour. The AI image tools (/remove-background, /upscale-image) run entirely in your browser — those files never leave your device. See our /privacy page for the full breakdown.

Why would I use FireConvertApp if iLovePDF is more complete?

If you need every PDF feature (OCR, signatures, watermark, page numbers, desktop + mobile apps), iLovePDF covers more of the surface today. If you want free unlimited daily conversions, no watermarks, the PDF basics that work, plus AI bundled (background removal + upscaling) that iLovePDF doesn't ship at all — we're the better deal. Try both; pick what fits your workflow.