Free · Open source (GPLv3) · AI assistant built in

The free, open-source PDF editor with AI

Edit text, annotate, sign, fill in forms, measure drawings and OCR scans. Ask questions about a PDF, summarise it or translate it in place with the AI provider you choose. No account, no tracking, a fast native app for Windows, macOS and Linux.

Download BergPDFFree · v0.2.2 · Windows, macOS, Linux Explore features

Other systems & checksums · Support the project

Open source (GPLv3)
Optional AI assistant
Works offline
No account, no telemetry

BergPDF showing a PDF with the PDF Copilot AI panel open

100%open source, GPL-3.0-or-later
AIassistant: summarise, ask, translate
0accounts, trackers or watermarks
3platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux

AI assistant

Your PDF, with an AI assistant

PDF Copilot reads the document with you. Summarise a contract, ask a question and jump straight to the page that answers it, or translate a whole document where it stands.

Answers with proof. Replies cite pages, and quoted passages are checked and highlighted in the document.
Translate in place. Every paragraph is replaced by its translation in a copy; your original never changes.
You choose the model. OpenAI, Anthropic or a local server, with your own key. Nothing is sent until you press a button.

PDF Copilot Translate in place

Optional. Add your own key to BergPDF Free, or choose BergPDF Pro and skip the setup. The rest of BergPDF works fully offline.

PDF Copilot answering a question with verified passages highlighted

A PDF translated in place and opened as a copy in a new tab

Two ways to get AI

Bring your own key, or have AI included

The editor is the same. The only difference is how you get the AI assistant.

BergPDF Free

Open source and free. Connect your own OpenAI or Anthropic key, or a local model, and pay your provider only for what you use.

BergPDF Pro Coming soon

AI included. No API key, no provider account and no setup: install it and the assistant is ready.

See BergPDF Pro →

Take the tour

Everything you need to work with PDFs

From a quick signature to measuring a floor plan: pick a feature to see it in action.

BergPDF annotating a rotated page with a callout and its properties panel

Highlight, underline, notes, callouts, shapes, arrows and freehand drawing.Learn more: Annotate →

All features

One app, the whole PDF toolbox

Every feature is listed here, with its honest limits on its own page.

Read & navigate

Tabs, thumbnails, bookmarks, full-text search and smooth zoom, even on large drawings.

Annotate

Highlight, underline, notes, callouts, shapes, arrows and freehand drawing.

Edit text & images

Change existing text and images in place, or add new ones.

Your own fonts

Five bundled font families plus any TrueType font installed on your computer.

Organise pages

Rotate, delete, insert, duplicate, reorder, extract and merge pages.

Fill in forms

Fill text fields, checkboxes, radios and lists, then flatten the result.

Sign

Draw a handwritten signature or sign digitally with your own certificate.

Measure & count

Calibrate a scale, measure on drawings with snapping, count items and export CSV.

OCR

Make scanned pages searchable. Runs on your computer.

Optimise size

Shrink files losslessly, balanced or smallest, and see what you saved.

PDF/A archiving

Convert to PDF/A-2b with a preview, or the exact reason it cannot be done.

PDF Copilot (AI)

Summarise, ask questions and get answers with page references. Bring your own key.

Translate in place (AI)

Translate a document paragraph by paragraph, in a copy, layout intact.

Command palette & shortcuts

Ctrl+K for every command, a context menu where you work, remappable shortcuts.

Safe saving & recovery

Unlimited undo, autosave with crash recovery and checked, atomic saves.

Open source & private

GPLv3 software with no account, no telemetry and no cloud. Your documents stay on your computer.

Browse features by category

Open source

Free software you can read, build and share

BergPDF is released under the GNU GPL v3 or later. No hidden tricks, no vendor lock-in, no feature behind a paywall.

Read the code

The whole editor is on GitHub. See exactly what happens to your documents, and verify the privacy claims yourself.

Build it yourself

Prefer not to trust a binary? Compile it from source with the instructions in the repository, or verify the SHA-256 checksum of every download.

Shape it

Report bugs, suggest features, send a patch or translate the interface. Contributions are welcome.

View the source on GitHubLicense: GPL-3.0-or-later

In your control

Your documents stay on your computer

Contracts, invoices, drawings, medical letters: BergPDF opens them locally and never sends them anywhere on its own.

No account and no telemetry. Nothing to sign up for, nothing phoning home.
Offline OCR. Text recognition runs on your own machine.
AI on your terms. Copilot and Translate send text only when you press a button, to the provider you chose, with your own key.
Verifiable. Because it is open source, anyone can check these claims in the code.

How BergPDF protects your privacy →

The consent dialog shown before anything is sent to an AI provider

How it compares

Desktop power without the strings attached

	BergPDF	Typical online PDF tools	Typical paid desktop editors
Price	Free	Free tier with limits	Subscription or licence
Open source	Yes, GPLv3	No	No
AI assistant	Optional, your own key or a local model	Often, in their cloud	Often a paid add-on
Works offline	Yes	No	Mostly
Uploads your files	Never on its own	Yes	Often, for cloud features
Account required	No	Often	Usually
Watermarks or page limits	None	Common	Depends on plan
Measuring and count take-off	Built in	Rare	Often an extra tier

General comparison of product categories, not of a specific product.

Full comparison with Acrobat, Foxit, Nitro and more →

Download

Get BergPDF for your system

Free forever. Installers are not code-signed yet, so Windows and macOS will ask you to confirm the first start. Here is how, plus checksums.

Windows 11

x86-64 · Installer (.exe)

Windows 11, 64-bit. No administrator rights needed for a per-user install.

Download for Windowsv0.2.2 · 14.6 MB

macOS

Apple Silicon · Disk image (.dmg)

A Mac with an Apple Silicon chip (M1 or newer).

Download for macOSv0.2.2 · 18.3 MB

Linux

x86-64 · Debian package (.deb)

An X11 or Wayland desktop with Vulkan or OpenGL.

Download for Linuxv0.2.2 · 20.5 MB

Honest about the limits

BergPDF is young, and says so

BergPDF is at version 0.x. It was developed and tested on Linux first; the Windows and macOS builds are new, so expect rough edges and please report them. Not available yet:

Secure redaction (black boxes are never presented as redaction)
Password-protected PDFs
Printing
Certificate trust validation for signatures (integrity only today)
Page numbers, headers, footers and watermarks
Designing new form fields

Free for everyone, funded by people like you

Keep BergPDF free and open source

BergPDF costs nothing and has no ads, watermarks or upsells. If it saves you time, a donation pays for code-signing certificates, test machines and more of my evenings.

Sponsor BergPDF on GitHub

Monthly or one-time. GitHub Sponsors handles the payment, so this site never sees your payment details.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Is BergPDF open source?

Yes. BergPDF is free software under the GNU GPL v3 or later. You can read the source code on GitHub, build it yourself and share it. There are no paid tiers, no trial and no watermark.

Does BergPDF include AI?

Yes, as an optional assistant called PDF Copilot. It can summarise a document, answer questions with page references and highlighted quotes, explain a term and translate a document in place. You use your own key for OpenAI or Anthropic, or a local server, and nothing is sent until you press a button.

Is there a paid version?

BergPDF Pro is the commercial variant with the AI assistant included, so you do not need your own API key. BergPDF Free stays free and open source, and its AI works with your own key or a local model.

Is BergPDF really free?

Yes, there is nothing to pay for. If it is useful to you, you can support its development with a donation, but you never have to.

Does BergPDF upload my documents?

No. Core features work offline: there is no account, no telemetry and no cloud. Only the optional PDF Copilot and Translate features send text to the AI provider you chose, with your own key, and only when you press a button.

Which systems does it run on?

Windows 11 (x86-64), macOS on Apple Silicon and Linux (x86-64, Debian package). It is a native app written in Rust.

Why does Windows or macOS warn me when I start it?

The installers are not code-signed yet, because signing certificates cost money and BergPDF is a young project. Check the SHA-256 checksum on the download page, or build it from source if you prefer.

Can BergPDF edit existing text in a PDF?

Yes, for the font types it can safely rewrite. When it cannot, it outlines the text and tells you why instead of damaging the file.

Can it make scanned documents searchable?

Yes. OCR runs on your computer and adds an invisible text layer. It needs two small model files (about 12 MB), downloaded once. It currently recognises the basic Latin alphabet.

Can I measure on a floor plan or drawing?

Yes. Calibrate a scale, measure distances, areas, radii and angles with snapping to the drawing geometry, count items by category and export to CSV.

How do you know how many people download it?

Downloads from this site go through a small counter that records only the day, the platform and the version. No cookies, no IP addresses and no personal data are stored. The totals are public on the stats page.

Ready to edit PDFs with open-source software?

Download BergPDF, open a document, press Ctrl+K and start. It is free.

Download BergPDF View the source