PDF2Go
German browser PDF toolkit for converting, compressing, OCR and redaction.
Operated by QaamGo Web GmbH
Opens the vendor's own site.
Jobs covered
Open a task to see exactly what the vendor documentation supports.
Convert
Browse all convert toolsconverting documents with PDF2Go, where the conversion apps document PDF to Word DOCX with editable text and reconstructed headings, lists and tables, PDF to JPG and other images, PDF to Excel, PDF to PowerPoint, PDF to Text, PDF to PDF/A and PDF to EPUB, and conversion to PDF from Word, JPG and other images, Excel, EPUB, PowerPoint, DJVU and web pages, plus AI speech tools; the PDF to Word page itself warns that a heavily designed layout or a scan has no underlying structure to recover so formatting may move, and the scope makes no fidelity guarantee and claims no format beyond the listed apps
Compress
Browse all compress toolscompressing PDF documents with PDF2Go, where the Compress PDF page documents Basic compression as the default medium-size high-quality setting and Strong compression for smaller files at medium image quality, six resolution presets from Insane at 20 dpi through Minimum 40, Normal 72, Ebook 150 and Printer 300 to Prepress 300, a target file size mode with an email preset aimed at 10 MB, greyscale conversion and an option to remove images as the last resort; the page says Basic keeps text sharp and mainly downsamples images, and the scope records the presets and target-size mode while making no lossless or size-reduction guarantee
Merge
Browse all merge toolsmerging PDF documents with PDF2Go, where the Merge PDF page documents combining two or more files in the order the user sets, setting the output page size and orientation once for the merged document, and naming the output file, with the separate Split PDF and Organize PDF apps covering splitting into pages and reordering or removing pages; the scope is the documented combine, order, page-size and organise operations, with no claim about preserving signatures, forms or annotations across a merge
Protect
Browse all protect toolsprotecting PDF documents with PDF2Go, where the Protect PDF page documents two separate passwords: an open password that must be entered before the file displays, and a permissions password that keeps the document readable while restricting what can be done with it, with the protection embedded in the file so it travels with the document; the scope is the documented open-password and permission-restriction workflow, and the page states no encryption algorithm or permission list, so no AES level, permission detail or reader-enforcement claim is made
OCR
Browse all ocr toolsrunning optical character recognition with PDF2Go, where the Make PDF Searchable page documents adding a searchable text layer to a scanned PDF so its words can be selected and found while the page still looks the same, and tells the user to select the document language before running OCR, selecting more than one language for a mixed document because recognition depends on a language-specific dictionary; the page states no language count and no accuracy figure, so the scope records the language selection and searchable-text-layer workflow without a language list, accuracy claim or handwriting claim
Edit
Browse all edit toolsediting PDF documents with PDF2Go, where the Edit PDF page documents adding text anywhere on the page, adding images and shapes, filling in PDF forms including documents that only look like forms, and painting over a scanned page with new content; the page says the editor places new text, images and shapes onto the page and that changing the existing body text requires converting to Word, editing there and converting back, so the scope is adding new content and filling forms rather than rewriting existing text, with no OCR claim for scanned pages and no layout-reflow claim
Sign
Browse all sign toolssigning PDF documents with PDF2Go, where the Sign PDF page documents drawing a signature, uploading a signature image or typing a signature as text, then placing it on the page, resizing or rotating it and saving the signed PDF, with files up to 50 MB signable without an account; the page explicitly says this is not a cryptographic digital signature and not a certificate-based signature that proves who signed and that the file has not changed, so the scope is the electronic signature image workflow only and makes no certificate-based, timestamping or long-term validation claim
Where your files are processed
Mixed - depends on version and feature
The vendor's own documentation separates them. On the device: Windows, macOS, Linux. On their servers: Web. A single answer for the whole product would be wrong for one of them.
It is a hosted service: uploaded files go to the vendor’s servers to be processed, so the record describes the upload and the documented handling rather than declaring files unsuitable for confidential use, which is the reader’s assessment to make. Desktop offline operation is a vendor claim rather than a tested confidentiality guarantee, and the current download page lists Windows, macOS for Apple Silicon and Linux.
EU residency would need an explicit data-processing source, because German ownership alone is not that.
What it does
PDF2Go is an online document service run by QaamGo Web GmbH in Germany, with 50 apps for converting, editing, merging, splitting, compressing, OCR, e-signing, protecting and redacting PDFs and other file types. Free use needs no account; paid Starter, Pro and Business plans add 64 GB file sizes, batch processing, queue priority and monthly credits.
The web service uploads your file to PDF2Go's European servers, and a separate desktop app is advertised as working offline and is included from the Pro plan upward.
Best for
People who need a quick conversion or PDF fix in a browser without installing anything, and small teams that prefer a credit-based batch plan to a desktop licence.
Worth knowing
The free tier is limited and ad-supported: it offers access to most apps and limited file processing, without batch processing or AI use, and the edit and sign pages say files up to 50 MB can be processed without an account, while the paid plans raise the maximum file size to 64 GB. The desktop app is not included in Free or Starter and is included from Pro upward; it is free to try, then needs a plan that includes it.
The web tools upload the document to PDF2Go's servers in Europe, and the privacy policy says download access is blocked after 24 hours and files are physically deleted at the latest after 72 hours, with no backups kept. Credits are consumed per task and AI tasks cost more, subscription credits expire each billing period while pay-as-you-go credits last 12 months.
The developer page offers URL-based integration and refers users to a partner service, which is not a native PDF2Go HTTP API.
Details, and where each comes from
Vendor statements, our own reading of their pages, and the things nobody has established yet, each answered separately. Where we have not confirmed something it says so rather than guessing, and a row nobody has established is greyed out.
- Versions covered
- Web · Windows · macOS · Linux
- Website
- pdf2go.com
- Requires an account
- No
- Free tier
- Yes
- Watermark on the free tier
- Not verified
- Maximum file size
- Not verified
- Batch processing
- Yes
- Data residency
- European Union
- Open source
- No
- Self-hostable
- No
- Licence
-
Proprietary.
Proprietary. The terms are those of QaamGo Web GmbH, Fritz-Reichle-Ring 2, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany (Registergericht Freiburg i.
Br., HRB 711602; CEO Jens-Peter Bierkandt), issued first in German and governed by German law, with prices shown including VAT. Credits are bought pay-as-you-go, valid for 12 months, or come as a fixed monthly allowance on a monthly or yearly subscription where unused subscription credits expire at the end of each billing period.
Paid plans are Starter at EUR 8 per month, Pro at EUR 28 per month and Business at EUR 85 per month per person, with extra users at EUR 5 per user per month, and the provider offers a 14-day money-back guarantee on paid plans.
- Redaction
- Removes the content
- Programmatic access
- HTTP API
- Last availability check
- Responded in 127 ms 21 October 2026
Checked automatically by our own runner, not reported by the vendor. 100% of our last 30 checks got a response.
What the redaction verdict rests on
From the vendor's own documentation, read 22 September 2026. Not tested by us.
“After you draw the black boxes, the tool deletes the hidden content so it cannot be copied, selected, or searched. … Redacted files are processed to remove all marked content before download.”
What that does not establish
The vendor’s own words on the tool page, not a test we ran. The mechanism it describes - drawing black boxes - is also how covering tools describe themselves, and that one sentence is the only thing distinguishing them: we tested PDF Candy’s similar-looking tool and it covers rather than removes.
The page separately claims it clears metadata, which is a different claim from removing the marked content. Test your own file.
What the vendor says
Claims are labelled rather than repeated as fact. Where we have checked something ourselves, it says so and shows when. Checked means we read the vendor's own page and it says what we recorded - not that we tested the behaviour, unless the note says we did.
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“Permanently remove sensitive content from a PDF file.”
Checked by us - the source says this Read 22 September 2026
Confirmed verbatim: "Permanently remove sensitive content from a PDF file." is the page's own strapline. The fuller copy claims more than the claim does, and both parts are worth recording because one of them is contradicted by our own observation.
It says the tool "deletes the hidden content so it cannot be copied, selected, or searched", which is a claim about the marked area specifically - and our own test of this tool on 2026-09-21 could not place a mark at all, because the document is painted into a single landscape canvas with no element of its own, so that part is untested. Separately, the same page says "the tool works directly in the browser, and there is no need to install anything", and that is the sentence to be careful with: it reads as local processing, and it is not.
Our own run observed the upload going to dragon.pdf2go.com/api/z. "No need to install anything" is true; "works directly in the browser" is about the absence of an installer, not about where the file goes, and a reader skimming it would reasonably conclude the opposite.
Recorded as an observation on the page, not as a refutation of the claim, which the page does state.
Standing: Re-read and matched byte for byte
Check it yourself: the source, the SHA-256, and how we checked
- From
- the text a browser renders
- SHA-256
- fdd947dd6b15a2c980ed7192aad24e59268912e1f26b1d5bb26a73bc9b9d5991
- Note
- unstable by nature: the upload prompt was rewritten between reads ("Drop files or click here Choose File" against "Drop files here or click to upload Choose"), and a variant that DID reproduce was served moments earlier. The page appears to be A/B tested, which makes it a poor target for a content hash.
How we checked
Re-verified verbatim on 2026-09-22: https://pdf2go.com/redact-pdf re-rendered in headless Chrome with scripts/render-page.mjs and the claim's wording found in the rendered text. Originally verified on 2026-09-21. sourceHash is the SHA-256 of the re-rendered text, held as rv-pdf2go-com-redact-pdf-9d248060.txt.
Each claim is quoted from the vendor's own pages. This section describes what we have and have not checked - it is not a judgement about anyone.
Sponsorship is distribution, not an endorsement or a promise of search rankings, AI citations, traffic, or sales. This listing is a free entry, compiled from published sources.
Related reading
- Which PDF tools really redact - which tools remove the content rather than cover it.