Alternatives to PDFsam Basic

Splits, merges, rotates and extracts PDF pages entirely offline, in batches rather than one file at a time. The listings below can replace it for an important use case. Each note says what changes if you switch.

Replacements

Listings that take over the same core job as PDFsam Basic.

  • PDF Arranger

    Drag PDF pages into the order you want, rotate them, crop them, and merge two files together.

    FreeOpen sourceWindowsLinux

    PDF Arranger is a tiny GPL-3.0 app with drag-and-drop page thumbnails for reordering, rotating and merging, but it has no official macOS build and no batch mode.

  • PDF24 Creator

    A free Windows PDF toolbox with a printer driver and dozens of tools for merging, converting, compressing and editing PDFs.

    FreeProprietaryWindows

    PDF24 Creator is free Windows-only freeware adding compression, OCR, signing and a virtual PDF printer, but it is closed source.

  • iLovePDF Desktop

    Desktop version of the iLovePDF toolset for offline batch work.

    FreemiumProprietaryWindowsmacOS

    iLovePDF Desktop does offline batch processing on Windows and macOS, but it is closed source and most tools need a premium subscription.

  • Stirling PDF

    A self-hosted web PDF toolkit for merging, splitting, converting, signing and editing PDFs on your own server.

    FreemiumOpen sourceWindowsmacOSLinuxWebSelf-hosted

    Stirling PDF is a self-hosted MIT-licensed toolkit with 55+ tools, pipelines and folder scanning for automation, but manual setup needs Java, LibreOffice and Tesseract.

  • Sejda PDF

    PDF editor available both online and as a desktop application.

    FreemiumProprietaryWindowsmacOSLinuxWeb

    Sejda PDF offers split, merge and editing online and on desktop with local desktop processing, but it is closed source and limits free tasks per hour.

  • PDFtk Server

    Command-line PDF toolkit for merging, splitting and stamping.

    FreemiumProprietaryWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    PDFtk Server does merging, splitting and stamping from the command line with scriptable syntax, replacing a GUI, and commercial use requires a paid licence.

  • Cpdf

    Command-line PDF toolkit covering split, merge, stamp and encrypt.

    FreemiumProprietaryWindowsmacOSLinuxCommand line

    Cpdf covers split, merge, stamp and encrypt from one command-line binary with language APIs, but it is closed source and free only for non-commercial use.

  • iLovePDF

    Browser PDF toolkit for merging, splitting, compressing and converting.

    FreemiumProprietaryAndroidiOSWeb

    iLovePDF handles merging and splitting in the browser and on mobile, but uploads files to its servers and limits free use by file size and daily tasks.

Also worth comparing

These listings name PDFsam Basic as their own alternative, so the relationship runs both ways.

  • PDF Mix Tool

    A lightweight open-source Linux app for merging, splitting, rotating and rearranging PDF pages.

    FreeOpen sourceLinux

    PDFsam Basic is AGPL on Windows, macOS and Linux, adding batch split, merge and rotate across many files, with a bundled Java runtime and slower startup.

  • pdfjam

    Command-line tool that combines, n-ups, rotates, scales and rearranges PDF pages into print-ready files.

    FreeOpen sourceCommand line

    PDFsam Basic offers batch split, merge, rotate and alternate-mix in an offline graphical app on Windows, macOS and Linux, without n-up or booklet layouts.

Similar software

Related functionality, not a direct replacement.