I have been there. iLovePDF is not evil — they have a nice interface and reliable servers. But calling themselves "free" is misleading. The free tier is a trial. You get watermarks, file size limits, and daily caps. Their premium plan removes those limits but still stores your files on their servers for 24 hours. If you are splitting a tax document or a medical record, that should bother you.
Truly Free PDF Tools does not store anything. Your file never leaves your browser. No watermark. No 20MB limit. No daily task cap. And it is actually free — not "free trial" or "freemium." I built it because I got tired of explaining to my freelancer friends why they should pay $48 a year just to split a PDF. You should not have to pay. Here is why.
iLovePDF vs. The Competition: Real Prices, Real Limits
Let me show you exactly what iLovePDF charges. Their Premium plan is $48 per year. That is $4 a month if you pay annually. Their free tier gives you two tasks per day with a 20MB file size limit. And watermarks on compressed and split files. I tested it yesterday: split a 25MB PDF into two files. The first split worked but added a watermark. The second split told me "free limit reached. Upgrade to Premium." That is not free. That is a demo.
Smallpdf is worse. Their free tier is two tasks per day, period. No file splitting without a watermark. Their Pro plan is $108 a year. That is more than double iLovePDF. Adobe Acrobat Pro is $240 a year for splitting and merging — features that should be built into your operating system. Sejda gives you three tasks per hour, 50 pages max. Split a 100-page PDF on Sejda? It tells you to upgrade to their Web App plan for $7.50 a month.
Then there is PDF24. It is free. No limits. I respect that. But it is desktop software. You have to download an installer. On Windows, it adds a bunch of shortcuts and context menu entries. On Mac, it is not even available — you have to run a Windows emulator. And the interface is clunky. It works, but it feels like software from 2010. Truly Free PDF Tools works in your browser, on any device, instantly. No installation. No junk.
How to Split a PDF for Free (No Account, No Watermark)
Splitting a PDF means taking one multi-page file and cutting it into separate files. Maybe you want each page as its own PDF. Maybe you want pages 1-5, 6-10, etc. Here is how to do it on Truly Free PDF Tools.
1. Go to trulyfreetools.com and click PDF Splitter. The tool loads immediately. No waiting. No "sign up to continue." I designed the interface to be obvious: a big upload box, a place to enter page ranges, and a split button. That is it.
2. Upload your PDF. Drag and drop or click to browse. The file stays on your device. You will see the total number of pages displayed automatically. For example: "Document.pdf — 47 pages". This uses pdf-lib to read the page count without sending anything to a server.
3. Choose how you want to split. You have two options. Option A: "Split every page into separate PDFs" — creates 47 individual files, one per page. Option B: "Custom page ranges" — enter ranges like "1-5, 6-10, 11-15" or "1-3, 4, 5-8". You can also just extract a single range like "10-20" to get pages 10 through 20 as one file.
4. Set your ranges carefully. If you type "1-5, 6-10, 11-47", the tool will create three PDFs. Do not put spaces after commas unless you want to, it accepts both. I have seen people type "1-5,6-10" without spaces. That works too. The parser is forgiving. But if you type "5-1", it will warn you that the start page must be less than the end page.
5. Click "Split PDF." The WebAssembly engine goes to work. It copies the selected pages from the original PDF into new PDF documents. This is fast. For a 100-page PDF, splitting into 10 ranges takes about 3 seconds. For a 500-page PDF, maybe 10 seconds. The original file remains untouched.
6. Download your split files. The tool shows a list of the generated PDFs with their sizes. You can download them one by one or click "Download All as ZIP" to get a single compressed folder. No watermark. No "powered by" text. No limit on how many splits you can do.
7. Split again immediately. There is no cooldown. You can split ten different PDFs in a row. Or split the same PDF with different ranges. The tool does not track you. There is no database. I literally cannot limit you even if I wanted to, because the code runs entirely in your browser.
Why Truly Free PDF Tools Is Actually Free
Here is the business model, explained plainly. Google AdSense places ads on the homepage and on these blog articles. When you visit, you might see an ad for a VPN or a cloud storage service. I get a few cents. That money pays for the domain (trulyfreetools.com) and the hosting for the static files. I do not run ads on the tool pages themselves because that would be obnoxious. No one wants an ad popping up while they are trying to split a contract.
The technical reason I can keep it free: WebAssembly and pdf-lib are open source. I did not have to build a PDF engine from scratch. I just wrapped an existing library in a user-friendly interface. My costs are near-zero. Smallpdf and iLovePDF have huge teams, sales departments, and venture capital investors demanding returns. They have to charge. I do not. It is really that simple.
Privacy is the other pillar. Because splitting happens locally, your file never leaves your computer. iLovePDF's privacy policy explicitly says: "We may access your files to improve our services." That means a human at iLovePDF could theoretically open your contract, your tax return, or your business plan. I cannot do that because the files never reach me. No server, no access, no problem.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the free version of iLovePDF really watermark split PDFs?
Yes. I tested it last week. Split a 10-page PDF into two 5-page files. Every single page had a light gray "iLovePDF" watermark in the corner. Their free tier is basically a demo. To remove the watermark, you pay $48 a year. On Truly Free PDF Tools, there is never a watermark. Not on splits, not on merges, not on anything.
Can I split a password-protected PDF?
No. You need to remove the password first using our PDF Password Remover. Once the file is unlocked, you can split it. The splitter cannot read encrypted PDFs because the encryption scrambles the page structure. This is a security feature. If the tool could split encrypted PDFs without the password, that would mean the password was useless.
What is the maximum number of pages I can split?
Your browser's memory limit. I have split a 1,200-page PDF on a desktop with 16GB RAM. It took about 30 seconds. On a phone, try to stay under 500 pages. The tool will warn you if the file is too large for your device. There is no artificial cap like Sejda's 50-page limit or iLovePDF's 20MB limit.
Will the split files lose quality or resolution?
No. Splitting does not recompress or alter the content. It just copies pages from the original into new files. The quality, resolution, fonts, images, and hyperlinks remain identical to the original. This is different from compression, which does change quality. Splitting is lossless.
Can I split a PDF by file size instead of page ranges?
Not yet. Currently, the splitter works by page ranges only. If you need to split by file size (e.g., "split into 10MB chunks"), you would need to experiment with page ranges. I am considering adding this feature if enough people ask for it. Email me at info@klickifyagency.com if you need it.
Is Truly Free PDF Tools faster than iLovePDF?
For small files (under 20MB), they are similar. For large files (over 100MB), Truly Free PDF Tools is much faster because there is no upload time. iLovePDF has to upload your entire file to their servers before processing. On a slow connection, uploading 100MB can take minutes. On Truly Free PDF Tools, the file never leaves your device, so processing starts instantly. The only waiting is for the browser to do the work.
Try the splitter now. Grab any multi-page PDF. Split it into individual pages. No watermark. No account. If you hit a limit, I will eat my hat.
