The best PDF tool for paralegals and legal assistants (2026)
Full disclosure: I make PDF Hammer, one of the tools below. Here’s what I’d actually use if I were paralegals and legal assistants, including the ones that aren’t mine.
Start for freeFor legal work, redaction is the task that actually matters, and it has to be done right: removing the underlying text, not just drawing a black box over it. That’s Adobe Acrobat’s or iLovePDF’s lane, not PDF Hammer’s. For merging exhibits and organizing a filing, PDF Hammer and PDF24 both do fine.
The picks
- Best for real redaction: Adobe Acrobat or iLovePDF
- Best for assembling exhibits privately: PDF Hammer
- Best for form-heavy filings: Sejda
The picks at a glance
| Tool | Price | Where files are processed | Account required |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDF Hammer | Free to start | 7 of 9 tools run locally in your browser. Word and Excel conversion use a secure, temporary server-side converter that deletes the file after. | Required for every tool |
| iLovePDF | Free (ads, limited tasks); Premium about $5-7/mo (~€5/mo annual, €9/mo monthly); Business custom | Server-side. Files are automatically deleted within 2 hours, or immediately if you click delete. | Not required for quick free tasks |
| Smallpdf | Free (capped around 2 tasks/day); Pro about $9-10/mo billed annually ($15/mo monthly); Team from about $7-8/user/mo | Server-side, on EU infrastructure. Files are deleted after 1 hour unless you deliberately save them to a Smallpdf account. | Not required for occasional free use |
| Sejda | Free (3 tasks/day, 200-page and 50MB limits); Web Monthly about $7.50/mo; Desktop+Web Annual about $63/yr | Sejda Web runs on Sejda’s servers. Sejda Desktop (a separate download, included with the Annual plan) processes files entirely on your computer. | Not required for free web tasks |
| Adobe Acrobat (online tools) | No lasting free plan for editing (limited free tools only); Standard about $13-15/mo; Pro about $20/mo; Studio about $25/mo | Cloud (Adobe Document Cloud). Every tool, free or paid, uploads your file to Adobe’s servers. | Adobe account required |
| PDF24 | Free, with no paid tier at all | The web tools run on PDF24’s servers (Berlin-based Geek Software GmbH), with files deleted within 1 hour. A separate free desktop app, PDF24 Creator, processes files fully offline on Windows. | Never required |
Tool by tool
PDF Hammer
Merges exhibits into one filing, reorders and numbers pages, and removes a known password locally, with nothing uploaded for those tasks. It has no redaction tool at all, which matters a lot here.
iLovePDF
Includes an actual redaction tool that removes the underlying text, not a cosmetic black box, which is the bar for anything filed with a court.
Smallpdf
Covers merging and organizing well, with annotation on top, but redaction isn’t one of its stronger features compared to iLovePDF or Adobe.
Sejda
Strong form-filling and form-building, useful for intake forms and filings with a lot of fillable fields; the free tier’s daily cap is tight during a filing deadline.
Adobe Acrobat (online tools)
The most legally credible option here: real redaction, Bates numbering, and document comparison, which is why many firms standardize on it regardless of cost.
PDF24
Free merging and organizing with no account, a reasonable no-cost option for the non-sensitive parts of a filing.
My pick
Never rely on a visual black box to redact a legal document, use a tool that actually removes the underlying text, which here means Adobe Acrobat or iLovePDF. For the rest of assembling a filing, merging exhibits, numbering pages, removing a known password, PDF Hammer or PDF24 handle it for free.
What I’d do today
- 01
Use Adobe Acrobat or iLovePDF for anything that needs genuine redaction before filing.
- 02
Assemble and organize exhibits with PDF Hammer or PDF24 for the non-sensitive parts of the packet.
- 03
Double-check a redacted PDF by trying to select or search the “removed” text before you file it.
Frequently asked questions
Can I redact a document with PDF Hammer?
No, PDF Hammer doesn’t include a redaction tool. Use Adobe Acrobat or iLovePDF, both remove the underlying text rather than just covering it visually.
Is a black box over text the same as redaction?
No, and this trips people up constantly. If the underlying text is still in the PDF’s data, it can sometimes be copied or extracted even if it’s visually covered. Use a real redaction tool.
What’s the best free way to merge exhibits for a filing?
PDF Hammer and PDF24 both merge and organize PDFs for free, with PDF Hammer keeping the process local to your browser.