PDFRaw vs PDF Guru
PDF Guru is a capable paid editor with a trial that converts to $49.99 a month. Here is how it actually compares with a free tool, using their published terms.
Last checked August 2026. PDF Guru is a product of its respective owner; details below come from their public site and can change.
Side by side
| Feature | PDFRaw | PDF Guru |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | YesAll 113 tools, no account | NoTrial from $0.99, then subscription |
| Download results without paying | Yes | No |
| Account required | No | YesFor downloads |
| Price after trial | Free, there is no paid version | $49.99 per month, or $299.99 per year |
| Refund policy | Nothing to refund, the tools are free | Non-refundable except technical errors; EU and UK statutory rights apply |
| File retention | Deleted after 2 hours | No retention period published |
| File size limit | 100 MB | 100 MB |
| Number of tools | 113 | Not published |
| Tax and government form filling | Yes | Yes |
| AI summarizer | Yes | Yes |
| Audio, video and ebook tools | Yes | No |
| Platforms | Web | Web |
Where PDF Guru is strong
- A genuinely polished editor. Most of its 74,000 or so Trustpilot reviews are positive, and the recurring praise is that it is easy and fast.
- A deep US tax form library with guided filling for forms like the 1040 and W-9.
- Translation across more than 90 languages and an AI summarizer without usage caps, by their description.
- A cheap way to handle one urgent task: the 7-day trial costs $0.99 or $1.99 if you remember to cancel.
Where PDFRaw is strong
- Free means free. Every tool works and every result downloads without an account, a card, or a trial to cancel.
- A published retention period: files are deleted two hours after upload, enforced three independent ways. PDF Guru's privacy policy does not state how long uploaded files are kept.
- Nothing to cancel and nothing to refund: no trial, no card, no subscription. Their purchases are non-refundable outside technical errors and statutory rights.
- Broader coverage: audio, video, image and ebook tools alongside the PDF set.
- No data shared with marketing partners. Their privacy policy lists marketing partners among recipients; we do not run third-party trackers at all.
The pricing model, spelled out
PDF Guru advertises a 7-day trial at $0.99 for limited access or $1.99 for full access. Their own materials state that the trial converts to $49.99 per month unless cancelled, and an annual plan is $299.99. Their subscription terms page lists no prices itself; the price you agree to is the one shown on the payment screen.
This model is legal and disclosed, but it catches people. PDF Guru's profile with the Better Business Bureau shows a 1 out of 5 star review average, and the dominant complaint pattern is people who paid a dollar or two believing it was a one-time fee and were then billed $49.99 per month. Their refund policy states that purchases are non-refundable except for technical errors, with statutory 14-day withdrawal rights for EU and UK customers that are forfeited when service begins immediately.
PDFRaw takes the opposite approach. Every tool is free and every result downloads without an account or a card. There is no trial to cancel, because there is nothing to subscribe to.
What happens to your files
PDF Guru processes files on its servers, like we do. The difference is what each of us commits to afterwards. Their privacy policy says uploaded content is stored to enable the service and kept for as long as reasonably necessary, without a stated deletion timeline. It also lists cloud storage, analytics, payment and marketing partners as recipients of data. The operator is Lopofist Limited, registered in Cyprus.
PDFRaw deletes every uploaded file two hours after upload, and that promise is enforced by a storage lifecycle rule, a scheduled cleanup, and an expiry check on every download. We do not run third-party advertising or analytics trackers, and file contents never reach a marketing partner because there are none.
Features, fairly
On PDF editing itself, PDF Guru is strong: a capable editor, e-signatures, OCR, conversions, and an unusually good guided experience for US tax forms. If someone hands you a 1040 and you happily pay a subscription for hand-holding, it will serve you well. We also offer form filling and a free library of tax and government form templates, alongside the same merge, split, compress, convert, OCR and AI summarize basics.
Beyond PDFs the comparison ends quickly, because PDF Guru is a PDF product. PDFRaw also converts and compresses images, audio, video and ebooks, and transcribes audio and video to text, all on the same free terms.
Try it on a real file
No account, no watermark, and the file is deleted two hours after you upload it.
Which one should you use?
Choose PDF Guru if
- You want a guided, hand-holding experience for US tax forms and are happy paying for it.
- You prefer a single polished editor over a large toolbox.
- You have one urgent task, will use the $0.99 trial, and trust yourself to cancel in time.
Choose PDFRaw if
- You want to download your result without entering a card number.
- You care about a stated, enforced file deletion timeline.
- You would rather there be no charge at all than a charge you must remember to cancel.
- You work with more than PDFs.
Frequently asked questions
Is PDF Guru free?
No. There is no free plan. You can try tools, but downloading results requires a subscription. The 7-day trial costs $0.99 or $1.99 and converts to $49.99 per month unless cancelled, per their own published materials as of August 2026.
Is PDF Guru a scam?
No. The software works as advertised and most of its Trustpilot reviews are positive. The complaints on record, including its 1-star BBB review average, are overwhelmingly about the trial converting to a $49.99 monthly charge, not about the product failing. Read the payment screen carefully and cancel before the trial ends if you do not want the subscription.
How long does PDF Guru keep uploaded files?
Their privacy policy does not publish a retention period; it says content is kept for as long as reasonably necessary. PDFRaw deletes every uploaded file two hours after upload and lets you delete it immediately from the result screen.
Can I fill tax forms on PDFRaw for free?
Yes. The form filler is free like every other tool, and we host a library of common tax and government form templates you can fill and download without an account.