Stirling-PDF Hosting: PDF Tools on Your Own Server

Stirling-PDF is a web app with dozens of PDF tools in one place. Online PDF sites do the same jobs, but you upload your contracts, payslips and scans to a stranger's server to use them. Here the tools run on a VPS that is yours. Choose it with a plan, pay, and we build the VPS (KVM, NVMe, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS) and install it in about three minutes after boot. You get:

• Stirling-PDF 3.2.2, "ultra-lite" build. Stirling-PDF's code is mostly MIT-licensed, with some features under a separate commercial licence. We install the build made from the MIT code only, so nothing on your server needs a Stirling subscription. That also means a smaller set of tools; see the next section.
• A password in front of it. The MIT build has no login of its own, so we put one in front: your browser asks for a username, admin, and the generated password shown in the Devoster dashboard, where you can also reset it. Nobody can use your server's PDF tools without it.
• An HTTPS address like yourname-x7k2.devoster.app with a Let's Encrypt certificate.
• Nothing phoning home: analytics and the update banner are switched off; the panel handles updates.
• Dashboard controls to open the app, restart, stop or start it, read its logs, run an update and connect your own domain.

The app is free; you pay only the VPS plan, with 10% off yearly. The server comes with full root, free nightly backups kept 3 days plus one snapshot, a dedicated IPv4 and DDoS protection. Already have a Devoster VPS? You can install Stirling-PDF on it from VPS Control, after the panel checks the OS, free ports 80/443 and disk, or reinstall the server with it, at no charge. Other apps that install this way are on the One-Click Apps page.

Be clear on this before you order: the MIT build covers the everyday page and document jobs, but not the tools that depend on extra conversion engines.

If OCR is what you need, Paperless-ngx reads scans with OCR and keeps them searchable. If you need Office conversion, compression or the other missing tools, you would need a different Stirling-PDF build, which falls partly under its commercial licence, installed yourself on a plain Devoster VPS.

The login is your browser's own prompt. When you open the address, the browser shows a small username and password box rather than a web page. Enter admin and the dashboard password, and let your password manager remember it. There is no logout button: the browser keeps you signed in until you close it, so on a shared computer close the browser when you're done.

Your files: you upload a PDF from your browser to your own server, Stirling-PDF processes it there, and you download the result. Nothing is sent to an outside PDF service. The tools are meant for processing, not storage, so keep your documents in your own files or document system.

One account, shared. The gate has one username and password. Anyone you give it to can use the tools; there are no separate users or permissions in this build.

Stirling-PDF runs on Java, and its memory is sized to your plan automatically. Most jobs are quick; the heavy ones are large files, such as merging a stack of scanned documents or turning a long PDF into images.

You can upgrade to a larger plan from the panel later; the app's memory follows the plan.

Two of the most useful tools are also the ones worth double-checking:

• Redaction: after redacting, open the result and try to select or search for the hidden text. If the tool offers to turn the result into an image-only PDF, use that when you need to be sure nothing underneath survives. Drawing a black box over text in another editor is not redaction.
• Signatures: the sign tool places a visual signature (drawn, typed or an image) on the page. Whether that is enough for a given contract depends on who you're signing with and the law that applies; this is not legal advice.

For everything else, the usual rule applies: keep the original until you've checked the output.

We check new Stirling-PDF versions and apply them in a maintenance hour you choose, or when you press Update now. A snapshot of the VPS is taken first, and if Stirling-PDF doesn't come back healthy the server is rolled back automatically. Updates stay on the MIT build.

The server is unmanaged: you have full root, and its security is your responsibility. Use a strong password, since the gate is all that stands between the internet and the tools; our VPS hardening checklist covers the rest of the server. If only your own devices need it, you can reach it through a VPN such as our WireGuard server.