Stirling-PDF
Stirling-PDF offers tools to edit, merge, split, and convert PDF files. OCR, compression, and automated workflows complement the document processing.
The actively maintained open-source base can be self-hosted and is licensed under MIT. The project uses Java, among other technologies. User management and the unlocked features of the offered server builds need to be distinguished from the pure MIT core.
Fact Sheet
- Categories
- Status
- Actively maintained
- License
- MIT
- Operation
- On-Premises / Self-hosted
- Technologies
- Java
Source-Available Server Plans
The visible but not openly licensed components include OAuth/OIDC SSO and the MCP server, among other things. According to the plan comparison, the free server plan already offers OAuth/OIDC SSO and allows five users, with an exception for existing V1 installations. Free does not mean MIT-licensed.
Team adds external databases, clustering, and additional storage options, among other things. Enterprise adds SAML SSO, audit logs, usage analytics, and offline activation. These plan limits apply to the corresponding server builds, not generally to the open-source code. Stirling Cloud is a separate hosted offering.
The license overview excludes several directories from the MIT license and refers to their own license files. Both the OAuth/OIDC implementation and the MCP server are located under app/proprietary.
These components are governed by the Stirling PDF User License. For production use, it requires a valid user license and an active subscription for the matching number of users. Without a paid subscription, it permits only internal trials, evaluation, or minimal use limited by the software, but not customer-facing or commercial deployments.
Modifications to these components are allowed only for development or internal testing. Using them in production requires a valid license, and redistributing such modifications is prohibited. These terms do not apply to the MIT-licensed open-source core. For the other excluded directories, the respective linked license files apply.
Warning
If system.enableAnalytics is not set, the current version asks for a decision on the first administrative access. According to the documentation, no analytics data is sent until then. Configurations that are already set are a separate case.
Once enabled, server telemetry follows the administrative setting. Browser telemetry additionally requires the consent of each person. The cookie dialog does not control server telemetry. Setting system.enableAnalytics: false disables both.