SecureRedact (RedactPDF.dev)

What SecureRedact (RedactPDF.dev) is

SecureRedact is a browser-based tool for removing sensitive content from standard PDFs with selectable text. Users can draw boxes over material to redact, or have the tool detect SSNs, email addresses, and names. In redacted areas, it removes text operators, changes or strips glyph positions, and rasterizes the region. A recovery audit checks for text, glyph-position data, metadata, and earlier revisions that could expose the redacted content; download is blocked if anything remains recoverable. The tool also strips document metadata, embedded JavaScript, and thumbnails, and collapses incremental-update history. PDFs are processed in the browser rather than uploaded to a server. Once the page has loaded, redaction runs there; the optional name-detection model downloads once and is cached. SecureRedact does not handle encrypted or scanned image-only PDFs in this version, and it does not provide OCR redaction. Its redaction engine and recovery audit are open source. The Free plan costs nothing, with no accounts, watermarks, or limits.

Who it suits

SecureRedact suits people who need to redact selectable-text PDFs in a browser, with manual boxes or automatic detection for names, SSNs, and email addresses. It is not suited to encrypted or scanned image-only PDFs.

Limits

The free plan is listed as free, with no accounts, watermarks, or usage limits. This version excludes encrypted and scanned image-only PDFs, and it has no OCR redaction.

Getting started

1. Visit https://redactpdf.dev/ in a web browser.
2. Load a standard PDF with selectable text.
3. Draw boxes over content to redact or use automatic detection for SSNs, email addresses, and names.
4. Review the recovery audit; download is blocked unless nothing is recoverable.

Verdict

SecureRedact combines manual and automatic redaction with a recovery audit that can block downloads when content remains recoverable. Its limits are clear: it handles standard PDFs with selectable text, not encrypted or scanned image-only files, and has no OCR redaction.