Side by side
Excise vs Philter
Both stand on document redaction software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.
Free plan APILinuxMac+1
Excise offers broad PDF editing and redaction tools across three desktop operating systems. Its stated boundaries around XFA, signatures, and specialized workflows should be considered before relying on it for those needs.
Visit Excise
Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1
Philter offers configurable text redaction with private deployment options and audit logging. Its probabilistic detection makes validation against your own data an important step before production use.
Visit PhilterThe facts
| Excise | Philter | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Not published | Not published |
| Runs on | API, Linux, Mac, Windows | API, Linux, Self-hosted, Windows |
| Lowest paid plan | Free or on request | Philter Desktop — Commercial: $100 per user a year |
| Plans published | 1 | 3 |
| Maker | Not published | Not published |
| Website | github.com | philterd.ai |
| On document redaction software | #2 of 27 | #6 of 27 |
Excise: what it does well
- Free and open source
- Redaction removes content rather than covering it
- Scrubs document metadata and hidden content by default
- Includes command-line batch workflows and audit checks
- Reads and writes AES-128 and AES-256 encryption
What to know first
- Dynamic XFA layouts are experimental and cannot be filled
- Builds are unsigned and not notarized
- No auto-update is provided
- Certificate revocation and timestamp validation are not checked
Philter: what it does well
- Supports masking, encryption, synthetic replacement, and removal.
- Custom policies and identifier patterns can be configured.
- Audit logs can be queried and exported to CSV.
- Runs in customer environments, including air-gapped setups.
What to know first
- Detection is probabilistic and needs validation before production use.
- Community support applies to the open source toolkit.
- Commercial desktop use costs $100 a year per user.
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