Comparison

PDF Compressor vs plaiiin Light

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

PDF Compressor

Features
Read full description

PDF Compressor & Photo Optimizer — Everything on your iPhone, nothing in the cloud. Shrink PDFs and photos by up to 95% while you blink eyes. No internet required. No uploads. Your files never leave your device. --------------------------------- WHAT YOU CAN DO --------------------------------- COMPRESS PDF Reduce PDF file size with adjustable quality levels. Perfect for email attachments, web uploads, and freeing up storage. COMPRESS PHOTOS Shrink JPEG, PNG and HEIC images while keeping them sharp and shareable. SELECT & SPLIT PAGES Pick only the pages you need from any PDF using a visual thumbnail grid. MERGE & JOIN PDFs Combine multiple PDFs or images into a single document in seconds. PASSWORD LOCK & UNLOCK Protect sensitive PDFs with a password or remove password from encrypted files — all on-device, no cloud key storage. RECENT FILES Instantly access and re-share your recently compressed or edited files. ADD SIGNATURE Append signature to your PDFs and share them instantly ----------------------------------------- WHY CHOOSE PDF COMPRESSOR ----------------------------------------- 100% on-device - your documents never leave your iPhone or iPad No account, no subscription required to get started Works offline - compress on a plane, in a meeting, anywhere Supports Files app - open and save directly from iCloud, Dropbox and more iPad & Mac (Apple Silicon) ready Perfect for students, professionals, lawyers, and anyone who handles PDFs regularly.

About

plaiiin Light

Features
Read full description

PlaiiinLight is the companion app for PlaiiinLightOS — free, open‑source firmware that turns any ESP32‑based LED lamp into something you shape with a sentence. Describe a pattern in plain words — "a slow aurora," "fire crackling in the corner," "a calm blue breathing glow" — and AI writes an effect that runs right on the lamp. A live in‑app preview shows the result before you push it to the LEDs, so you can iterate without ever touching the hardware. From the dashboard, drive every lamp at a glance — set color and brightness, switch between effects, and tune each one live with on‑screen dials for speed, scale, intensity, and more. Adjust a knob and the lamp responds instantly. Stream an animated GIF straight to the lamp, frame by frame, or write your own effect in JavaScript — Manage your effects it in the app, save it to the lamp, and upload or tweak it anytime. It all runs on the device itself, not in the cloud. Turn your lamp into a pixel canvas — paint, brush, spray and fill tools, live streaming as you draw, photo import, and images you save on the lamp itself to show again anytime. Got more than one lamp? Group them into a swarm and they act as one: a color, an effect, a brightness change or a tap on Off propagates to every member instantly, lamp to lamp over your Wi‑Fi. Add or remove members anytime, and show the whole swarm as a single dashboard tile. Onboard a new PlaiiinLightOS lamp over Bluetooth, then control it over your local Wi‑Fi network. Keeping it current is effortless: the app checks for new firmware, shows a badge and installs the update over the air with one tap — no cables, no computer. Adjust the lamp's settings — name, network, MQTT, and more — right from the app. Share a lamp with family or friends by minting a share key, scanning a QR code, or handing it over via Bluetooth — no re‑pairing, with roles that keep admins, creators, and users apart. Bring your own AI provider key (Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google). It's stored only in your device's Keychain — PlaiiinLight has no account to sign up for and no servers of its own. Your lamps, your key, your light.

Screenshots

PDF Compressor4 screens
plaiiin Light4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: plaiiin Light at none against PDF Compressor's 3. plaiiin Light also leads on ads (none vs shown). On price, update cadence, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. PDF Compressor sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. plaiiin Light asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

PDF Compressor ships an update every 3 weeks, plaiiin Light monthly. The most recent releases landed on October 13, 2026 and October 18, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 4 level
PDF Compressor versus plaiiin Light: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF Compressorplaiiin Light
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterMonthly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS16.2 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size31 MB6 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSwetha MBplaiiin GmbH

In-app purchases

3 purchases

PDF Compressor

Subscriptions3
  • Unlock All Photo PDF functionality$2.991 Month
  • Unlock All Photo PDF functionality$9.996 Months
  • Unlock All Photo PDF functionality$14.991 Year
None

plaiiin Light

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PDF Compressor free?
PDF Compressor is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is plaiiin Light free?
plaiiin Light is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do PDF Compressor or plaiiin Light have ads?
PDF Compressor shows ads; plaiiin Light does not.
Which is updated more often, PDF Compressor or plaiiin Light?
PDF Compressor ships an update every 3 weeks, and plaiiin Light monthly. Most recently, PDF Compressor was updated on October 13, 2026 and plaiiin Light on October 18, 2026.

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