Comparison

PaperKey vs Paradoc

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

Head to head
About

PaperKey

Features
Read full description

PaperKey is a simple and secure PDF utility for iPhone and iPad. Add a password to any PDF before sharing it, or remove protection from documents you already have the password for. Everything happens entirely on-device, ensuring your sensitive files never leave your control. - Shortcuts & Automation: Use the "Lock PDF" and "Unlock PDF" actions to build powerful, automated workflows in the Shortcuts app. - Secure Locking: Add industry-standard password protection to any PDF. - Easy Unlocking: Quickly remove passwords from protected files. - Deep Integration: Open files directly from the Files app, the Share Sheet, or use Drag and Drop on iPad. - Privacy by Design: No accounts, no tracking, and no cloud uploads. Your data stays yours. - Quick Access: Keep track of your work with a list of recent files. - Native Experience: Fully supports Light and Dark modes. PaperKey is built for those who need a focused, private tool for PDF security—without the bloat.

About

Paradoc

This app transforms photos of documents into high-quality PDFs, offering a suite of tools for editing, organizing, and securing your files. It handles complex PDF types, including encrypted and form-filled documents, all processed locally on your device without needing an internet connection.

Highlights
  • On-device AI-powered scanning
  • Merge, split, compress PDFs
  • Convert PDFs to images
  • Encrypt and unlock PDFs
  • Handle encrypted and restricted PDFs
  • Fillable form support
  • Organize and reorder pages
Features
Read full description

Scan paper into a clean PDF, then merge, split, compress, reorder, lock or unlock it. Seven tools, free, all running on your iPhone. Nothing is uploaded, ever. No account, no subscription, no ads. Your documents stay exactly where they already are. EVERYDAY JOBS Shrink a PDF until it fits an email limit. Lock a tax return before you share it. Pull the one page you need out of a long contract. Turn a school form on the kitchen table into a PDF you can send in a minute. Combine a stack of statements into a single file. SCAN Point the camera at a page, or pick photos from your library. Paradoc finds the edges, squares up the perspective and cleans up the page. An on-device neural model lifts shadows and uneven lighting, so a page shot under a desk lamp comes out clean and legible. Up to 20 pages per document. MERGE Combine up to 20 PDFs in the order you choose. Password-protected files are handled one by one, each with its own password. SPLIT Pull a page range out into its own PDF. If the source was encrypted, the result stays encrypted. COMPRESS Three presets: Light, Balanced and Maximum. Paradoc re-encodes images, subsets fonts and repacks object streams, the same techniques desktop tools use. Text stays text. Bookmarks, form values, annotations and document metadata stay intact. ORGANIZE Reorder, delete and rotate pages from a thumbnail grid. PDF TO IMAGE Export pages as JPEG images, from 75 to 600 DPI, up to 20 pages per export. PROTECT AND UNLOCK Lock a PDF with AES-256, the strongest encryption the PDF standard defines. Unlock removes a password you know, or clears owner-only restrictions on printing and copying. PRIVATE BY DESIGN Paradoc makes no network requests. None. There is no server, no sign-in, nothing quietly phoning home. Switch on airplane mode and every feature keeps working, on a plane, in a basement, anywhere. Your contract, your tax return, your medical letter: none of it needs to visit someone else's computer to be scanned, merged, shrunk or locked. The work happens where the file already is. BUILT FOR THE PDFs THAT USUALLY BREAK THINGS Password-protected files, including older RC4 and AES-128 ones, open and stay encrypted through Split, Organize and Compress. Files locked against printing or copying are detected and explained before you continue. Digitally signed PDFs are checked before anything is touched, and you are warned when an edit would invalidate a signature; certified documents are left alone. PDF/A archives are flagged before you change them. Merge two forms with the same field names and the result still works. Files up to 100 MB. A PDF comes out the way it went in. Text that was selectable stays selectable, and pages stay as sharp as they were at any zoom, because Paradoc works on the file itself instead of turning pages into pictures. Available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi, Chinese, Russian, Arabic and Hebrew, with full right-to-left layout.

Screenshots

PaperKey4 screens
Paradoc4 screens

Verdict

The call

PaperKey and Paradoc are too close to call on the numbers: across 5 compared parameters — price, ads, in-app purchases and device support among them — neither pulls far enough ahead to decide it. What separates them is feature set and interface, not measurable difference.

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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ScorecardNo meaningful differences
PaperKey versus Paradoc: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPaperKeyParadoc
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequency—Every 6 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS16.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size1 MB109 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSatya Rohith GannamanediVaibhav Teli

In-app purchases

None

PaperKey

No in-app purchases

None

Paradoc

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is PaperKey free?
PaperKey is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Paradoc free?
Paradoc is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do PaperKey or Paradoc have ads?
Neither PaperKey nor Paradoc shows ads.

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