When you get a password protected PDF file but you don’t get its password, or you forget the password of your PDF, online PDF password cracker are the first resources you should check for opportunities.
There are many online sites which supports unlock PDF files, test them one by one is time consuming.
To find out, we tested most of the popular free PDF Password Cracker online, checking which kind of password they can remove from PDF file. We also assessed the tools’ user-friendliness. The results show a clear winner: Cisdem PDF Password Remover.
|
PDF Password Cracker |
Crack without password |
Crack with right password |
Batch support |
|---|---|---|---|
|
iLovePDF |
Only Simple Password |
Yes |
No |
|
Smallpdf |
Only Simple Password |
Yes |
No |
|
LostMyPass PDF |
Only Simple Password |
Yes |
No |
|
Free My PDF |
Only Simple Password |
Yes |
No |
|
CleverPDF |
Only simple permission password |
Yes |
No |
|
Soda PDF |
No |
Yes |
No |
|
Aspose |
No |
Yes |
No |
|
Cisdem PDF Password Remover |
Yes | Yes | Yes |
Cisdem Password Remover
Free Download macOS 10.13 or later 
Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7
There are two types of passwords for PDF files: permission passwords and open passwords.
Permission passwords prevent the PDF file from being modified, edited, copied, or printed without permission.
If the password is simple, most of the online cracking tools can remove them.
Open passwords are used to restrict others from opening the PDF file. Almost all online sites can’t remove open password without entering the correct passwords. Even most of the offline PDF password cracking tools find it difficult to remove them.
This online sites do many promotions on Quora, YouTube, Reddit, it states itself as a free online PDF password cracker which supports remove both known and unknown password.
But, be careful using this site, after we enter the user name and email address, upload the PDF file, it states that my PDF has been unlocked, then I click to download the PDF file. instead of the expected downloading it guided me to see a video, and ask for authorizing a credit card before I can download the decrypted PDF.
Then it take £1 and directed me sign up to random subscription of £50 per month. Even after we paid the £1, it still repeatedly asking to pay more money. And I never get the unlocked PDF.
As the most popular and highly rated PDF website in recent years, iLovePDF gives you the freedom to try 25+ PDF tools for free and batch process PDF files. It is free to use and offer functions like unlocking, merging, splitting, compressing, converting, rotating PDF files, as well as tools for adding watermarks to PDF files.
You may notice that many online PDF password crackers can only unlock owner/permissions directly, but iLovePDF allows users to crack highly encrypted password even without password. What’s more, you can process 2 files at one time to save time.
Official Website: https://www.ilovepdf.com/unlock_pdf
How it works: Select password-protected PDF files from your Mac, Windows, Google Drive or Dropbox. When they upload, just press the “Unlock PDF” button.
Limits:
Also read: How to Unlock a PDF on Mac Even without Password
The second one is “Smallpdf”, the most visited website created by a Swiss company and supported by over 100 million users worldwide. It brings 20+ PDF tools and is available in the 20 most spoken languages. This PDF password remover can unlock permissions-password-protected PDF files without password and remove open password with the correct password.
Official Website: https://smallpdf.com/unlock-pdf
How it works: Upload your protected PDF by choosing from device, Dropbox, Google Drive or Drag-n-Drop. If no strong encryption exists, you can crack PDF password online directly. If it is strongly encrypted by open password, then you should provide the password. Finally, download the cracked file once it is ready.
Limits:
Also Read: 3 Ways to Edit Protected PDF (without Password, Use Chrome)
If your PDF file is locked by an open/user password without a correct password, then the following tool is suitable for you. LostMyPass is an online free PDF password recovery that supports recovering open/user password for encrypted PDF file and removing it.
Official Website: https://www.lostmypass.com/file-types/pdf/
How it works: Firstly, agree to the Terms and Conditions by clicking the checkbox, and drop the PDF file you want to unlock to the uploading area. Then the recovered password will appear to the interface, you can download the unlocked file once ready.
Limits:
Also read: 5 Ways to Print A Secured PDF even without Password, Online Solution Incl.
The third one is “Free My PDF”, another totally free online PDF password cracker supports removing owner password from protected PDF. But please note that it doesn’t work for user-password-protected PDF.
Official Website: http://www.freemypdf.com
How it works: This application is simpler than others. Just upload your permissions-password-protected PDF files to it, and click “I agree, do it”. Then you’ll get a download dialog box, where you can save the unlocked PDF.
Limits:
CleverPDF comes with 40+ powerful and permanently free online PDF tools for users to unlock, split, convert, create, organize, encrypt, combine, extract, delete and compress PDF files with simplified procedures. With the help of the PDF password remover, owner/permissions password can be removed instantly. But it can’t crack an open password since it’s strong protection. In that way, you need to provide the password.
Official Website: https://www.cleverpdf.com/unlock-pdf
How it works: Drag and drop files from Google Drive, Dropbox or your local device. This file is encrypted by the open password, it can’t get access to the content. Please enter the correct open password. Permissions password can be removed by clicking “Start conversion”.
Limits:
Soda PDF is a online PDF site with 15 years of experience. In addition to the online version, it has also launched a desktop version for Mac and Android devices. This site is safe to use, but it can only remove password from PDF files when you know the password.
Official Website: https://www.sodapdf.com/unlock-pdf/
How it works: Upload your password-protected PDF file by clicking “Choose File”. Enter the unique password to access to open the locked PDF and click “Unlock” to remove the restrictions from your file. And wait a moment, you can download your cracked PDF file from this website.
Limits:
This handy website works for PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, CAD, OpenOffice, 3D formats and other mainstream formats in the market. For PDF file, it offers a variety of solid tools such as editor, splitter, converter, merger, signature creator and unlocker. It’s quite easy to crack multiple PDF passwords at once. But please note that the unlocking tool requires the exact PDF password before removing it.
Official Website: https://products.aspose.app/pdf/unlock
How it works: Choose locked PDF files from Google Drive, Dropbox, URL or computer. Type the password of the files and click “Unlock” to crack the PDF password online.
Limits:
We understand your concerns, When you need to crack password from highly private and large-size PDFs, we can use offline PDF password cracker to solve safety and speed issues.
Compared to the web version, Cisdem PDF Password Remover offers more comprehensive functions, enhanced speed, and stability, supporting processing of larger PDF files.
No matter whether your PDF file is protected by the owner password or user password. You can enter the correct password to directly remove the password protection, also you can directly decrypt the PDF file if you have forgotten the PDF password.
Free Download macOS 10.13 or later Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7
How to Remove PDF Password on Mac or Windows?
Free download Cisdem PDF Password Remover on your Mac or Windows.
Run the program on your device, drag and drop multiple password-protected PDF files into the interface or add them by clicking the “+” button.
Once the PDFs are imported, click “Remove” to create an equivalent PDF file without any password protection if your original PDF is only protected by an owner password. 
If there is a lock icon appearing when you upload a PDF, it means your PDF is protected by a user password, enter the correct password or click “forgot” if you have lost it. Once the user-password PDF is decrypted successfully, the lock icon will disappear, click “Remove” to create an equivalent PDF without securities.
Useful Tips:
When you need to decrypt the user-password protected PDFs, fill the parameters in as follows to crack faster.
All online free PDF password crackers mentioned as above are convenient and efficient, though they fall short of our expectations in some ways. If you ask for more service than that these online free PDF password remover can offer, try a desktop one such as Cisdem PDF Password Remover.
What is your favorite PDF password cracker online?
Please leave us a comment or share it with all of us on social media.
Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7 Free Download macOS 10.13 or later
Carolyn has always been passionate about reading and writing, so she joined Cisdem as an editor as soon as she graduated from university. She focuses on writing how-to articles about PDF editing and conversion.
Adrienne
I use the first one, success vs failure:50% vs 50%, I can take the results, but narrowly.
Will890
It is totally for free, I like this article, I will others.
William852
This looks good. But I really don't know there are so many risk if I use free online tool.