Sejda Alternative - Auto-Detect Fields, No Account

pdf2fill vs Sejda comparison

Sejda does 30+ things with PDFs. pdf2fill does one thing: fill out forms. If the job is only typing into blanks, here is the comparison that matters.

Feature	pdf2fill	Sejda
Account required	No	No
Price	Free	Free (3 tasks/day, 200 pages), $7.50/month
Auto field detection	Yes (~89% precision)	No, manual placement
File handling	Held up to 1 hr, then deleted	Stored up to 2 hrs, then deleted
Works on flat PDFs (no form fields)	Yes, auto-detected	Yes, but fields placed manually
OCR (image-only scans)	No	Yes
Daily task limit	No daily cap	3 tasks/day on free
E-signatures	Yes (basic, reusable)	Yes (basic)
PDF merge/split/compress	No	Yes, 30+ tools
Desktop app	No	Yes
Time to fill a PDF	~60 seconds	3-5 min (manual field setup)

The auto-detection difference

Sejda's form filler works fine on PDFs that already have built-in interactive fields. Open one, click the field, type. Simple.

The problem shows up with flat PDFs, the kind that weren't designed as interactive forms. A W-9 your client emailed you, a rental application you downloaded, a government form that was laid out for a pen. In Sejda, you click "Text" for each field, drag a box into position, resize it to match the blank line, and repeat.

pdf2fill's detection engine handles the first pass automatically. It reads the page layout, identifies likely blank lines, checkboxes, and signature areas, and creates fields for you. The engine detects fields with about 89% precision on a real-world benchmark of tax forms, government applications, insurance documents, and contracts. If it misses a field, you can add text, a checkbox, or a signature from the toolbar.

Reusable signatures for forms

pdf2fill lets you draw, type, or upload a signature, place it on the PDF, and remember it in the same browser for the next form. It is basic e-signing for form completion, not a full signing workflow with audit trails or signer routing.

Where your file goes

Both tools work the same way here: your PDF is uploaded to a server to be processed. Sejda stores the file for up to 2 hours and then deletes it, and they're transparent about that, which is fair.

pdf2fill doesn't keep your PDF: no account library, no file archive, no permanent copy. The file is uploaded, used to detect fields and fill the form, and automatically deleted from the server within an hour of your last activity. We don't claim the file never leaves your device, because it does; we just don't keep it. For documents with personal information, tax IDs, addresses, medical details, that's the honest distinction.

When Sejda is the better choice

If you need to merge PDFs, split pages, compress files, convert formats, add watermarks, or do any of the other 30+ operations Sejda offers, use Sejda. It's a full PDF toolkit and it's good at what it does. pdf2fill only fills out forms.

When a focused tool is enough

Use pdf2fill when the PDF already exists and the work is mostly typing and signing: a W-9, lease packet, school form, medical intake sheet, or insurance claim. If you need a broader toolkit, Sejda is still useful. If you need the form filled and signed, the online PDF form filler keeps the path shorter.