MyPDFBoy vs Sejda for PDF Redaction: Free vs $120/Year

Sejda is one of the better free PDF toolkits available. Its week pass pricing is genuinely clever for occasional heavy users, and its desktop app adds offline capability that most web-based PDF tools lack. For power users who need editing, compression, OCR, and format conversion without paying $20/month, Sejda hits a sweet spot.

For PDF redaction specifically, there is a meaningful gap: Sejda's redaction applies visual masking, not content removal. The text you cover remains in the file's data structures and is recoverable. If you are redacting because the information genuinely needs to be gone — social security numbers, personal addresses, legal strategy — that is a problem.

This comparison covers both tools fairly. Sejda is better in several dimensions; MyPDFBoy is better at the specific job of secure redaction.

How Each Tool Handles Redaction

Sejda Redaction

Sejda's redaction feature places a filled rectangle over selected content. In the PDF's internal structure, this is stored as an annotation layer sitting above the original content stream. The text beneath the black box is not touched.

You can verify this yourself: take a PDF redacted with Sejda, open it in any text extraction tool (even pdftotext from the command line), and the "redacted" content will appear in the output. In some PDF viewers, switching to annotation editing mode allows the overlay rectangle to be deleted entirely, revealing the original text.

Sejda is not unusual in taking this approach. Visual masking is far simpler to implement than genuine content stream editing, so most general-purpose PDF editors use it. It is worth knowing before you rely on it for anything sensitive.

MyPDFBoy Redaction

MyPDFBoy uses PyMuPDF on the backend to modify the content stream directly. When you draw redaction zones and apply them:

1. The backend identifies all text runs, image objects, and vector elements within each zone's coordinates
2. Those objects are removed from the content stream — not covered, deleted
3. A solid rectangle is rendered in place as a visual indicator
4. The modified PDF is returned to your browser

After redaction, attempting to select or extract text from the affected area returns nothing. There is no annotation layer to remove. The content is gone from the file.

Feature Comparison

Feature	MyPDFBoy	Sejda
Redaction method	True content removal	Visual overlay (masking)
Text extractable after redaction	No	Yes
Overlay removable to reveal content	N/A	Yes
Price for redaction	Free	Paid plan required
Plan cost	Free	Web: $7.50/mo or $63/yr; Desktop+Web: $120/yr
Free usage limit	None	3 tasks/day
Account required	No	No (free tier) / Yes (paid)
Desktop app	No	Yes (paid plans)
Other PDF tools	Redaction + watermark	40+ tools: edit, compress, merge, split, OCR, convert
File retention	None	Not stated clearly
OCR support	No	Yes (up to 10 pages free, unlimited paid)

Privacy Comparison

Sejda processes files on their servers. Their privacy documentation is sparse — there is no clearly stated file deletion timeline in the way that Smallpdf (1 hour on free) publishes. Files are transmitted over TLS. Beyond that, the privacy model for uploaded documents is not explicitly documented.

MyPDFBoy uploads files to a processing server, processes them in memory, and returns the result. No file is written to disk and no copy is retained. There is no account, so no identity is associated with any upload.

For documents you are redacting — which by definition contain information you want protected — the difference between "processed and discarded" and "processed and stored for an unspecified period" is worth considering.

Pricing Comparison

	MyPDFBoy	Sejda
Redaction (free)	Yes, unlimited	3 tasks/day only
Redaction (paid)	N/A	Web Monthly: $7.50/mo
Redaction (annual)	N/A	Web Annual: $63/yr; Desktop+Web: $120/yr
Account required	No	Required for paid plans

If you need Sejda's full toolkit — editing, OCR, compression, and format conversion — the $63/year web plan is reasonable. If you need redaction specifically, paying $63–120/year for a feature that applies visual masking is not good value when a free alternative performs true content removal.

Where Sejda Is Better

Sejda has real strengths worth acknowledging:

• Feature breadth: 40+ tools covering nearly every PDF operation, from basic compression to OCR and digital signatures
• OCR capability: Scanned PDF text recognition, available up to 10 pages on free tier
• Desktop app: Offline processing with the paid plan, useful for sensitive documents that should not leave your machine
• Week pass pricing: $5 for 7 days is a genuinely useful option for one-time heavy use
• PDF editing: Edit existing text in PDFs, not just annotate — a feature MyPDFBoy does not offer
• Power user depth: Crop, rotate, split by bookmarks, add page numbers, compare versions

For users who need a comprehensive PDF toolkit and use it regularly, Sejda's paid plan competes well against alternatives.

Where MyPDFBoy Is Better

For PDF redaction:

• True content removal — text is gone from the file, not drawn over
• Free with no task limits — Sejda's free tier caps at 3 tasks/day
• No account required — upload, redact, download, done
• No file storage — documents containing sensitive content are not retained on any server

The Bottom Line

If you regularly need OCR, PDF editing, or format conversion in addition to redaction, Sejda's paid plan gives you a capable toolkit at a reasonable price. The redaction feature is part of that package, but be aware that it applies visual masking.

If your primary need is reliable, secure PDF redaction — the kind where information is permanently removed rather than covered — MyPDFBoy does that job for free, with no account and no file retention.