The watermark becomes part of the page. It is drawn into the content permanently, not added as a layer that can be switched off later. If you need a "Draft" stamp a reviewer can hide before final release, that is a different feature this tool does not provide — better to know that now than after sending the file.

Stamp text or a logo across your PDF pages entirely in the browser. Nothing is uploaded and there is no limit — no page cap, no hourly cap, no account.

Add Watermark to PDF

Local

Choose a PDF, or drop it here Nothing leaves this tab

Rendered by PDF.js and written by pdf-lib, both fetched when you add a file.

Text or image, and when each earns its place

Use	Text or image	Why
"Confidential" / "Draft" / "Sample"	Text	The word itself carries the meaning; a logo would not communicate the same warning
Company or personal branding	Image	A logo is instantly recognisable in a way a company name typed as text rarely matches
Copyright notice	Text	© plus a name and year is precise and searchable within the page; a logo is not
Photographer or designer proofs	Image	A semi-transparent logo across a proof image reads as professional; a text stamp across a photo often does not

Text renders at any size without quality loss, since it is drawn as actual text rather than a picture of text. An image watermark is limited by the resolution of the file uploaded — a small, blurry logo will still look small and blurry once stamped onto a page, however large it is scaled.

Why "burned in" matters

Two very different things get called a watermark, and mixing them up causes real problems later:

	Stamped watermark (this tool)	Removable stamp / layer
What it is	New content drawn directly onto the page, the same as any text or image already there	A separate object a compatible viewer can show or hide
Can it be removed?	Only by editing the page content itself — not a toggle	Yes, by the people the viewer allows to
Good for	Copyright marks, "Sample" or "Confidential" labels meant to stay	A draft stamp meant to disappear before a document goes final
Who offers it	This tool, and every competitor checked — though none of them say so	A different feature entirely, not covered here

This is true of every watermarking tool checked, not a limitation specific to this one — it is simply the first place that says so plainly.

Choosing opacity and position

Opacity	Effect
10–20%	Barely visible on screen, close to invisible printed. Good for a subtle brand mark that must not compete with the content
25–40%	The usual range — clearly present without making the text underneath hard to read
50%+	Dominant. Appropriate for "Sample" or "Void" marks meant to actively discourage use of the document

Centre and diagonal is the hardest position to crop out of a document, which is why "Confidential" and "Draft" marks are almost always placed there rather than in a corner. A corner mark reads as a badge; a diagonal centre mark reads as a warning.

Common mistakes

Watermarking a file expecting to remove it before the final version. A stamped watermark is new page content, not a togglable layer — keep an unwatermarked original and stamp a copy, rather than planning to strip it out of the marked file later.

Full opacity on top of text. A watermark at 100% opacity sitting over body text makes both illegible. Somewhere in the 20–40% range keeps the mark visible without fighting the content underneath.

Uploading a confidential draft just to mark it as confidential. A document sensitive enough to need a watermark is sensitive enough not to sit on a server whose retention policy you are trusting. Local watermarking removes the question.

Frequently asked questions

Is my file uploaded?

No. It is read and the watermarked copy is written entirely in your browser — the network panel in developer tools shows no request carrying your document. The only network request is for the two libraries, and it happens once.

Can I remove the watermark later?

Not from the watermarked file — the watermark is drawn into the page content, the same as any other text or image on it, not a switchable layer. Keep the original file if you might need an unmarked copy later; do not rely on stripping the mark back out.

Text or image — which should I use?

Text for a word or short phrase — Confidential, Draft, a company name. Image for a logo. A PNG with a transparent background works best for a logo watermark, since the surrounding page shows through cleanly.

Is there a page limit?

No. Several competitors cap free use — Sejda at 200 pages, 50MB and three tasks an hour, for example — because each job costs their servers processing time. Nothing runs on a server here, so there is nothing to ration.

Can I apply it to only some pages?

All pages, odd pages only, or even pages only. Odd/even suits documents printed double-sided where the watermark should land consistently on one physical side.

Does the preview match the final file exactly?

Closely, not pixel-for-pixel. The preview is drawn quickly with the browser's own canvas text rendering so it updates instantly as you adjust settings; the downloaded file is stamped by the PDF library itself, which uses its own font metrics. Position and proportions match; exact letter spacing can differ very slightly.

Will this work on a scanned PDF?

Yes — the watermark is drawn on top of whatever is already on the page, whether that is real text or a scanned image, since it does not need to read the existing content to add to it.

Can I watermark a password-protected PDF?

Not while it is protected — remove the password in a PDF reader first. The output here is not encrypted, so protect it again afterwards if needed.

Related tools

See the full list of Document Tools, or try:

Add Page Numbers to PDF — number the pages as well as marking them
Merge PDF — combine documents with page-level control
Rotate PDF — fix orientation before or after watermarking
PDF Metadata Viewer & Remover — check what else the file reveals
Compress PDF — shrink the watermarked file if it needs to be smaller

Add Watermark to PDF Free: Text or Image, No Upload