Answers to read before setup
Updated .
PDF24 Creator is free, including for companies, and the desktop program works offline on Windows 10 and Windows 11. It does not install on Mac or Linux. The current build is 11.32.0, released 2 November 2026. The x64 EXE is 387 MB.
Yes. PDF24 Creator is free of charge for private use and for companies, authorities, and agencies. There is no paid tier in the program and no account to create.
The publisher's download page lists a 4.9 score from 132,423 votes. That figure is their published vote count. This site does not collect those votes.
Yes. Version 11.32.0 runs on Windows 10 and Windows 11, with separate installers for x64, x86, and ARM64.
On a Windows device with an ARM processor, such as Snapdragon, use the ARM64 installer. The x64 installer refuses to install there, because the emulated driverless printer dropped every print job.
No. PDF24 Creator installs on Windows only. Mac and Linux are not supported.
The desktop program works offline. Files stay on the PC and are not uploaded.
That is the practical difference from browser PDF tools. A public note from the developer said the desktop program is funded by ads on the publisher's website, not by a fee inside the app.
Yes. The publisher says companies run it under Citrix, and that business use is free.
Use the 9.20.0 branch for Windows 7 or Windows 8. It was released on 9 April 2026, it is based on 11.30.0, and it leaves out Toolbox, OpenJDK, and WebView2.
That is why the 9.20.0 x64 EXE is 68 MB instead of 387 MB. Version 11.32.0 itself is listed for Windows 10 and Windows 11.
Pick the EXE for one computer. Pick the MSI when you deploy to many company PCs. On ARM Windows, pick the ARM64 build.
Version 11.32.0 x64 is 387 MB as an EXE and 487 MB as an MSI. The x86 EXE is 352 MB and the x86 MSI is 432 MB. The ARM64 EXE is 367 MB and the ARM64 MSI is 468 MB.
The 11.32.0 package can include Ghostscript, qpdf, Tesseract, OpenJDK, and the WebView2 runtime 153.0.4234.32, plus the PDF printer.
Those components are optional in the installer and are selected by default, except that the EXE preselects WebView2 only when Windows does not already have a WebView2 runtime. The 9.20.0 branch omits Toolbox, OpenJDK, and WebView2.
Readers have reported Surfshark quarantining a temp file, one report naming Drop.Win32.RegStartupWin after the old 11.20.1 build, and Sophos flagging update.exe.
The publisher says the official installers are digitally signed, and that 11.20.1 is out of date. In 11.32.0 the installer engine is signed as well. Check Digital Signatures on the file you ran, prefer 11.32.0, and if a current signed build is still flagged, send the detection name and the full path to the scanner vendor. A signature does not make every detection impossible. A detection does not, by itself, prove the file is malicious.
Error 1920 means Windows could not start the service named PDF24 at the end of setup. The classic PDF printer needs that service. Older MSI packages then rolled the whole installation back.
Since 11.32.0 the MSI no longer ends in error 1920 and a rollback when the service fails to start. The EXE setup already continued past that failure. A related case, error 1053, happened when a process from an older PDF24 service was still running. See the steps on the guides page.
The PDF printer depends on a background service. People have reported the program starting at boot after they cleared it under Settings, Apps, Startup.
That behavior is how the printer stays available, and it is also why some people distrust it. Some users block its network access. The desktop tools are built to work without uploading files.
No. PDF24 Creator is freeware from Geek Software. The program itself is not published as source you can compile.
Version 11.32.0 does bundle components with their own licenses, and you can switch them to a copy already on the PC: Ghostscript, qpdf, Tesseract, and OpenJDK. WebView2 is the Microsoft runtime that draws the Toolbox.
Right-click the installer, open Properties, then Digital Signatures. Version 11.32.0 signs the installer engine. The driverless printer files for Windows Protected Print are signed, so App Control for Business and AppLocker do not need a new hash rule on every update.
This site does not print a SHA-256 for 11.32.0. A checksum that was not taken from the file in front of you would be a guess. A hash published for an older 11.29.1 MSI belongs to that older file only. Catalog listings also lag: one February 2026 listing still offered 11.29.1.
The driverless printer uses Windows Protected Print, from Windows 11 version 24H2, where third-party printer drivers are blocked. It is the default on a new install when Windows supports it. The classic printer is a PostScript driver.
You need the classic printer to print from a Remote Desktop session into a redirected PDF24 printer, and for custom paper sizes taken from the print server properties. Version 11.31.0, released 5 October 2026, replaced classic printers with driverless ones during update. Version 11.32.0 keeps the kind you already installed.
No. OCR runs on the computer with Tesseract. Version 11.32.0 states in the tool that recognition runs on your computer.
The same local rule applies to e-invoice checks for XRechnung, ZUGFeRD or Factur-X, and Peppol. Those invoices are not uploaded. PDF/A checks use veraPDF and need the Java component.