PDFsam Basic

Pros: Can't think of a better tool for this simple purpose of merging. There's an equally useful looking splitter function that I haven't used for a long time.

Cons: Worried it'll convert itself into a subscription based app.

Overall: I drag a bunch of the past year's PDF bank statements into the merge window. Sort in ascending order of name and press go. Get a big PDF that can be scrolled through or searched while doing the tax return. I used an old version 1.5 for Windows and in these days of high monetisation, would hesitate to install a newer version.

Pros: PDFsam is okay to edit files as long as standards compliance is not a priority. The edit features work fine.

Cons: It is impossible to print properly. As an example, duplex printing just does not work, and PDFsam manages to mess this somehow by taking control of the print driver even if the printer is hard-set to duplex printing.

The only working solution I found is to use a different program to print the pdf after editing it with PDFsam.

Overall: I use PDFsam as part of a paperless document workflow. Scanning docs with a scanner to pdf, then archiving them, and occasionally edit / print them. That is where PDFsam comes in.

Pros: It's like any other PDF software on the market. You need to pay a premium for electronic signatures and editing of all things.

Cons: Buying a license is an absolute nightmare. They claim the license is $19.99 lifetime and as soon as you pay it turns into a subscription of $100 a year, no refunds. They start to add additional services randomly, and charge you, No customer service, I had to get my bank to put a stop payment, I had selected a basic plan and they had tacked on additional plans without my approval.

Overall: I am sure the software is fine as I can't imagine PDF manipulation software would be so disastrous. The company is atrocious and avoid at all costs. God help you if they get your CC info.

Pros: -Very intuitive interface
-It's very quick and easy to split or merge PDFs
-No ads on the free version, they don't push for premium

Cons: There are honestly no cons for me, PDFSam does what it must. It would be great if the converter tool would also be free, but I understand they have to make money somehow with premium.

Overall: Very quick and easy tool to use for merging and splitting PDFs. It's a great free alternative to the paying features of Adobe Acrobat Pro.

Pros: Free and open source.
Merge PDF files together.
Split PDF file or extract pages.
Multi platform availability.

Cons: No editing or conversion feature - available in PDFsam enhanced which is paid.

Overall: PDFsam Basic is a basic FOSS to work with PDF files on a macro level. However it does not allow editing or other features of a pdf editor.