Whether it's a résumé, a proposal, or a school form, DOCX → PDF is the single most common conversion on the internet. Which is strange, because a lot of the free tools that claim to do it are bad.
We rated each on five axes: speed, privacy, batch support, how faithfully the layout survives, and how pushy the UI is about upsell.
1. Formatly
Full disclosure: we built this one. We're listing it honestly.
- Free, forever. No watermark.
- Batch of 5 files at a time.
- No account, no email required.
- Auto-delete after 1 hour. See Security.
2. Smallpdf
- One file at a time on free tier.
- Prompts for email after a few conversions.
- UI is clean; results are solid.
3. iLovePDF
- Batch support is limited to 2 files on free tier.
- Ads and login prompts during the flow.
- Output quality: fine.
Others we looked at
| Tool | Batch | Login? | Speed | Watermark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Online | No | Yes | Fast | None |
| Zamzar | Limited | Optional | Medium | None |
| CloudConvert | Yes | Yes | Fast | None |
The verdict
If you want the fastest path — drop the file, get the file — Formatly wins on removing the friction other tools add. If you're already in the Adobe ecosystem, their online tool is fine; it'll just ask you to sign in.