Add Watermark to PDF Online for Free

PDF watermarking places a text overlay on every page of your document. You type the watermark text, set the opacity (5% for barely visible to 100% for fully opaque), choose a rotation angle, and pick a font size. The watermark is rendered as transparent text centered on each page, sitting on top of the existing content without altering it.

The tool adds text elements to each page using pdf-lib’s page drawing API. It calculates the center position based on page dimensions, applies your rotation and opacity settings, and embeds the text using a standard PDF font. Because the watermark is text-based rather than image-based, it adds only a few kilobytes to the file regardless of the page count. A 200-page document with a watermark is barely larger than the original.

Practical reasons to watermark your PDFs:

• Marking drafts as ’DRAFT’ so recipients know the content is not final
• Stamping ’CONFIDENTIAL’ on sensitive reports before distribution
• Adding a company name or logo text for branding across all pages
• Labeling copies with recipient names to track distribution if a leak occurs
• Marking preview versions of paid content with ’SAMPLE’ or ’PREVIEW’

Most cloud watermarking tools limit free users to 1-2 files per day and add their own branding watermark to the output. That means you get two watermarks instead of one. Our tool has no daily limit, no branding added, and no account required. You get exactly the watermark you specify, nothing more.

Watermarking works well as part of a document security workflow. First add password protection, then apply a watermark for visual deterrence. If you are sending signed contracts, use Sign PDF first, then watermark the signed copy before distributing it to other parties.