Bates Stamp PDFs Without
Adobe Acrobat — Free
Adobe wants $240/year for a feature you can get free in your browser in 2 minutes.
Bates stamping is a basic legal requirement — sequential page numbering on every document in a discovery production. Adobe Acrobat does it well. It also costs $239.88 per year. For solo practitioners, paralegals and small firms, that's a significant overhead for a single feature.
Here's the good news: browser technology has caught up. You can Bates stamp PDFs of any size, with full customization, entirely in your browser — free, with no software to install and no files uploaded to a server.
Why "Free Online" Bates Stampers Are Often a Problem
Search for "free Bates stamper" and you'll find several options. Most of them have a critical problem for legal work: they upload your document to their server.
| Tool | File Upload? | Free Tier Limit | Attorney-Client Safe? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Acrobat | Local only | $240/yr required | ✓ Yes |
| Sejda | Uploads to server | 50MB / 3 tasks/hr | ✗ Risk |
| DeftPDF | Uploads to server | 1 file at a time | ✗ Risk |
| BatesStamp.com | Browser only | Free | ✓ Yes |
| ResourceCentral | Browser only | Free, unlimited | ✓ Yes |
For confidential legal documents, uploading to a third-party server creates privilege risk. If you're producing discovery for a client, their documents should never transit a random company's infrastructure.
How to Bates Stamp Without Adobe: Step by Step
SMITH- or DEF-), your starting number, and how many digits to pad (e.g. 000001).Attorney-Client Privilege & Cloud Tools
This is the part most people skip. When you upload a confidential client document to a third-party tool — even temporarily — you may be creating a privilege issue. Rule 1.6 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct requires lawyers to "make reasonable efforts to prevent the inadvertent or unauthorized disclosure" of client information.
"Reasonable efforts" in 2026 means not uploading privileged documents to servers you don't control when a browser-based alternative exists. The fact that a tool "deletes files after processing" doesn't fully resolve the issue — the data still transited their infrastructure.
The Client-Side Advantage
When a tool processes your PDF in the browser, your document never leaves your computer. There is no third-party server involved. This is the same principle as using Adobe Acrobat locally — but free and requiring no installation.
Large Files: What Happens With 500-Page Discovery Productions
Server-based tools often cap file size at 50MB or limit batch processing on free plans. This is a real problem for large discovery productions with hundreds of pages.
Browser-based processing is limited only by your device's RAM — not an arbitrary server limit. Modern laptops can comfortably handle 500MB+ PDFs. There's no upload timeout, no queue, no "upgrade to process larger files."
FAQ
Does this work on Mac, Windows and Chromebook? +
Yes. Because it runs in the browser, it works on any operating system — Mac, Windows, Linux, Chromebook and iPad. No platform-specific software needed.
Can I stamp multiple PDFs in one session? +
Yes — and the numbering continues sequentially across documents, which is the correct behavior for multi-document discovery productions.
Is this suitable for court filings? +
The output is a standard PDF with permanent stamped text — the same format produced by Adobe Acrobat. Always review the output before filing to confirm it meets your jurisdiction's requirements.
Try the Free Bates Stamper
No account. No file uploads. Works on any device.
Open Free Bates Stamper →