PDF TO LINK
Turn a PDF into a shareable link
Go from PDF to link in one upload: drop the file and get a clean HTTPS address for it in seconds. Nothing to install, no viewer wrapped around it, and the same link keeps working after you replace the file.
Free plan, free SSL, no credit card.
- 512 KB
- PDF size on the free plan, which covers most documents
- 1
- free link with HTTPS, no card
- 5,000
- opens a month included
- 0
- downloads required from the person you send it to
How it works
Three steps, start to live link
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Upload the PDF
Drag the file onto the page. There is nothing to install, no template to complete and no conversion step in between.
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Pick the address
Choose the subdomain so the link reads like the document. It is live over HTTPS in seconds, ready to send, post or embed.
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Replace the file, keep the link
Upload a corrected version and it is published at the same address, so everyone who already has the link sees the new document.
The plain answer
What does it mean to turn a PDF into a link?
It means putting the file at a public web address, so that opening the URL opens the document. The alternative most people are used to, attaching the file or sharing it out of a cloud drive, gives the recipient a copy of the file or a viewer around it. A hosted link gives them the document itself, at an address you chose, that you can change the contents of later.
The practical difference shows up in three places. Attachments get stripped by mail filters or bounce for size, and every recipient ends up with a separate copy that is out of date the moment you fix a typo. A drive link opens inside that drive's interface, sometimes behind an access request, and its URL is an opaque file identifier rather than anything readable. A hosted link is a normal web address that works in any browser, on any device, with nothing installed.
The property that does the most work is that the address is separate from the file. Replace the PDF and the address is unchanged, which means a link in a printed brochure, an email signature, a QR code or a job application keeps pointing at the current version rather than at whatever you uploaded first. If you would rather people read the document in the page instead of in their PDF reader, see publishing a PDF as a web page.
Who it is for
The people who reach for this
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Marketing and sales
A price list, a one-pager or a case study that lives at one address and stays current.
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Real estate
A property brochure or floor plan opened from a listing, a message or a sign, on a phone.
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Educators
A syllabus, a reading or a worksheet handed out as a link that survives the semester.
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Recruiting and HR
A job description or a policy document sent to candidates without an attachment.
In detail
What you actually get
It opens the document, not a viewer around it
The link resolves to your PDF at your address. There is no branded shell, no sign-in prompt and no request-access screen between the reader and the file.
- Opens in the browser built-in PDF reader on desktop and mobile.
- The reader can still download or print it; nothing is locked.
- No account needed by whoever you send it to.
One address, many revisions
Documents get corrected. Because the address belongs to the site rather than to a file, a correction does not invalidate anything you already sent.
- Upload the new PDF and it replaces what the address serves.
- Printed material, QR codes and email signatures keep resolving.
- From Pro, returning to a previous revision is one click.
Control over who reads it
Some documents are meant to be public and some are meant to be reachable only by the people you sent them to. Both are supported explicitly rather than by obscurity.
- Password protection from Starter, checked at the edge before the file is served.
- Expiring links from Starter: six hours, a day, a week, a month, or a date.
- Free sites are served noindex, so a document does not turn up in search results.
Your own domain, when the link is the brand
A price list sent by a company reads differently at a shared subdomain than at that company's address.
- Connect a domain you own from Pro, $15 a month.
- Certificates are issued and renewed for you, on your domain as well as ours.
- DNS guides for the common registrars.
No card required
What the free plan includes
Everything below is on the free plan, with no card and nothing to claim after you publish.
- 1 live site on a real free plan, not a trial of a paid one, and no card to start.
- Up to 25 MB per upload and 25 MB of storage across the account.
- 5,000 visits and 5 GB of traffic a month.
- HTTPS with a real certificate, issued and renewed for you.
- Up to 15 publishes a day, so you can iterate without asking permission.
- The deploy-time security check, which reads what you published and warns about a stray .env file, a .git folder, a private key or an API key left in your JavaScript.
- A small Droply badge in the corner of the page. Removing it starts on Starter.
- Free sites are served noindex, so search engines do not list them. Search visibility starts on Starter.
- PDFs specifically are capped at 512 KB on the free plan, below the 25 MB limit that applies to everything else. Paid tiers raise every limit.
- A downloadable QR code for the link, so it can go on something printed.
A hosted link vs a Google Drive link
How this compares with sharing from a cloud drive
Almost nobody arrives here choosing between static hosts. The real comparison is with the drive link you would otherwise paste, so these rows describe how the two behave rather than what anyone charges.
| Droply | Google Drive link | |
|---|---|---|
| What the address looks like | A subdomain you choose, so the link can read like the document. | An opaque file identifier you cannot choose. |
| What opens | The PDF itself, in the browser reader. | The drive viewer, wrapped in its own interface. |
| Recipient needs an account | No. | Not on an anyone-with-the-link share. On a restricted one, yes. |
| Replacing the file | Upload a new version; the address is unchanged. | Manage versions, then Upload new version, keeps the link. Uploading it as a new file does not. |
| Your own domain | From Pro, $15 a month. | Not available for a share link. |
| Password on the document | From Starter, one shared password checked at the edge. | No shared password. Access is per Google account, so everyone you want in needs one. |
| Expiring access | From Starter: 6 hours, a day, a week, a month, or a date you pick. | An expiry date can be set per person, and only on work or school accounts. It is not available on an anyone-with-the-link share. |
| Search engines | Free sites are noindex; indexing from Starter if you want the document found. | Not designed to be indexed. |
Google Drive rows checked 8 September 2026 against Google's own Drive help pages: managing versions (Manage versions, then Upload new version; a version may be deleted after 30 days or once there are 100 newer ones unless you choose Keep forever), sharing and expiration (an expiry date is set per person, under the options for work or school accounts, not on an anyone-with-the-link share), and the You need access screen a person sees without permission. The rows describe how each approach behaves rather than what anyone charges. Product behaviour can change.
When Droply is the wrong choice
Hosting a PDF is a publishing step. It does not manage the document, and there are cases where a drive or a document platform is the better answer.
- Several people need to edit the source document and see each other's changes. That is a collaboration tool, not a hosted file.
- You need per-person access control, revocation and a log of who opened it. One shared password is the level of control available here.
- The document is confidential in a regulated sense. A hosted URL is reachable by anyone who has it unless you add a password.
- You need a database, a login system, or code that runs on the server. Droply serves files; it does not execute your application.
- You want a build to run on every push to a repository. Droply has no Git integration and no CI: you build locally and upload the result.
- You are running WordPress or another PHP application. A static export of it can be hosted here, but the application itself cannot.