Answers before you ask.

You upload a PDF. We detect the encryption type, extract the password hash (never the file's content), then run a series of attacks: top-1000 dictionary, rockyou, rule-based variations, and GPU brute-force. If we find the password we charge you once via Stripe and reveal it. If we don't, you owe nothing.

Yes — provided you own the PDF or have explicit authorization to access it. By using PDFUnlock you certify that the file is yours or that you have the right to recover the password. We are not liable for misuse.

It depends on the encryption type. RC4-40 is essentially 100 % (we crack it in seconds). RC4-128 / AES-128 sit around 50 %. AES-256 (Acrobat 10+) is the hardest — around 20 %. We are honest about expectations: very strong random passwords cannot be recovered.

Your PDF is stored in europe-west1 and automatically deleted 24 hours after upload. We extract only the encryption hash to feed to the cracker — we never read or process the file's actual content. Passwords are removed from our database 7 days after recovery.

Yes. All payments go through Stripe, which handles your card data. We never see or store your card number. Stripe takes care of currency conversion automatically — we only charge in EUR.

Contact our support immediately. We will verify the password against your file. If it really doesn't open the PDF, we issue a full refund as a goodwill gesture. There is no contractual right of withdrawal because the digital service is delivered immediately, but we always make things right when something goes wrong.

The site, dashboard, and emails are available in 11 languages. The cracker itself works on any password regardless of language — we use rockyou and rule-based variations that cover Latin scripts well.

It depends on the password complexity. The free quick test (top 1 000 passwords) finishes in under 5 seconds. The full deep recovery runs through multiple phases: dictionary, localized dictionaries, mutations, hybrid attacks, keyboard walks, and Markov brute force. The earlier phases take minutes, the later ones can run up to 24 hours. You'll see real-time progress on screen, and we'll email you when it's done if you close the page.

We support every version of PDF encryption that Adobe has released: RC4-40 (Acrobat 2-4), RC4-128 (Acrobat 5-8), AES-128 (Acrobat 9), and AES-256 (Acrobat 10 and later). The file itself can be any standard PDF — we extract the encryption header regardless of content, page count, or file size (up to 50 MB).

Currently you upload one file at a time. Each file gets its own analysis and recovery job. If you need to process many files, contact our support — we can arrange batch processing for enterprise customers.

An owner password restricts what you can do with a PDF (printing, copying, editing) but doesn't prevent opening the file. We remove those restrictions for free in seconds. A user password prevents opening the file entirely — that's real encryption. Recovering it requires GPU-powered cracking and is a paid service (pay-on-success only).

AES-256 uses a much stronger key derivation function (SHA-256 with many more rounds) compared to older encryption types. This makes each password guess take significantly longer on the GPU. Combined with a strong random password, AES-256 can be practically unbreakable. Our honest success rate for AES-256 is around 20 % — we always tell you upfront.

Everything is hosted in europe-west1 (Belgium, EU). Your PDF file is stored in Firebase Storage and automatically deleted 24 hours after upload. The encryption hash is stored in Firestore and deleted along with the job data. Recovered passwords are removed from our database 7 days after recovery. We never read or process the actual content of your document.

No. You can upload a PDF and get owner restrictions removed without any account or email. For paid password recovery, we only ask for an email so we can notify you when the job finishes (in case you close the browser). Creating a full account is optional and only needed if you want a dashboard to track multiple jobs.

You can reach us at the in-app support form or through the support form in your dashboard. We respond within 24 hours on business days. Support is available in 11 languages.