Watermark PDF Online — Add Text or Logo Watermarks Instantly, Free
A PDF watermark does three things: it identifies the document's status (Draft, Confidential, Sample), it deters unauthorised copying and redistribution, and it visually marks every page with your ownership or branding. Whether you need to stamp a legal contract as CONFIDENTIAL before sharing it externally, mark a dissertation draft as DRAFT before sending it to a supervisor, or overlay your company logo on a PDF proposal, our free PDF watermark tool does it entirely in your browser — no uploads, no account, no waiting.
Type your watermark text or pick from six built-in presets, set the angle, opacity and colour, and click Apply. Your watermarked PDF downloads in seconds. Switch to Pro Mode (free) for custom fonts, font size, seven position styles including diagonal and corner placement, tiling, per-page control, and full image watermark support — upload your own PNG or JPG logo and embed it on every page.
Why angle matters for watermarks: A 45° diagonal watermark is the hardest to crop out or obscure because it runs corner-to-corner across the page. A horizontal watermark at 0° can be covered by pasting a white box over the header or footer. A diagonal watermark at 45° would need the entire page content to be repositioned to hide — making it far more effective as a deterrent. Our angle slider lets you choose any value from −90° to +90° so you can optimise for both visibility and aesthetics.
Six Built-in Watermark Presets
Click any preset to apply it instantly — no typing needed. Each is a widely recognised standard used in professional and academic document workflows.
You can also type any custom text — your company name, a copyright notice like © 2025 Your Company, a client name, a URL, a date, or a job number. The watermark field accepts up to 60 characters and updates the live preview the moment you type.
When to Use a PDF Watermark
Simple vs Pro — Full Feature Comparison
| Feature | ⬜ Simple Mode | ⭐ Pro Mode (Free) |
|---|---|---|
| Text watermark | ✓ | ✓ |
| 6 quick-select presets | ✓ | ✓ |
| Angle slider (−90° to +90°) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Opacity control | ✓ | ✓ |
| Text colour picker | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bold text option | ✓ | ✓ |
| Outline text style | ✓ | ✓ |
| Live preview | ✓ | ✓ |
| Custom font (5 options) | — | ✓ |
| Font size (14–96pt) | — | ✓ |
| 7 position styles | — | ✓ |
| Tiled repeat watermark | — | ✓ |
| Tile spacing control | — | ✓ |
| Per-page control (6 options) | — | ✓ |
| Custom page range (e.g. 1-3,5) | — | ✓ |
| Image watermark (PNG/JPG) | — | ✓ |
| Image size control | — | ✓ |
| Image position (5 + tile) | — | ✓ |
| Custom output filename | — | ✓ |
Pro Mode — Nine Advanced Watermark Features
How to Add a Watermark to a PDF
For a complete PDF document security workflow, use this tool with our PDF Password Protector to add encryption after watermarking, our PDF Metadata Editor to set the correct author and title, our PDF Merger to combine watermarked sections into one document, and our full PDF Studio for all 30+ browser-based PDF tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
Watermarking PDFs, angles, presets and Pro Mode features
Drop your PDF on the tool, type your watermark text or click a preset (CONFIDENTIAL, DRAFT etc.), set the angle and opacity, then click Apply Watermark. The watermarked PDF downloads instantly. No account, no upload, everything runs in your browser — completely free.
Yes — your PDF never leaves your device. All processing happens in your browser using the open-source pdf-lib library. Nothing is uploaded to any server. You can disconnect from the internet after the page loads and the tool still works perfectly — because it requires no server at any point.
The six most widely used watermarks are: CONFIDENTIAL (restricted distribution), DRAFT (work in progress), DO NOT COPY (proprietary content), SAMPLE (preview version), TOP SECRET (highly restricted) and FOR REVIEW (feedback stage). Click any preset button to apply it instantly. You can also enter any custom text — a company name, copyright notice, date or URL.
Yes — the angle slider lets you set any rotation from −90° to +90°. The default 45° diagonal is the most common because it runs corner-to-corner and is hardest to crop out. Set 0° for a horizontal watermark, useful for header and footer positions. Negative values produce a reverse diagonal. The live preview updates immediately as you drag the slider.
Switch to Pro Mode (free), click the Image Watermark tab, upload your PNG or JPG logo, then set opacity, size (as % of page width), position and rotation. PNG with a transparent background is recommended for logos. Pro Mode is completely free — no account needed.
Yes — in Pro Mode, the Apply to Pages control lets you watermark all pages, first only, last only, odd pages, even pages, or a custom range like 1-3,5,8-10. Perfect for marking only the document body while skipping cover pages or appendices.
No — text watermarks are added as vector text drawn directly onto the page, not as a rasterised image overlay. Existing images, fonts and graphics in the PDF are completely unaffected. Image watermarks are embedded at the quality you specify — no recompression of existing content occurs.
Simple Mode gives you text watermark with angle, opacity, colour, bold and outline. Pro Mode (free) adds: 5 font families, font size 14–96pt, 7 position styles (diagonal, centre, tiled, all four corners), tile spacing control, per-page control with custom range, image watermark (PNG/JPG) with size/position/rotation, and custom output filename.