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Comparison · DevOps
Rivet vs Stirling-PDF
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Rivet and Stirling-PDF — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Shared themes:self-hosted
Rivet vs Stirling-PDF: at a glance
| Feature | Rivet | Stirling-PDF |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | DevOps | DevOps |
| Velocity score | 6.3 | 5.0 |
| Sparks · 30d | 1 | 0 |
| Top themes | actors, rust, storage engine, s3 | pdf-tools, self-hosted, document-conversion, e-signature |
| Last editorial update | 16h ago | 20h ago |
| Website | — | Visit → |
What is Rivet?
Rivet's Rust SDK for Actors is generally available.
Rivet has spent two months building infrastructure for long-lived actors and AI agents: BYOC, OpenTelemetry tracing, actor-scoped JWTs and agentOS Hosted VMs. The 3.0 Preview made Rivet a single stateless binary on S3. The Rust SDK for Rivet Actors is now generally available, with SQLite, WebSockets, cron and OpenTelemetry built in.
What is Stirling-PDF?
Stirling PDF plans to drop LibreOffice for its own converter within two weeks
Stirling PDF 3.0 in late September added the PDF Processor for bulk jobs, optional AI and free OAuth SSO. Releases since have come about every two weeks: group signing by default in 3.1.0, a Page Editor in 3.2.0, viewer and annotation work in 3.2.x. 3.3.0 lets users pick the beta Stirling Office Convert in many more tools and adds Windows ARM64, lighter mobile scanning and caching.
Rivet vs Stirling-PDF: editorial side-by-side
Rivet
6.3DEVOPS
Rivet's Rust SDK for Actors is generally available.
◆ Current state
Rivet has spent two months building infrastructure for long-lived actors and AI agents: BYOC, OpenTelemetry tracing, actor-scoped JWTs and agentOS Hosted VMs. The 3.0 Preview made Rivet a single stateless binary on S3. The Rust SDK for Rivet Actors is now generally available, with SQLite, WebSockets, cron and OpenTelemetry built in.
◆ Where it's heading
Rivet is widening who can build on its actor model while 3.0 matures: a Rust SDK GA lets performance-sensitive teams use it without a TypeScript layer. The platform direction remains S3-only infrastructure for stateful workloads.
◆ Prediction
Expect 3.0 to move toward a stable release and more SDK languages. The entries don't show a 3.0 GA date.
Stirling-PDF
5.0DEVOPS
Stirling PDF plans to drop LibreOffice for its own converter within two weeks
◆ Current state
Stirling PDF 3.0 in late September added the PDF Processor for bulk jobs, optional AI and free OAuth SSO. Releases since have come about every two weeks: group signing by default in 3.1.0, a Page Editor in 3.2.0, viewer and annotation work in 3.2.x. 3.3.0 lets users pick the beta Stirling Office Convert in many more tools and adds Windows ARM64, lighter mobile scanning and caching.
◆ Where it's heading
The project is replacing third-party dependencies with its own components. 3.3.0 says Office Convert should become the default next week and LibreOffice should be removed the week after, which would shrink the install and change conversion results for every user.
◆ Prediction
Expect Office Convert to become the default converter in the next release, then LibreOffice removed, as 3.3.0's notes lay out. Conversion bug reports will decide whether that schedule holds.
Alternatives to Rivet and Stirling-PDF
Other DevOps products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Rivet or Stirling-PDF.
Gravity Wiz
Gravity Wiz previews Flowcrafter, a visual workflow canvas for Gravity Forms.
GitLab
GitLab sells Orbit as the evidence layer for agent pilots and AI-code rules.
NATS
NATS second release candidates add a config reload check and faster redelivery queues.
Zed
Zed 1.27 writes commit messages in your repo's style and trims agent memory use.
Z-Wave JS UI
Z-Wave JS UI 11.26 picks up zwave-js 15.32 and finishes the move to Node 24.
See all Rivet alternatives → · See all Stirling-PDF alternatives →
Recent activity from Rivet and Stirling-PDF
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 4d agoRivetRust SDK for Rivet Actors Is Now Generally Available
- 4d agoStirling-PDF3.3.0 Conversion upgrades, bug fixes and several minor improvements
- 15d agoRivetIntroducing Rivet 3.0 Preview ⚡
- 16d agoStirling-PDF3.2.2 new annotations and other minor changes and improvements
- 18d agoStirling-PDF3.2.1 Viewer improvements and bug fixes
- 25d agoStirling-PDF3.2.0 New Multi-tool, better passworded PDFs and lots of improvements
- 29d agoRivetIntroducing agentOS 0.4 & Hosted VMs
- 1mo agoRivetIntroducing Pi Durable for Rivet
- 1mo agoStirling-PDF3.1.0 Stirling Sign, signature improvements, Stirling Office Convert (beta) and text editor upgrades
- 1mo agoRivetReplacing Our Message Broker with... S3? ⚡
- 1mo agoStirling-PDF3.0.2 bug fixes and dependency updates
- 1mo agoRivetIntroducing Pi 1.0 for Rivet
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Rivet and Stirling-PDF?
Both compete on the same themes — self-hosted — within DevOps. Rivet is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Rivet better than Stirling-PDF?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Rivet is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other DevOps products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Rivet?
Top Rivet alternatives in DevOps are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Rivet alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/rivet for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Stirling-PDF?
Top Stirling-PDF alternatives in DevOps are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Stirling-PDF alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/stirling-pdf for the full list with editorial commentary on each.