Best document anonymization software in 2026: the comparison

The 8 criteria that matter for a firm

A lawyer, a notary or a chartered accountant does not anonymize a document out of curiosity: they prepare a case file to send to an AI, a colleague or a third party, without breaching professional secrecy. The criteria follow that need.

1. Local processing, with no network call. The document must not leave before it is anonymized. We also look at what still goes over the network: license activation or checks, model downloads, online integrations.
2. The entire case file. Thirty documents in the same matter cite the same people: Jean Martin must become [PERSONNE_1] everywhere, not a different pseudonym in each file.
3. The real formats of a firm. Text and scanned PDFs (OCR), Word, Outlook emails, spreadsheets.
4. Word and PDF redacted in place. A redacted document that keeps its layout can be reviewed and passed on as is.
5. Putting the real names back. The AI answers with labels; the tool must put the real names back, including in a Word or PDF file.
6. Review and approval. No detection is perfect: the original and the copy must be displayed side by side, and nothing should go out without approval.
7. Built for French regulated professions. French-language interface, detection of French formats (phone numbers, addresses), examples taken from deeds and pleadings.
8. A fixed price, with no quota. No pages or “credits” to count: the partner knows what they will pay over the year.

These criteria come from our guide to choosing anonymization software, applied this time to named tools.

The scoring grid

Each tool gets one point per criterion met, half a point when it only meets it in part. A criterion only counts if the publisher states it on its website: “n/d” (not disclosed) scores zero. AnonymFiles is the only one to meet all eight. The columns follow the order of the criteria above.

✓: yes. ◐: partly. ✗: no. n/d: not disclosed by the publisher. For AnonymFiles on Windows, the detection models are downloaded once, on first processing, without any document text; on a Mac, they are included.

The comparison table

Seven tools dedicated to document anonymization, including one online service, and three general-purpose tools often cited as alternatives.

The cost for a five-seat firm

Compared with the two other French software products sold to firms on an annual subscription, public prices excluding VAT for five seats over one year:

AnonymFiles therefore costs two to four times less than its French subscription competitors, with no page or document quota. Each publisher's pricing is linked in the sources.

The 10 tools, one by one

1. AnonymFiles: our pick, 8 out of 8

For whom: lawyers, notaries, chartered accountants, commissaires de justice (judicial officers), insolvency practitioners (administrateurs and mandataires judiciaires), patent attorneys, from one to twenty seats.

Strengths: you drop in the entire case file, and each person keeps the same label in every document. Scanned PDFs and images are read by local OCR and redacted in the image. A Word file comes out as a redacted Word file, layout preserved. .eml and .msg emails, .xlsx and .csv spreadsheets and .pptx presentations are supported. The original and the copy are displayed side by side, and nothing is exported without document-by-document approval. After the AI, the real names come back into its answer, including in a Word or PDF file, on the computer.

Network: on a Mac, the application works 100% offline: models included, no account, no telemetry, license checked on the computer with no network call. On Windows, the models are downloaded once, on first processing, without any document text. The security page details the network scope.

Good to know: release announced soon for Apple silicon Macs and Windows, French-language interface, archives excluded and .doc read on Mac only. As with any tool, detection must be reviewed: that is why side-by-side review and document-by-document approval are at the heart of the application.

Price: €290 excl. VAT per seat per year for one or two seats, €240 excl. VAT from three seats, quote above twenty. 14-day trial, no quota.

2. Lexanon

Score: 5.5 out of 8.

For whom: lawyers and legal professionals.

Strengths: local processing, consistent pseudonymization across a document or a whole case file with one key per case file, and a broad list of formats published in its FAQ: PDF (with OCR through its PDF suite), DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, CSV, JPG, PNG, TXT, EML and MSG. The publisher itself says it does pseudonymization, not anonymization, which is accurate. Its Layer workspace queries an AI with your own API key (Claude, ChatGPT, Mistral, Gemini) on approved pseudonymized documents only, then decrypts the answer on the computer; its Decrypt module also works in document mode (PDF, DOCX), recovering the layout “when possible” (our translation).

What a firm is missing: the publisher states that “activating and checking your license require technical exchanges” (our translation), without document content, and that validation is “carried out monthly”: this is not operation with no network call at all. The website does not say whether a Word or PDF file comes out redacted with its original layout, nor which operating systems the app runs on. Review is done entity by entity, with no side-by-side view described.

Price: €450 excl. VAT per year for an individual license, 7-day free trial, sliding scale on quote from three licenses.

Compared with Lexanon, AnonymFiles costs €160 less per seat per year (€240 less from three seats), checks its license with no network exchange at all and returns a Word or PDF file redacted in place, layout preserved. Details: the Lexanon alternative.

3. Hexagone AI

For whom: lawyers, in-house counsel, chartered accountants and auditors, and more broadly any confidential file.

Score: 5 out of 8.

Strengths: it is AnonymFiles' closest competitor. It processes a folder, reads scanned PDFs with local OCR, rebuilds PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX and TXT files “with their original layout” (our translation) and shows the real names again in the AI's answer. An Enterprise plan offers on-premises deployment.

What a firm is missing: emails are not among the listed formats. Its privacy policy describes “heartbeats” (our translation) sent periodically to check the license, with anonymous usage counters also sent to PostHog (hosted in the EU), without document content; models are downloaded at first launch. The Starter plan is “limited” in pages, and the Pro license is tied to one device. Detections are reviewed in a preview panel, with no side-by-side view described, and the website does not say whether real names come back into a document. A web application and an API hosted in the EU exist alongside the desktop application: check which one you are using.

Price: Starter at €588 excl. VAT per year, Pro at €948 excl. VAT per year, free trial with no credit card.

Compared with Hexagone AI, AnonymFiles costs two to three times less (€290 versus €588 to €948 excl. VAT per year), handles Outlook emails, sends no license or usage signal and does not limit pages. Details: the Hexagone AI alternative.

4. Anoni

Score: 6 out of 8.

For whom: any professional who wants a free local tool.

Strengths: free, available on Mac, Windows and Linux, with local OCR; according to its changelog, “Word, Excel, PDF and scans come out in their format” and decoding “returns a Word document” (our translation); a “Vérifier” step compares the reviewed document with its redacted export, an encrypted vault (AES-256-GCM) to recover the names and a local MCP connector for AI agents. The publisher publishes a detection benchmark: 99.0% of sensitive characters covered, 94.8% strict recall, on its own test set.

What a firm is missing: the engine is downloaded at first launch, an email address is requested at activation (except from the Mac App Store), the license is checked at launch and the app “reports one opening per day, with no content” (our translation), which can be turned off in settings. Outlook .msg files are not listed. Several files can be processed at once, but the website describes a vault “per document” and announces no placeholders shared across a whole case file; watched folders and exports without the anoni.dev mark belong to Anoni Pro, still in development.

Price: free; an Anoni Pro plan is announced, with no published price.

Compared with Anoni, AnonymFiles sends no signal and checks no license online, keeps the same placeholders across a whole case file, reads Outlook .msg files and is built for firms first (per-seat pricing, no mark on exports). Details: the Anoni alternative.

5. Tacitum

Score: 5.5 out of 8.

For whom: legal professionals, HR, healthcare, public sector, accountants and DPOs using Windows.

Strengths: local processing, several files or an entire folder at once, formatting preserved, scans supported, a restore mode that keeps the encrypted table on the computer. One-time purchase, no subscription.

What a firm is missing: Windows only. Activation requires a brief internet connection (only the key is checked, not the documents). Emails are not among the seven formats. The review step described applies to scanned documents, and the website does not say in which formats restore mode puts the real names back.

Price: €79 one-time per user, 10 free conversions to try it.

Compared with Tacitum, AnonymFiles also runs on Mac, handles emails and requires no online activation. Details: the Tacitum alternative.

6. Occlira

Score: 3.5 out of 8.

For whom: law, healthcare, accounting; website available in several languages, including French.

Strengths: local processing on Mac and Windows, OCR, .eml emails, images and even audio files. The formatting of Word, Excel and emails is preserved, and the anonymized values can be restored afterwards. A Word add-in and a Claude connector are available. One-time purchase, 14-day trial with no account.

What a firm is missing: the publisher lists license, model and updates as its only routine network calls; the license is tied to one device. In redaction mode, the PDF is saved as a flattened image. Processing an entire case file is not described.

Price: €149 one-time, updates included within the major version.

Compared with Occlira, AnonymFiles processes the entire case file, keeps a text PDF as redacted text rather than an image, reads Outlook .msg files and never checks its license online. Its interface is in French.

7. PrivaDoc

Score: 2 out of 8.

For whom: lawyers who accept an online service.

Strengths: nothing to install, reversible pseudonymization, hosting in the European Union, per-firm encryption, a free plan to try it.

What a firm is missing: the document is sent to the service before being pseudonymized, and the publisher states that the encrypted mapping stays on the server side. The plans set monthly document quotas.

Price: free up to 10 documents per month, Pro at €29 per month (200 documents), Firm at €99 per month (5 users, 1,000 documents, €15 per month per extra seat).

Compared with PrivaDoc, AnonymFiles never sends the document: everything happens on the computer, with no document quota.

8. Adobe Acrobat Pro (Redact tool)

Score: 1.5 out of 8.

For whom: people who redact a PDF from time to time and already have Acrobat Pro.

Strengths: the Redact tool permanently deletes marked text and images, searches for words or patterns (phone numbers, emails) and can remove hidden data: metadata, comments, hidden layers.

What a firm is missing: PDF only, no consistent labels or re-injection, and mostly manual marking. It is not a tool designed to prepare a case file for an AI.

Price: included in Acrobat Pro, Premium or Studio subscriptions.

Compared with Acrobat, AnonymFiles handles the whole case file (Word, emails, scans, spreadsheets), keeps the same labels from one document to the next and puts the real names back into the AI's answer. Details: the Acrobat alternative for redaction.

9. Microsoft Presidio

Score: 2 out of 8.

For whom: technical teams building their own tool.

Strengths: an open-source Microsoft project that identifies and anonymizes personal data in text and images, deployable in Python, with Docker or on Kubernetes, configurable.

What a firm is missing: it is a software building block, not an application: you need a developer to integrate it, handle PDFs and Word files, and build a review interface.

Price: free.

10. Stirling PDF

Score: 2.5 out of 8.

For whom: people looking for a free, local PDF editor.

Strengths: open source, desktop version for Windows, Mac and Linux, a redaction tool and OCR for scanned pages.

What a firm is missing: PDF only. The publisher does not describe automatic name detection, pseudonymization or re-injection.

Price: free for individual use.

Which anonymization software for a lawyer, a notary, an accountant?

For the seven French professions bound by professional secrecy, our recommendation is the same: AnonymFiles, because it processes each profession's real documents on the computer and puts the real names back into the AI's answer. What changes from one profession to the next is the documents and the details to mask by hand:

For each profession's ethical framework, see AI and professional secrecy, profession by profession.

Which offline anonymization software?

Six of the ten tools compared process documents on the computer: AnonymFiles, Lexanon, Hexagone AI, Anoni, Tacitum and Occlira. But “local” does not mean “no network call at all”: according to their own websites, Lexanon, Anoni, Tacitum and Occlira exchange with a server to activate or check the license, Hexagone AI periodically sends license signals and anonymous usage counters, and both Anoni and Hexagone AI download their models at first launch. AnonymFiles checks its license on the computer, with no account and no network call; on a Mac, the detection models are included. On Windows, they are downloaded once, on first processing, without any document text.

The guide offline anonymization software: what “local” really means lists the questions to ask, and our offline test procedure lets you check it yourself.

Alternatives to each tool

Already using one of these products, or torn between two? Each page below compares a tool and AnonymFiles criterion by criterion, based on what the publisher states:

• Lexanon alternative: a license with no network exchange, Word and PDF redacted in place, €290 instead of €450 excl. VAT per year.
• Hexagone AI alternative: Outlook emails, no license heartbeat, two to three times cheaper.
• Anoni alternative: no signal and no online license check, placeholders shared across the whole case file, Outlook .msg files.
• Tacitum alternative: Mac and Windows, emails, no online activation.
• Adobe Acrobat alternative for redaction: the whole case file, not just PDFs, with consistent labels.

Which tool for your situation

For a firm, the answer is the same in every common situation: AnonymFiles, the document anonymization software built for the professions bound by secrecy.

• You hand entire case files to an AI: AnonymFiles, the only one that keeps the same labels across all documents, scans, Word and emails included, then puts the real names back into a Word or PDF file.
• You refuse any network call, license included: AnonymFiles, whose license is checked on the computer, with no account.
• You work on a Mac: AnonymFiles, models included, with no connection at all. Tacitum only exists on Windows.
• Your case files contain Outlook emails: AnonymFiles reads .msg and .eml files; Hexagone AI and Tacitum do not list emails, and Occlira only reads .eml.
• You have three to twenty seats: AnonymFiles at €240 excl. VAT per seat per year, with no quota; above that, on quote.

Outside a firm's work: to redact a single PDF from time to time, Acrobat Pro's Redact tool or Stirling PDF are enough (check the result with our 6 tests); a team of developers can start from Microsoft Presidio; Occlira also handles audio files.

Methodology

We selected the tools most often cited in France for anonymizing documents before using an AI, plus three general-purpose tools that firms already use. The information on each competitor comes only from its official website, consulted on October 12, 2026 and checked again on October 14, 2026; we have not tested their software. Changes since the October 12 review: Lexanon's FAQ now publishes its formats, whole-case-file processing and decryption into a PDF or Word file (2.5 → 5.5 out of 8); Tacitum, scored 5 by an addition error, gets 5.5; Hexagone AI stays at 5, its privacy policy describing license heartbeats and its Starter plan a limited number of pages; Anoni goes from 4.5 to 6 (its changelog describes Word, Excel and PDF files returned in their format, decoding back to Word and a before/after comparison step, but also a daily launch signal); Occlira's website is now in French (3 → 3.5). For re-injection, only a stated return into a PDF or Word file earns a full point. Prices are those displayed, excluding VAT when the publisher says so. The information on AnonymFiles comes from its technical documentation, version 0.6.0.

The detection benchmarks published by publishers (Anoni, AnonymFiles) each use a different test set: they cannot be compared with each other and are not among our criteria. A publisher cited here who spots an error can write to us at contact@anonymfiles.com: we will correct it.