Starkive bundles four things most people buy separately: an encryption & archive tool, a PDF workbench, a zero-knowledge password vault, and one-time secret sharing. All processing and encryption run locally on your device—your files never touch our servers. No subscription.
Free to download · unlock everything with one purchase · Windows 10/11 and macOS 13+
Seal any file with a password. Open 13 archive formats.
Lock files into a Starkive Certified container, a password ZIP, age, or OpenPGP, and open ZIP, 7z, RAR, TAR, and more. Certified files can email you the moment they're opened.
EXPLORE ARCHIVE STUDIO →
Just say what you want. It never leaves your device.
Now AI-first: type what you want in plain words and the on-device AI does it, from extracting pages to summarizing to answering questions. It even reads scanned PDFs with on-device OCR (needs macOS 15 with Apple Intelligence). Plus edit and add text, sign with a signature you draw, password-protect, build a PDF from images, turn a Word or text file into a PDF, merge and split, pull out the text, and convert to an editable Word document. Every operation runs on your machine, nothing uploaded.
EXPLORE PDF STUDIO →
A zero-knowledge vault for API keys, passwords, and notes.
One master password unlocks a vault encrypted with Argon2id and AES-256. Nothing is stored in the clear, and you can unlock with Windows Hello. It lives on your device.
EXPLORE VAULT →
Send a password as a link that vanishes after one open.
Share a password, API key, or private note as a one-time encrypted link. It's encrypted on your device before upload, opens in any browser, and self-destructs after the first view.
EXPLORE SECRET SHARE →
ALREADY HAVE AN ARCHIVER?
Starkive opens everything 7-Zip, WinRAR, and Keka do, 13 formats in all. Then it does the parts a zip tool was never built for.
A ZIP TOOL
WHAT STARKIVE ADDS
Starkive opens ZIP, 7z, RAR, TAR, and 9 more, so keeping both costs you nothing.
WHY ONE PRICE
A password manager, a PDF editor, an encryption tool, and a secret-sharing service are usually four recurring bills. Starkive is one app with all four, unlocked by a single $7.99 payment. No subscription, no per-tool upsell, free updates forever.
Archive & encrypt
13 formats + Certified
PDF workbench
edit, sign, protect
Password vault
zero-knowledge
Secret sharing
one-time links
Runs on your device
PDF tools, the vault, and encryption all work offline. Your files never touch a server to be processed.
Real encryption where it counts
Certified files, the vault, and shared secrets use AES-256. Standard OS zip tools use legacy ZipCrypto for compatibility.
Zero-knowledge vault
Your master password is never stored or sent. Argon2id derives the key; only you can open it.
No file contents on our servers
For open tracking we record only the event, a timestamp and open count. No IP addresses, ever.
SECURITY
When someone needs to merge, split, or convert a PDF, they reach for whatever free website or download appears first. For a company that is a real attack surface: the document gets uploaded to a stranger's server, or the “free converter” is malware.
FBI warning
The FBI has publicly warned (2025) that free online file-converter tools are being used to push malware and quietly scrape the documents people upload.
U.S. FBI public service announcement, 2025
68%
of data breaches involve the human element, a person uploading, clicking, or being tricked, rather than a firewall failing.
Verizon 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report
Top delivery format
Security researchers consistently rank PDFs and archive files among the most common file types used to deliver malware and phishing, which is exactly what a random PDF tool can carry.
Industry threat reporting (HP Wolf Security, Unit 42)
PDF Studio, encryption, and decryption never upload your file to a server, so there is nothing to leak and no unknown download to install. For an organization, that turns a risky shadow-IT habit into one sanctioned, offline tool, distributed from the Microsoft Store and deployable with Intune.
PRICING
Start free. Unlock the full suite for less than a coffee.
Free
Download and use the archive core. No account needed for personal use, no card.
Full version
≈ $2 PER TOOL · FOREVER LICENSE
One payment unlocks the paid features across all four products. Yours forever, free updates, no subscription.
Unlock for $7.99 inside the app.
Business
Volume pricing for teams, graduated by seat count down to $1 per user. One license unlocks everything for the whole organization.
The $7.99 unlock is a one-time personal-use license (about $2 per tool), purchased inside the app and yours forever. We guarantee free updates for at least three years, covering both feature releases and emergency security patches such as zero-day fixes. Companies and organizations need a commercial license (see Business). Decryption is always free for the people who receive your files.
FAQ
You don't have to switch. Starkive opens all the same formats, so keep the zip tool you like. The reason to add Starkive is what a zip tool cannot do: it emails you the moment someone opens your encrypted file, it uses real AES-256 encryption instead of the weak ZIP password, and it comes with a password vault, a PDF studio, and one-time secret links. One app, one $7.99 payment, and nothing gets uploaded.
Yes. One app contains Archive Studio, PDF Studio, Vault, and Secret Share, so the one-time $7.99 unlock works out to about $2 a tool. It's a forever license: no subscription, and we guarantee free updates for at least three years, including feature releases and emergency security patches such as zero-day fixes.
The unlock turns on the paid products: Starkive Certified (.ssz) with open tracking, Secret Share, PDF Studio, and Vault. The free tier still opens 13 archive formats, creates password ZIP / age / OpenPGP files, and decrypts anything sent to you, including .ssz.
Starkive Certified (.ssz), Vault, and Secret Share use AES-256. Vault derives its key with Argon2id. A standard password-protected ZIP uses ZipCrypto, an older, weaker scheme kept for compatibility with Windows Explorer, so use Certified, age, or PGP when strength matters.
On your machine. The PDF tools and the vault run entirely on your device. For Certified open tracking we store only the open event (timestamp and count) and never your file contents or IP address.
A Certified (.ssz) file opens with the free Starkive app on Windows or macOS, and decryption is always free. A Secret Share link is different, it opens in any browser with no app at all.
On Windows, install from the Microsoft Store, so there is no SmartScreen warning and no separate .exe to download. On macOS, get it from the Mac App Store.
Free to try. Unlock everything for a one-time $7.99, yours forever.
Windows 10 / 11 (64-bit) and macOS 13+