Comparison
MetaPurify vs Metadata2Go
If you need to clean a PDF, a Word document, an MP4 or a 400 MB file, use Metadata2Go — MetaPurify simply cannot open those. If the file is a JPEG, PNG or WebP and the point of cleaning it is that nobody else should see what is inside, MetaPurify is the better fit, because the normal tool workflow processes the file on your device.
What Metadata2Go is
Metadata2Go is a web service for viewing and removing metadata from files of essentially any type. You upload a file, the service processes it and returns a cleaned copy. Its own page states that files are processed on servers located exclusively in Europe under a signed data processing agreement.
At a glance
| Dimension | MetaPurify | Metadata2Go |
|---|---|---|
| Where processing happens | In your browser, in a local Web Worker | On the service's servers, stated as located in Europe |
| File types accepted | JPEG, PNG, WebP | Any file type — images, PDF, Word, Excel, MP4, MP3 |
| Maximum file size | 25 MB | 75 MB free, up to 8 GB on a paid plan |
| Files per run | Up to 20 in the EXIF editor; one elsewhere | Up to 5 without an account, 10 signed in |
| Account required | No | Not for the free tier; needed for higher limits |
| Image re-encoded | No — payload hashed before and after | Not stated on the page we read |
| Post-clean verification | Output reparsed and diffed per category | Not described |
Where Metadata2Go is better
- Format breadth is not close. Metadata2Go accepts documents, audio and video; MetaPurify rejects everything that is not a JPEG, PNG or WebP. For a PDF or an MP4 it is the only one of the two that can help at all.
- File size limits are far higher — 75 MB free against our 25 MB, and gigabytes on a paid plan. Browser memory is the constraint on our side.
- It processes several files per run. MetaPurify handles one file at a time, except the EXIF editor, which edits up to 20 files per batch.
Where MetaPurify is better
- Image files are not uploaded during normal tool use. This is the whole difference: a server-side cleaner necessarily receives the original file, GPS coordinates included, before it removes anything. A data processing agreement is a promise about handling; not transmitting is a property of the design.
- After the same-origin processing worker has been fetched for the first scan, later scans can run without a network connection because the image work is local.
- The result is verified rather than asserted — the cleaned bytes are reparsed, each selected category is diffed, and the container structures are checked at byte level.
- The compressed image payload is hashed before and after, so the claim that the picture was not re-encoded is checked rather than stated.
Which to choose
These tools are answering different questions. Metadata2Go is a general-purpose file utility, and its format range is genuinely useful. MetaPurify is narrow on purpose: for image files whose contents are the sensitive part, the selected image is not uploaded by the tools. Ordinary page requests still reach the host.
Common questions
Does either tool send my photo to a server?
Metadata2Go does, by design: the file is uploaded, cleaned on its servers and sent back. MetaPurify does the work in a Web Worker in your own browser, so the picture and its coordinates never go anywhere. That is the whole of the difference between them.
Can MetaPurify clean a PDF or a video the way Metadata2Go can?
No. MetaPurify opens JPEG, PNG and WebP and rejects everything else. For a PDF, a Word file, an MP3 or an MP4, Metadata2Go is the one of the two that can help at all.
Which handles bigger files?
Metadata2Go, comfortably. It takes 75 MB on the free tier and gigabytes on a paid plan, while MetaPurify stops at 25 MB because the work happens in browser memory.
How would I know the metadata was really gone?
MetaPurify reparses the cleaned bytes, diffs each category you asked it to remove, and hashes the compressed image payload before and after to check the picture itself was not re-encoded. Where it cannot confirm a category, it says so rather than showing a tick it has not earned.
Our own limits are listed in full on the supported formats page, and the verification step referenced above is explained in how to verify metadata was actually removed.