TL;DR: Upload a PDF, draw link rectangles over text/images, set URLs, and download a copy with clickable hyperlinks added.
Add clickable hyperlinks to PDF online for free. Draw link areas over text or images and attach URLs. Create interactive PDFs with internal and external navigation links.
Every PrivaTools tool — including Add Hyperlinks to PDF — is genuinely free with no premium tier, no per-day limit, and no watermark on the output. Files are deleted from the server within seconds of your download completing. Source code: github.com/taiyeba-dg/privatools.
Currently the tool supports external URLs. For internal page jumps, use the Bookmarks tool instead.
The clickable rectangle is invisible by default. To add visible underlined link text, use the Edit PDF tool to draw the underline first.
Hyperlinks don't print (they're interactive annotations) but they're preserved through most PDF/A conversions. PDF/A-1a strips them; PDF/A-2 keeps them.
See how PrivaTools compares to iLovePDF, Smallpdf, Adobe Acrobat, and other free PDF tools.