PDF.co
PDF.co: Low-cost OCR for PDF automation, with broad conversion and workflow tools. Ranked #15 of 29 in OCR API Software by our editors (6.8/10); pricing: 30-day trial; best for low-cost OCR inside PDF automation.
At a glance
- Editor score6.8 / 10
- Pricing30-day trial
- Best forLow-cost OCR inside PDF automation
- Free planNo
- Paid from$8.99/mo
- Facts checked19 Sep 2026
Where it wins
- OCR and structured parsing within a broad PDF API
- Starts at $8.99/month with annual billing
- Works with Zapier, Make, n8n, and other platforms
Where it doesn't
- No free plan
- OCR sits within a broader PDF-processing platform
- Annual billing applies to the displayed monthly-equivalent prices
Our verdict on PDF.co
PDF.co is a hosted REST API platform for developers and organizations automating PDF processing and document workflows. Its capabilities cover OCR, structured parsing, document extraction, AI-powered invoice parsing, conversion, compression, editing, encryption, form filling, merging, splitting, and barcode processing. It supports web, API, and self-hosted deployments, making it suitable for teams embedding document operations into applications or connecting them to no-code workflows. It is a strong fit when OCR is one part of a wider PDF automation process rather than the only requirement.
Pricing is organized around credits and annual billing. The Basic plan costs $8.99 per month and includes 16,500 credits, full API access, unlimited output, secured data, advanced security, and 60-minute link expiry. Personal costs $22.49 per month for 37,000 credits, while Business 1 costs $44.99 for 80,500 credits. Business 2 costs $89.99 for 159,850 credits and extends link expiry to 1,440 minutes; Business 3 costs $270 for 483,000 credits with the same expiry period. Enterprise provides more than 500,000 credits per month, customized advanced features, and priority support. A 30-day free trial is available, but there is no free plan.
The platform’s breadth is its main distinction. PDF.co can convert PDFs to and from HTML, Excel, CSV, XML, JSON, and images, process long-running documents asynchronously with job-status checking, and connect workflows through Zapier, Make, n8n, Microsoft Power Automate, Salesforce, SharePoint, UiPath, Blue Prism, and other integrations. Compression includes low, medium, high, and aggressive presets, plus controls for images, fonts, resolution, and quality. Choose PDF.co when OCR needs to sit inside a larger PDF workflow; choose a narrower OCR product if specialized text recognition is the primary requirement.
Your product? Our editors can test PDF.co in depth and publish a review, labelled as paid · from $149/mo →
PDF.co pricing
All 6 PDF.co plans and prices →
PDF.co fact sheet
| Free plan | No |
|---|---|
| Paid from | $8.99/mo |
| Structure extraction | Not verified |
| Handwriting OCR | Not verified |
| Table extraction | Not verified |
| Asynchronous processing | Not verified |
| Maximum file size | Not verified |
| SDK languages | Not verified |
| Free trial | 30 days |
| Deployment | Cloud, Self-hosted |
| Platforms | Web |
| Integrations | 13 integrations: Zapier, Make, n8n, Microsoft Power Automate, Google Apps Script, Salesforce … |
| Pricing | 30-day trial (source) |
| Website | pdf.co |
| Facts checked | 19 Sep 2026 |
PDF.co integrations
PDF.co lists 13 integrations on its own site.
- Zapier
- Make
- n8n
- Microsoft Power Automate
- Google Apps Script
- Salesforce
- Pabbly Connect
- Airtable
- SharePoint
- UiPath
- Blue Prism
- Bubble
- Zoho Flow
Alternatives to PDF.co
- PaddleOCRA broad OCR toolkit for building self-hosted document AI pipelines.9.1
- Mistral OCRA low-cost OCR API with structured outputs, tables, confidence scores, and batch processing.9.0
- Tesseract OCRA flexible, free OCR engine for developers who need local processing and structured output.8.8
Also Ranked In
PDF.co is ranked in 5 of our directories.
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Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
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