ChatPDF vs Docalysis (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, we pick ChatPDF: it is second in our ranking of AI research tools, and it grades higher too, 2.8 against 2.2.
Checked Oct 5, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 10, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
ChatPDF grades higher on value for money and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
ChatPDF
Ask questions about PDFs and get answers with citations
Docalysis
Chat with PDF, text, CSV and Word files and get answers from them
Which one is for you
Pick ChatPDF if
- Fits if you want quick answers from a paper or a textbook chapter, with no sign-up
- Works for students turning course notes into flashcards for Anki or Quizlet
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you're staying free, at 2 documents and 20 messages a day, files of 120 pages and folders of 5
- Skip it if you want a full literature search, as its paper summaries are built from abstracts only
- Watch out: chatting with a full paper works only for open-access papers
- Not for you if you want the price in writing first, since the website sets Plus prices per visitor
- Pricey if you pay monthly, at $14.99 on the US App Store against $89.99 for the year
Pick Docalysis if
- Fits if you want quick answers out of a long PDF
- Works for someone who occasionally asks questions of a handful of files
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 50 question credits a month and files up to 5 MB
- Skip it if your files are slides or other formats, as only PDF, TXT, CSV and DOCX are listed
- Watch out: documents are kept indefinitely on Amazon S3 until you delete them
- Watch out: batch processing and the Business plan have no published price
- Pricey if you want bigger files, which means Plus at $14 a month
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAChatPDFGood | 2.2GPADocalysisFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | BPlus is $89.99 a year on the US App Store, about $7.50 a month, the low end of this category, and it lifts the caps on questions, documents and file size altogether. Pay monthly and it's $14.99. The wrinkle: the website sets Plus prices per visitor, so web checkout may not match. | C$14 a month billed monthly for Plus, $35 for Ultimate. Plus is above the research dearer-quarter line of $12.50, though below the dearest tenth at $20. |
| Free plan and trial | CYou can use it without making an account at all. The caps are the ordinary sort, though: 2 documents and 20 messages a day, files of 120 pages or 10 MB, folders of 5 files. One evening of reading and you're done. The better model is kept for Plus. | CA free plan with 50 question credits and 600 uploaded pages a month, and files up to 5 MB and 150 pages. You'll hit that on a few long papers. |
| Features | CChat beside the page with clickable citations, folders to ask across files, YouTube and website links, flashcards, slides, a writer. The gaps are the listing's own, and they sit in the research half: paper summaries are built from abstracts, and full-paper chat only works on open-access papers. | CChat with one file or many, share and embed. The listing only supports PDF, TXT, CSV and DOCX and has no app, and batch work is arranged by hand. |
| Ease of use | BNo store rating on record, so the B rests on the listing: open the site, drop in a PDF, start asking, no account needed. Folders and saved history are the only parts that want you signed in. | BNo store rating on record. Upload a file and ask: nothing to set up. |
| Platforms and integrations | AWeb, Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, plus a developer API. Flashcards export to Anki, Quizlet and Brainscape, slides to PowerPoint, writing to Word or Markdown. | CWeb only, with no integrations or apps listed. |
| Best for | quick answers from a PDF, no sign-up | asking questions of a PDF, Word, CSV or text file |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: ChatPDF and Docalysis. How we grade
Price against what you get
ChatPDF starts at $7.50 a month when paid by the year and scores 3.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Docalysis starts at $14 a month and scores 2.3.
ChatPDF scores higher and starts $6.50 a month lower. Of the other AI research tools on the chart, none scores higher than ChatPDF for less, and 16 score higher than Docalysis for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- ChatPDF also covers AI search, research and citations.
- Docalysis also covers documents.
At a glance
| ChatPDF | Docalysis | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $89.99 per year or $14.99 per month (US App Store in-app purchase) | $14 per month, billed monthly |
| Free plan | 2 documents a day, usable without an account. A free account adds saved history and multi-file folders. Free files are capped at 120 pages or 10 MB. | 50 question credits and 600 uploaded pages a month, files up to 5 MB and 150 pages each. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | ChatPDF GmbH | Docalysis |
| Price read from | apps.apple.com | docalysis.com |
| Checked | Oct 5, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
ChatPDF
- The website shows Plus prices only in an upgrade dialog and sets them per visitor; the prices here are US App Store in-app purchases, and web checkout may differ.
- The free plan covers 2 documents a day, and the site's limits cap free use at 20 messages a day and files of 120 pages or 10 MB.
- AI Research summaries are built from abstracts, and chatting with a full paper works only for open-access papers.
- The best model is reserved for Plus; ChatPDF says it routes queries between GPT-4o and GPT-4o-mini.
Docalysis
- Only PDF, TXT, CSV and DOCX files are listed as supported, and the vendor lists no mobile or desktop app.
- The free plan caps files at 5 MB and 150 pages and allows 50 chat messages a month.
- Documents are kept indefinitely by default and stored on Amazon S3 until you delete them; a specific retention policy has to be requested.
- Batch processing and the Business plan are arranged through the vendor, with no published price.
Key features
ChatPDF
- Chat with documents
- Ask questions about a PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Markdown or text file with the chat and the document side by side. Clickable citations scroll to the passage an answer came from.
- Multi-file folders
- Put files in a folder to ask questions across all of them in one conversation. Folders and saved chat history need a free account.
- AI Research
- Ask a question to find academic papers and get a summary with citations, built from the papers' abstracts. Filters narrow results to recent or influential work.
- YouTube and website chat
- Paste a YouTube or website link to ask questions about it. Video answers include clickable timestamps and an interactive transcript.
- Flashcards, slides and writing
- Makes flashcards that export to Anki, Quizlet, Brainscape or CSV, and slides that export to PowerPoint. The AI Writer drafts text with citations and exports to Word or Markdown.
- Developer API
- A backend API adds PDFs by URL or file upload and answers questions about them, with optional page references. API files are limited to 2,000 pages or 32 MB.
Docalysis
- Chat with a document
- Upload a PDF, TXT, CSV or DOCX file and ask questions about it in a conversation. Each chat message uses one question credit.
- Multi-file chat
- Move several files into a folder and chat with the folder to ask questions across all of them. This is available on every plan, including Free.
- Many languages
- The FAQ lists English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic and others; the chat switches to the language you write in.
- Share and embed
- A file made public can be shared by link or placed on a website with embed code, so visitors can ask it questions.
- Batch processing
- For hundreds or thousands of files, the vendor runs a set of questions you supply over documents in a cloud drive and returns a CSV of answers. This is arranged by contacting the vendor.
- Bonus credits
- When a month's question credits or page uploads run out, extra bonus credits can be bought instead of changing plan. They are used only after the plan's own credits.
Plans
ChatPDF
Free$0
2 documents and 20 messages a day, with files of up to 120 pages or 10 MB and folders of up to 5 files.
Plus$14.99
per month on the US App Store; $89.99 for the yearly plan
Unlimited questions and documents, files of up to 2,000 pages or 150 MB, 50 PDFs per folder and the higher-quality model.
Docalysis
Free$0
50 question credits and 600 page uploads a month, 5 MB and 150 pages per file, multi-file chat.
Plus$14
per month, billed monthly
500 question credits and 3,000 page uploads a month, 20 MB and 600 pages per file, multi-file chat, email support.
Ultimate$35
per month, billed monthly
1,500 question credits and 8,000 page uploads a month, 50 MB and 1,800 pages per file, multi-file chat, email support.
BusinessCustom
Custom limits, team administration and phone support. Price varies; contact the vendor.
Ways to pay less
ChatPDF
- Annual discount
About 50% off with the yearly plan
On the US App Store the yearly Plus plan is $89.99 against $14.99 a month. That works out to about $7.50 a month, half the monthly rate.
Docalysis
- Annual discount
20% off with yearly billing
The pricing page has a One Year option marked 20% off the monthly prices for Plus and Ultimate; the yearly amounts are not shown in the page text.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, ChatPDF or Docalysis?
As of Nov 12, 2026, ChatPDF is cheaper to start with: $7.50 a month when paid by the year, against $14 a month for Docalysis. ChatPDF starts at $89.99 per year or $14.99 per month (US App Store in-app purchase), and Docalysis starts at $14 per month, billed monthly.
Which has a free plan, ChatPDF or Docalysis?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both ChatPDF and Docalysis have a free plan.
Which platforms do ChatPDF and Docalysis run on?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only ChatPDF lists macOS, Windows, iOS and Android apps. Both list a web app. A platform missing from a listing is one its maker's pages did not mention.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.