ChatPDF vs Sharly AI (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, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on the free plan and features.
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
Sharly AI
AI workspace for summarizing, comparing and citing documents
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 Sharly AI if
- Fits if you compare several documents and need citations
- Works for someone who keeps documents in Notion, Google Docs or Dropbox
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you stay free: 5 documents a day and 50 messages a month, if the plan card is right
- Skip it if you share work, as Pro is for one user and sharing needs Team
- Pricey if you need SSO, audit logs or private deployments, which are sales-only on Business
- Watch out: monthly-billing prices aren't visible on the pricing page
How we grade them
| 2.8GPAChatPDFGood | 2.2GPASharly AIFair | |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | CPro is $12.50 a month billed yearly, the upper end of a category whose middle is $10. Team is $24 per seat. |
| 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 5 documents a day and 50 messages a month. The plan card says 5 a day, but the comparison table says 10 documents a month, so the cap is unclear. |
| 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. | CSummaries, sourced answers, cross-document comparison and citation formats. Shared workspaces and annotations need Team, and SSO and audit logs are on a sales-only Business plan. |
| 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. | CNo store rating on record. You upload and connect documents and set up workspaces. |
| 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. | BWeb only, with Notion, Google Docs and Dropbox. |
| Best for | quick answers from a PDF, no sign-up | summarizing and comparing documents with citations |
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 Sharly AI. 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. Sharly AI starts at $12.50 a month and scores 2.3.
ChatPDF scores higher and starts $5 a month lower. Of the other AI research tools on the chart, none scores higher than ChatPDF for less, and 16 score higher than Sharly AI 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.
- Sharly AI also covers documents.
At a glance
| ChatPDF | Sharly AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $89.99 per year or $14.99 per month (US App Store in-app purchase) | $12.5 per month, billed yearly |
| 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. | One user, 5 documents a day, fast answers and a 10k context length. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| macOS | ||
| Windows | ||
| iOS | ||
| Android | ||
| Made by | ChatPDF GmbH | VOX AI Inc. |
| Price read from | apps.apple.com | sharly.ai |
| 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.
Sharly AI
- The pricing page shows only yearly-billed prices; the monthly-billing prices are not visible, so the monthly cost of month-to-month billing is not confirmed.
- The free plan's limits are shown as 5 documents a day in the plan card but 10 documents a month in the comparison table, so the exact cap is unclear.
- Pro is for one user; shared workspaces and annotations need Team, which lists up to 100 seats.
- SSO / SAML, audit logs and private deployments are on the sales-only Business plan.
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.
Sharly AI
- Summaries and key insights
- Uploaded documents get an automatic summary, topics and highlights. PDF, DOCX, PPTX and Notion exports are listed as supported formats.
- Sourced answers
- Answers point back to the pages of the uploaded files they came from, and a docs-only mode restricts the assistant to your documents.
- Cross-document comparison
- Key metrics from several documents can be lined up in a table, with matches, conflicts and missing data flagged.
- Citation formats
- Citations can be switched between APA, MLA and Chicago styles. The comparison table lists a citation format switcher as a paid-plan feature.
- Team annotations
- The Team plan adds shared workspaces, annotations, and citation history for groups working across the same documents.
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.
Sharly AI
Free$0
One user with instant summaries and AI answers, 5 documents a day, PDF, DOCX and Notion uploads, 50 messages a month.
Pro$12.5
per month, billed yearly
For solo researchers: unlimited uploads, 1,000 messages a month, reasoning capabilities, a 50k context length, and a stated no-training-on-your-data policy.
Team$24
per seat / month, billed yearly
Up to 100 seats, unlimited documents and chats, team annotations, knowledge retention, semantic extraction, and analytics with citation history.
BusinessCustom
Unlimited seats, admin dashboard with role-based access, version history and audit logs, SSO / SAML, and private deployments. Sold through sales.
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.
Sharly AI
- Annual discount
20% off with yearly billing
The pricing page marks the Yearly option as 20% off; the prices shown are the yearly-billed ones.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, ChatPDF or Sharly AI?
As of Nov 12, 2026, ChatPDF is cheaper to start with: $7.50 a month when paid by the year, against $12.50 a month for Sharly AI. ChatPDF starts at $89.99 per year or $14.99 per month (US App Store in-app purchase), and Sharly AI starts at $12.5 per month, billed yearly.
Which has a free plan, ChatPDF or Sharly AI?
As of Nov 12, 2026, both ChatPDF and Sharly AI have a free plan.
Which platforms do ChatPDF and Sharly AI 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.