# PDF.ai review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Chat with PDFs and parse them through an API Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. PDF.ai lets you upload PDFs and ask questions about them, with OCR for scanned files and a Chrome extension. It also sells an API for parsing, extracting and splitting documents, plus AI agents for document analysis. A free Hobby plan allows one PDF. - **Category:** AI Research Tools - **Made by:** PDF.ai - **Website:** https://pdf.ai - **Runs on:** Web, Browser extension - **Who should skip it:** Tight if you stay free: 1 PDF and OCR on 2 pages per file. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, PDF.ai has a free plan, and paid plans start at $10 per month, billed yearly. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Hobby: 1 PDF, 100 questions a month, 10 MB files and OCR on 2 pages per file. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Hobby | $0 | 1 PDF, 100 questions a month, 10 MB max file, OCR on 2 pages per file. | | Pro | $10 per month, billed yearly | 100 PDFs, 1,000 questions a month, 50 MB files, OCR on 10 pages per file. | | Ultimate | $20 per user / month, billed yearly | Unlimited PDFs and questions, advanced AI model, chat with all PDFs, team members. | | Enterprise | $30 per user / month, billed yearly | Unlimited use, 100 MB files, OCR on 100 pages per file, white-labeled PDF embed. | Read from https://pdf.ai/pricing on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with PDF.ai before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **Save 25% with yearly billing** (Annual discount): The pricing page shows a Payment frequency toggle with Annually labeled as saving 25%. Source: https://pdf.ai/pricing ## Key features - **Chat with PDFs:** Ask questions about an uploaded PDF; limits on uploads and questions depend on the plan. - **OCR:** AI-powered OCR for scanned files, from 2 pages per file on Hobby up to 100 on Enterprise. - **Chat with all PDFs:** Ultimate and above can question the whole library at once. - **Capture and ask:** Ultimate and above can capture a screenshot and ask about it. - **API:** Parsing, extraction and splitting API; commercial use is an add-on from $50 a month for 1,000 credits. - **Chatbot widget:** Ultimate users can add a paid widget so visitors chat with PDFs hosted on a site. ## Good for - People who want quick answers from long PDFs - Developers who need a document-parsing API ## Worth knowing - Monthly-billing prices were not readable; the prices shown are those billed yearly. - The Ultimate plan's API is for non-commercial use only; commercial use needs the credit add-on. - The chatbot widget is a separate paid plan. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.4 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. PDF.ai lets you chat with PDFs and parse them through an API. The free Hobby plan is 1 PDF with OCR on 2 pages per file, and the API on Ultimate is for non-commercial use only. - **Value for money: C.** Pro is $10 a month billed yearly, the research middle. Ultimate is $20 per user, which is where the dearest tenth begins. - **Free plan and trial: C.** The Hobby plan is $0 for 1 PDF and 100 questions a month. That's one document at a time, so a normal reader outgrows it quickly. - **Features: C.** Chat with a PDF, OCR, chat with all PDFs, capture and ask, an API and a chatbot widget. The listing shows only 1 PDF on Hobby and OCR capped at 2 pages per file, but the core chat job is covered. - **Ease of use: B.** No store rating on record. Upload a PDF and ask: nothing to set up. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web and a browser extension, with an API. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from PDF.ai's own pages on 12 November 2026. Its pricing page would not load for us, so we carried on from the listing. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among AI research tools - PDF.ai's GPA of 2.4 is higher than 19 of the 49 other AI research tools we grade, and level with 13. - It stands best on ease of use (B, above 29 of 49) and worst on features (C, above 1). - Its paid plans start at $10 a month, against a middle price of $10 for the category: 15 of the 35 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.7 out of 4. 3 tools score higher and cost less. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/ai-research ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace PDF.ai you would be making an AI model, which you can rent by the request but not make. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It costs $120 a year. - You could make: Documents: an app builder makes this well. - You could not: An AI model, which you can rent by the request but not make. - You could not: A library of papers and sources to search. - You could not: An API that other software can build on. - You could not: Hooks into the device itself: widgets. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. **Tags:** AI features, Chat assistant, Documents, Public API, Research ## Alternatives - [ChatPDF](https://toolgpa.com/tools/chatpdf): Ask questions about PDFs and get answers with citations. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/chatpdf-vs-pdf-ai) - [AskYourPDF](https://toolgpa.com/tools/askyourpdf): Chat with PDFs and other documents and get cited answers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/askyourpdf-vs-pdf-ai) - [Humata](https://toolgpa.com/tools/humata): Document Q&A with cited answers across your uploaded files. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/humata-vs-pdf-ai) - [Docalysis](https://toolgpa.com/tools/docalysis): Chat with PDF, text, CSV and Word files and get answers from them. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/docalysis-vs-pdf-ai) - [ChatDOC](https://toolgpa.com/tools/chatdoc): Chat with PDFs and documents, with answers traced to the source. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/chatdoc-vs-pdf-ai) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://pdf.ai/pricing Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/pdf-ai Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).