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ChatPDF vs DocXter

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Free plan
Both have one
Public API
ChatPDF has one; not confirmed by us for DocXter
Best fit
ChatPDF: students and researchers pulling verifiable quotes out of long papers · DocXter: students and researchers working across a stack of papers at once
Platforms
ChatPDF: Web, macOS, Windows · DocXter: Web
Trust score
About even — ChatPDF 88, DocXter 90

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

ChatPDFAsk questions about PDFs, documents and videosDocXterAsk questions across a set of documents at once, including scanned ones, and keep them in a reusable knowledge base.

Side by side

FactChatPDFDocXter
CategoryPDF ToolsChat with Documents & PDF
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starts at—$7.99/mo
Public APIYesNot confirmed
Trust score88 / 10090 / 100
PlatformsWeb, macOS, Windows, APIWeb
CompanyChatPDF GmbHCloudRedux
Launched2023—
Last verifiedOct 22, 2026Oct 16, 2026

What our research says

ChatPDF

The quickest way to interrogate one long PDF without building retrieval yourself, and the page-level citations are what keep it honest. But ChatGPT and Claude now read PDFs natively, so ChatPDF only earns its subscription if you need those citations, the multi-file view, or the API.

Pros

  • answers cite specific pages, so you can check them instead of trusting them
  • handles Word, PowerPoint, Markdown and text files, not only PDF
  • REST API supports streaming and multi-turn conversations
  • free tier works with no account and no card

Cons

  • two documents a day on free runs out fast during real research
  • Plus pricing is not published anywhere on the site
  • no team plan, SSO or shared document library
  • hard per-file limit of 2,000 pages or 32 MB

DocXter

A document chat tool with two things most rivals skip: several documents in one conversation, and OCR so scans are not dead weight. The persistent knowledge base means you stop re-uploading the same files. Credits and per-plan user counts are the real constraint, and the free tier's three-day history makes it evaluation-only.

Pros

  • Queries several documents in a single conversation rather than one file at a time
  • OCR brings scanned and photographed documents into scope
  • A persistent knowledge base and unlimited history on paid tiers
  • Answers in fifteen or more languages, including Hindi and mixed Hindi-English

Cons

  • File support stops at DOCX, PDF, TXT and PPTX; spreadsheets and images are not covered
  • The free tier keeps document history for only three days
  • Advertised monthly prices are annual-billing rates, so monthly billing costs more
  • No API, and seat counts are capped per tier

Which one fits

Choose ChatPDF if you need

  • students and researchers pulling verifiable quotes out of long papers
  • checking claims inside a contract or report you did not write
  • developers wanting a hosted PDF-Q&A endpoint instead of rolling their own RAG stack

Choose DocXter if you need

  • students and researchers working across a stack of papers at once
  • professionals querying scanned contracts or agreements
  • small teams that want a shared document knowledge base

ChatPDF vs DocXter: the questions people ask

Is ChatPDF cheaper than DocXter?

DocXter starts at $7.99/mo. ChatPDF has a free tier; what its paid plans cost is not confirmed by us yet.

Does ChatPDF or DocXter have a free tier?

Both: ChatPDF has a free tier, and DocXter has a free tier.

Which has a public API, ChatPDF or DocXter?

ChatPDF ships a public API, as of our last verification. A public API for DocXter is not confirmed by us — check its developer docs before you plan an integration.

More comparisons

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