ChatPDF vs PDFtoChat

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

PDFtoChat

PDFtoChat does the single job of PDF question-answering competently and costs nothing, which makes it a reasonable pick for occasional use. It's a side project rather than a maintained product, so don't expect customer support, uptime guarantees, or new features on any schedule.

Pros

• +Free with no account limits mentioned
• +Open-source, so the retrieval pipeline is inspectable
• +Backed by real infrastructure sponsors (Together AI, Chroma) rather than an ad-hoc demo
• +Handles textbook and contract-length PDFs, not just short files

Cons

• −No company or support channel behind it, just an individual maintainer
• −As a side project, features and uptime aren't guaranteed long-term

Does ChatPDF or PDFtoChat have a free tier?

Both: ChatPDF has a free tier, and PDFtoChat is free to use.

Which has a public API, ChatPDF or PDFtoChat?

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