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ChatPDF vs Sharly AI

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 Sharly AI
Higher Trust score
ChatPDF — 88 vs 81 for Sharly AI
Best fit
ChatPDF: students and researchers pulling verifiable quotes out of long papers · Sharly AI: Analysts comparing several reports or filings in one question
Platforms
ChatPDF: Web, macOS, Windows · Sharly AI: Web

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 videosSharly AIChat across uploaded documents with citations back to sources

Side by side

FactChatPDFSharly AI
CategoryPDF ToolsPDF Tools
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starts at—$12.50/mo
Public APIYesNot confirmed
Trust score88 / 10081 / 100
PlatformsWeb, macOS, Windows, APIWeb
CompanyChatPDF GmbHVOX AI Inc.
Launched20232023
Last verifiedOct 22, 2026Oct 15, 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

Sharly AI

Cross-document questions plus source-anchored citations are the differentiator; single-PDF chat is a commodity and NotebookLM does it free. Worth paying for only if you routinely reason over a stack of documents together and need to defend where an answer came from.

Pros

  • Docs-only mode is an explicit control most competitors do not expose
  • Citation output in APA/MLA/Chicago saves a manual formatting pass
  • Wide input coverage: PDF, XLSX, DOCX, PPTX, Google Docs, Notion, links
  • Role-based access and activity tracking on team plans

Cons

  • No developer API, which rules out batch or embedded use
  • Free tier stores documents for only 30 days
  • The headline $12.50 requires an annual commitment; monthly is higher
  • Company footprint is thin and inconsistently reported across sources

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 Sharly AI if you need

  • Analysts comparing several reports or filings in one question
  • Compliance and legal reviewers who need traceable answers
  • Academics assembling literature with formatted citations

ChatPDF vs Sharly AI: the questions people ask

Is ChatPDF cheaper than Sharly AI?

Sharly AI starts at $12.50/mo. ChatPDF has a free tier; what its paid plans cost is not confirmed by us yet.

Does ChatPDF or Sharly AI have a free tier?

Both: ChatPDF has a free tier, and Sharly AI has a free tier.

Which has a public API, ChatPDF or Sharly AI?

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

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