Freedom251 › AI PDF Assistants
PDF.chat
What PDF.chat is
PDF.chat is a browser-based service for asking questions about PDFs and other documents, with answers linked to the page they come from. It supports more than 100 languages and accepts PDFs, Word and PowerPoint files, text files, and images including PNG, JPG, WEBP, GIF, BMP, and TIFF. OCR models running on PDF.chat’s own infrastructure read scanned or photographed documents. The service indexes long files so questions can retrieve relevant pages from reports, textbooks, and dockets. Users can compare answers from Claude, GPT, Gemini, Llama, and DeepSeek side by side in one chat, then export results as plain text, Markdown, DOCX, searchable PDF, CSV, or JSON. Its REST API ingests documents, returns per-page text and metadata, and supports chats with page citations; API use is metered per page. PDF.chat says uploaded files are deleted automatically shortly after processing and are not sold, shared, or used for training. On paid tiers, relevant document passages may be sent to Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, or OpenRouter. The free plan requires no credit card and its page allowance resets at midnight UTC. Paid options include monthly plans and one-time page packs, starting with Starter at $5 a month for 750 pages.
Who it suits
PDF.chat suits people who need to search, question, or compare answers about lengthy documents, including scanned files. Its browser interface suits users who want to work without installing software, while the REST API and metered page access may suit document workflows built around API calls.
What it does well
- Answers cite the relevant page and support over 100 languages.
- OCR reads scanned or photographed documents.
- Compare Claude, GPT, Gemini, Llama, and DeepSeek in one chat.
- Exports include DOCX, searchable PDF, CSV, and JSON.
- Free plan requires no credit card.
What to know first
- The free page allowance resets at midnight UTC.
- API usage is metered per page.
- Paid tiers may send relevant document passages to third-party AI providers.
Limits
The free plan’s pages reset at midnight UTC. Paid plans include defined page allowances: Starter has 750 pages per month for $5 a month, and one-time packs begin at 300 pages for $5, paid once.
Plans
| Plan | Billed and limits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Free | free pages reset at midnight UTC · no credit card | Free |
| Medium pack | one-time payment · 1,200 pages · pages never expire · highest-accuracy AI models · TXT, MD, DOCX, searchable PDF, JSON, CSV · API access | $15, paid once |
| Pro | annual payment · 36,000 pages/year · highest-accuracy AI models · TXT, MD, DOCX, searchable PDF, JSON, CSV · API access · batch processing | $182 a year |
| Pro | monthly; page shows $29 crossed out and $19/mo · 3,000 pages/month · highest-accuracy AI models · TXT, MD, DOCX, searchable PDF, JSON, CSV · API access · batch processing | $19 a month |
| Large pack | one-time payment · 4,000 pages · pages never expire · highest-accuracy AI models · TXT, MD, DOCX, searchable PDF, JSON, CSV · API access | $40, paid once |
| Business | annual payment · 120,000 pages/year · highest-accuracy AI models · TXT, MD, DOCX, searchable PDF, JSON, CSV · API access · batch processing · priority queue and support | $470 a year |
| Starter | annual payment · 9,000 pages/year · highest-accuracy AI models · TXT, MD, DOCX, searchable PDF, JSON, CSV · email support | $48 a year |
| Business | monthly; page shows $79 crossed out and $49/mo · 10,000 pages/month · highest-accuracy AI models · TXT, MD, DOCX, searchable PDF, JSON, CSV · API access · batch processing · priority queue and support | $49 a month |
The first 8 of 10 plans, as pdf.chat lists them, read 1 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word. Every plan
Getting started
- Open PDF.chat in a browser; no download or installation is required.
- Upload a PDF, Word or PowerPoint file, text file, or supported image.
- Ask questions about the document and review page-cited answers.
- Compare answers from the available AI models in one chat if useful.
- Choose a free plan, monthly plan, or one-time page pack; no credit card is required for the free plan.
- Use the REST API for document ingestion, per-page text and metadata, or chats with page citations.
Verdict
Choose PDF.chat if page-cited answers, scanned document OCR, or side-by-side AI model comparisons are useful to your document work. The free plan is a way to start without a credit card, while paid plans offer monthly page allowances or one-time packs. Look elsewhere if your workflow cannot send relevant passages to third-party AI providers on paid tiers.
Questions
Is PDF.chat free?
Yes. Its Free plan costs nothing, requires no credit card, and its page allowance resets at midnight UTC.
How much do paid plans cost?
Starter costs $5 a month and includes 750 pages per month. One-time packs start at $5, paid once for 300 pages; other monthly plans and packs are also available.
Which platforms does PDF.chat support?
PDF.chat runs in a browser and is listed for web and API access. Nothing needs to be downloaded or installed for browser use.
Can it read scanned PDFs?
Yes. OCR models on PDF.chat’s own infrastructure read scanned or photographed documents.
Does PDF.chat have an API?
Yes. The REST API ingests documents, returns per-page text and metadata, and supports chats with page citations. API use is metered per page.
Who operates PDF.chat?
PDF.chat is operated by Muddy Holdings LLC, which says it builds and operates PDF.chat among its technology products.
Facts from PDF.chat's own pages
- Accuracy limitation
- The terms warn that AI answers and extraction can be wrong, especially for poor scans, handwriting, complex layouts and rare languages. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- AI model comparison
- Pro users can compare Claude, GPT, Gemini, Llama, DeepSeek and other model answers side by side in one conversation. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- API
- The public API is a REST interface for document upload, OCR, polling jobs, page-cited chat, history retrieval and format downloads. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- API authentication
- API calls use a bearer token from the account page, with query-parameter tokens also supported. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- API error behavior
- Document processing can return 400, 401, 402, 404 or 409 errors for invalid files, authentication, exhausted pages, unknown jobs or premature downloads. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- API inputs and outputs
- API input includes PDF, Word, PowerPoint, text and image files; extracted output includes text, Markdown, DOCX, PDF, CSV and JSON. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- API limits
- Files of five pages or fewer return inline, while larger jobs are asynchronous and require polling; paid plans raise per-file caps. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- API processing tiers
- The API offers a CPU tier for fast printed documents and a premium VLM tier for handwriting, complex layouts, math and translation. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- Automatic deletion
- Uploaded files are deleted by an hourly cleanup job shortly after processing, while conversation history and extracted text remain until deleted. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- Browser delivery
- PDF.chat runs entirely in a browser and has nothing to download or install. · pdf.chat, 1 Oct 2026
- Company founder
- Muddy Holdings says it was founded by software developer John Nader. · muddyholdings.net, 15 Oct 2026
- Company founding year
- Muddy Holdings lists 2026 as its founded year and describes itself as 100% bootstrapped. · muddyholdings.net, 15 Oct 2026
- Company owner
- PDF.chat is operated by Muddy Holdings LLC, according to its privacy policy and site footer. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- Company portfolio
- Muddy Holdings says it operates seven products, including PDF.chat, OCR.chat, TTS.ai, STT.ai, Free.ai, Best.Free and Clip.video. · muddyholdings.net, 15 Oct 2026
- Core function
- PDF.chat lets users upload PDFs or other documents, ask questions, and receive answers cited to the exact page in over 100 languages. · pdf.chat, 1 Oct 2026
- Exports
- Results can be downloaded as TXT, Markdown, DOCX, searchable PDF, CSV or JSON, with tables exportable as Markdown or CSV and equations as LaTeX. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- Independent listing coverage
- Trademarkia's owner page lists four pending Muddy Holdings marks, including PDF.CHAT, alongside FREE.AI, STT.AI and TTS.AI. · trademarkia.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Integrations: AI providers
- Paid-tier question passages may be sent to Anthropic, OpenAI, Google or OpenRouter to generate answers. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- Integrations: payments
- Stripe and PayPal process payments, while PDF.chat says it receives only transaction confirmation rather than full card numbers. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- Licence
- The product licence is not identified as open source; the about page instead says PDF.chat is built using open-source projects such as PaddleOCR, PaddleOCR-VL, DeepSeek-OCR, PyMuPDF, python-docx and openpyxl. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: no customer self-hosting
- The public documentation describes a hosted browser service and REST API; it does not document a customer-deployable self-hosted edition. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: third-party processing
- On paid tiers, relevant document passages are sent to external AI providers; only the free self-hosted model tier keeps model processing on PDF.chat infrastructure. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- Long-document retrieval
- The service indexes long documents and retrieves relevant pages for reports, textbooks, books and dockets. · pdf.chat, 15 Oct 2026
- Long documents
- PDF.chat indexes long documents and retrieves relevant pages for questions about hundred-page reports, textbooks and dockets. · pdf.chat, 1 Oct 2026
Where PDF.chat stands on Freedom251
- AI PDF Assistants#16 of 27
- AI PDF Tools#24 of 30