Free plans (11)
Their limits are stated in different terms, so they aren't ranked against each other. Ordered by first paid price.
| Tool | Stated limits | What makes you upgrade | First paid price | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 LightPDFRead Oct 29, 2026 |
Web only, 10MB max file size, limited daily AI use (for example 3 AI agent questions/day, 1 ChatPDF file/day); cloud storage for 1 year, 5 files"LightPDF offers a free version with limited access to selected features."Source | Not found | $5.99/moPlan | Free plan |
 PDF Expert (Readdle)Read Oct 29, 2026 |
Free license on install with limited features; the free version of the app can be used, limits may change"Upon installation, you receive a free license to use the App, subject to the limitations specified therein."Source | Not found | $6.67/mo yearlyYearly | Free plan |
 Foxit PDF EditorRead Oct 29, 2026 |
Every Foxit account, including the free PDF Reader, gets 300 AI credits every month."Every Foxit account includes AI capabilities with 300 credits every month, even on the free PDF Reader."Source | Not found | $10.99/userPDF Editor (starting price) | Free plan |
 XodoRead Oct 29, 2026 |
Free plan with 1 free action per day and limited access to Xodo Web tools; Xodo Drive capped at 1GB"Everyone gets 1 free action per day with limited access to Xodo Web tools."Source | Not found | $14.99/moXodo Document Suite | Free plan |
 PDF.aiRead Oct 29, 2026 |
Hobby plan is free forever: 1 PDF upload, 100 monthly questions, OCR 2 pages/file, 10MB max file size. API free plan gives 200 credits/month with no credit card."Start with free 200 credits/month"Source | Not found | $17/moPro | Free plan |
 LidoRead Oct 29, 2026 |
50 free pages, no credit card required; free pages do not expire. After a paid plan is cancelled, the account moves to the free tier."Yes. Lido offers 50 free pages with no credit card required."Source | Not found | $29/moStandard | Free plan |
 Denser AIRead Oct 29, 2026 |
Free plan: 1 DenserBot, 1 team member, 50 queries a month, unlimited Ask AI messages, no credit card"Free plan: 50 queries a month. No credit card."Source | More than 50 queries: Starter includes 1,500 | $39/moStarter | Free plan |
 ChatDOCRead Oct 29, 2026 |
Free plan with limited files and questions (10 files and 100 questions in total), 3 pages per file, PDF only"100 Questions Free · No Card Needed · Cancel Anytime"Source | Not found | No price found | Free plan |
 Google Document AIRead Oct 29, 2026 |
First 1,000 pages of Enterprise Document OCR are free; pages beyond that are billed at $1.50 per 1,000"0 count to 1,000 count $0.00 (Free)"Source | Pages beyond that are billed at $1.50 per 1,000 | $0.60/1,000 pages | Free plan |
 PDFgearRead Oct 29, 2026 |
Free to use without signing up"Read, edit, convert, merge, and sign PDF files across devices, for completely free and without signing up."Source | Not found | No price found | Free plan |
 SmallpdfRead Oct 29, 2026 |
Free plan with 30+ document management tools, limited document downloads, limited mobile app access; AI tools limited. Trial downgrades to free plan after 7 days."your account will be automatically downgraded to the free plan when the 7-day period expires."Source | Free cap: Limited document downloads; Sign.com free account limited to 2 documents a month | No price found | Free plan |
Time-limited or one-off (1)
Listed as free on the vendor's page, but the allowance runs out or doesn't renew. Not counted as free plans above.
| Tool | Stated limits | What makes you upgrade | First paid price | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 eesel AIRead Oct 29, 2026 |
Free plan gives 100 credits to try every feature and integration, no card; the page calls it a trial."100 credits to try everything: every feature, every integration."Source | More than 100 credits: Teammate (500 credits) includes 500 | $299/moTeammate (500 credits) | Time-limited |
Free trial only (4)
- Amazon Textract: Three-month AWS Free Tier for new AWS customers: Detect Document Text 1,000 pages/month, Analyze Document up to 1,000 pages/month (signatures only) or 100 pages/month (forms, tables, queries), Analyze Expense 100, Analyze ID 100, Analyze Lending 2,000 pages/month
- Nitro PDF Pro: 14-day free trial, no credit card required, full access
- Tungsten Power PDF: Free trial offered (length not stated)
- Wondershare PDFelement: Free trial with registration; many features limited to a 14-day trial and 10 PDF AI trial uses
Questions
Which AI PDF tools are free?
11 have a free plan you can keep, including ChatDOC, Denser AI, Foxit PDF Editor, Google Document AI, Lido, LightPDF.
What do you pay after a free plan?
The lowest first paid price among tools with a free plan is $5.99/mo (LightPDF). Read from each vendor's own page.
How this page is made
Every limit is the vendor's own, read from its pages and quoted. A tool counts as a free plan when the text describes something you can keep using; a fixed number of days or a single batch of credits is listed separately. We don't test the plans. How prices are read.