As many people have now discovered, one of the best uses for AI is summarizing and simplifying long texts. Since its inception in 2023, ChatPDF has emerged as one of the leading players in this area. It is a free online, AI-powered tool that can summarize PDF documents, analyze the content, and answer your questions about the material.
However, ChatPDF is a pretty basic solution, with limitations on file size, file amounts, and questions you can ask on its free plan. While you can unlock some more advanced features by paying for a ChatPDF subscription, you can also explore the many ChatPDF alternatives available to find a tool that works better for you.
For the most part, ChatPDF alternatives can do everything the original tool does. Many also come with additional features such as file sharing, PDF editing, content collaboration, and more.
In this article, we’ll show you seven ChatPDF alternatives and help you decide how to choose the right PDF summarizer tool for your needs.
What to look for in a ChatPDF alternative
Here are some things to keep in mind as you review ChatPDF alternatives:
- Pricing: ChatPDF is a free tool with a paid option to unlock additional features. Many ChatPDF alternatives offer freemium models as well. Consider what features you need vs. those that might be “nice to have.”
- Collaboration: If you frequently work with other users on your PDF documents, you need PDF collaboration tools for collaborative editing and secure file sharing.
- Integration: Consider whether the ChatPDF alternative needs to be able to integrate with your other business tools, such as communication, project management, and file sharing platforms.
- Device compatibility: Consider whether the solution operates effectively on mobile devices and on your preferred operating system.
- PDF editing: Some ChatPDF alternatives come with robust PDF editing tools that help you edit, merge, and split documents. Some also have document annotation software you can use to mark up PDFs.
- Security: How relevant is document security for your projects? Some ChatPDF alternatives offer features such as password protection and encryption.
Aside from functionality, user friendliness is important in all cases. The tool should be easy to use and easy to learn, so you can get started with it right away.
The best ChatPDF alternatives
1. Jotform
Jotform’s Chat with PDF tool makes it easy to engage with your PDF documents so you can fully understand their contents.
Best for: Those looking for a comprehensive PDF tool with multiple features
Developer: Jotform
Key features:
- Mobile-friendly AI-powered PDF assistant
- File sharing from your device, Dropbox, and Google Drive
- Linked to a robust ecosystem of PDF tools
Limitations: Cannot annotate PDF documents
Pros: Offers tools for splitting, merging, flattening, and compressing PDFs, as well as for summarizing PDFs
Cons: Maximum file size is 10 MB
Plans and pricing: Jotform Chat with PDF is free to use. Jotform also offers three paid plans and a custom enterprise plan for its entire ecosystem of products, starting at $34 per month, all of which give you a whole host of additional functionality related to managing and sharing the information you gather from your PDFs.
2. PDFgear
PDFgear is a PDF reading and editing software that doesn’t require users to sign up or pay for use. You can download it to your device for free.
Best for: Those looking for robust, free PDF editing tools
Developer: PDFgear
Key features:
- Sophisticated page navigation tools
- Ability to review multiple PDFs at a time
- Editing capabilities while chatting with the AI
Limitations: Only available for certain operating systems, such as Windows 10, Windows 11, Mac, and iOS
Pros: Offers references within documents
Cons: Chatbot requires highly specific questions in order to provide useful answers
Plans and pricing: Free
3. Bearly
Bearly is an artificial intelligence content creation tool that can interact with any document to help you with research, analysis, and writing.
Best for: Those who want support with content creation
Developer: Bearly
Key features:
- Multiple file type compatibility
- Audio and video transcription and interaction
- Web search plug-in
Limitations: Only has English language capabilities
Pros: Offers unlimited custom prompts
Cons: Does not have offline capability
Plans and pricing: Bearly has a free plan as well as two paid plans starting at $20 per month. Paid plans include advanced features such as audio transcription and higher quantities of documents.
4. Unriddle
Unriddle is an AI-powered tool for researchers that helps them quickly find the information they need within large, complex documents.
Best for: Academics who want to accelerate research-related tasks
Developer: Unriddle
Key features:
- Engage with multiple documents simultaneously
- Source highlighting and generation
- Graph view to find research patterns
Limitations: Only five free document uploads per month
Pros: Collaborative chat allows researchers to work together on the same document at the same time
Cons: Free plan only offers 300 AI words per day
Plans and pricing: Unriddle has a free plan with limited features, as well as two paid plans and a custom enterprise-level plan. The paid plans offer unlimited document uploads and AI text generations.
5. PDFGPT
PDFGPT summarizes PDFs and provides verified citations to help you increase productivity.
Best for: Those looking for both text and image summarization
Developer: PDFGPT
Key features:
- Concise summaries with verified citations
- Customized integration solutions
- Multi-file support, including audio files
Limitations: Free plan does not include support for multiple PDFs at a time
Pros: Accurate answers with detailed citations
Cons: Live chat collaboration only available in premium plan
Plans and pricing: PDFGPT has a free plan with limited pages and questions per document, and three paid plans starting at $5.62 per month that offer additional capacity as well as functionality.
6. SciSummary
SciSummary is an AI-powered tool specifically for summarizing scientific articles and research papers.
Best for: Scientists, students, and enthusiasts working with scientific articles, journals, and research papers
Developer: SciSummary
Key features:
- Emailed summaries of documents
- Uses large language models GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 for summarization
- Fixed summarization question prompts
Limitations: Doesn’t have any free forever plans
Pros: Designed specially for the academic field and can handle large libraries of documents
Cons: Only has summarization functionality and no other features
Plans and pricing: SciSummary has a plan for students that allows them to use the tool free for one month, and a free seven-day trial. Ongoing usage costs $6.99 per month.
7. PDF.ai
PDF.ai lets you engage with financial reports, legal documents, and other business content.
Best for: Those looking to increase their productivity at work
Developer: PDF.ai
Key features:
- Prompt library for frequently used prompts
- Tagging for document categorization
- Verified sources
Limitations: Limited scope of PDF features
Pros: Can offer summaries in languages other than the original source document language
Cons: Does not offer file editing or collaboration capabilities
Plans and pricing: PDF.ai has a free plan as well as three paid plans starting at $10 per month. The free plan only allows for one file upload per month.
How to choose the right ChatPDF alternative tool for your needs
With so many ChatPDF alternatives to consider, it can be difficult to narrow down your options. Check out these important questions to help you choose the right one for your needs:
- What is your typical use case?
- How many PDF documents will you need to summarize and analyze per month?
- How many questions do you plan to ask the tool per day or per month?
- What file size limitations should you consider based on the documents you use?
- What is your budget?
- Do you want document summaries and responses in a language other than English?
- Will the tool need to save your chat history to inform future conversations?
- Do you require advanced functionality such as collaboration tools and PDF management systems?
By answering these questions, you’ll have a better idea of which tools can meet your needs. Consider both present and future needs, as you may want a tool that can support you in the months and years to come.
For example, while your immediate need may be for a tool that summarizes PDFs, in the future you may need a solution that can split PDFs, edit them, and turn online forms into PDFs. Instead of using multiple tools for all those use cases, it’s easier to use one that can support all those needs — so you just have one solution to manage.
Jotform: A ChatPDF alternative and more!
Jotform’s Chat with PDF is an excellent alternative to ChatPDF, especially if you’re looking for a robust PDF tool that can also support your other document needs:
- Jotform’s PDF Editor creates and polishes custom PDF documents made from form responses.
- Split PDF separates pages into separate documents to make them more manageable.
- Merge PDF combines smaller documents into larger, more comprehensive ones.
- Flatten PDF transforms multi-layered interactive documents into single, static PDFs.
- Compress PDF reduces file size without compromising on document quality.
- AI PDF Summarizer extracts key information and offers concise summaries of PDF documents.
Whether you’re working with complex business documents or detailed scientific papers, Jotform can help. Give Jotform a try today!
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