PDF.co vs pdfFiller Pricing: Plans, Costs, and Features Compared

PDF.co and pdfFiller both work with PDF documents, but they charge for fundamentally different kinds of work.

pdfFiller is primarily a browser-based PDF editor, form-filling, and eSignature platform. Its plans are priced per user, making it suitable for people who manually prepare, edit, complete, and sign documents.

PDF.co is an API and document-automation platform. Its plans include credits consumed by API operations, making it suitable for developers and operations teams that need to process documents automatically.

This guide compares their current pricing models, plans, and typical use cases.

Pricing verified July 2026: See the official PDF.co pricing page and pdfFiller pricing page. Prices, promotions, features, and enterprise terms may change.

TL;DR — Which one should you pick?

  • Choose pdfFiller when employees need a browser application to open, edit, fill, sign, and share documents themselves.
  • Choose PDF.co when software, integrations, or automation workflows need to generate, convert, extract, edit, or route documents without a person manually handling every file.

The key pricing difference is:

  • pdfFiller charges primarily per user.
  • PDF.co charges primarily by API usage through credits.

Some organizations use both: pdfFiller for human-driven document work and PDF.co for automated processing before or after that work.

Pricing at a glance

Main pricing unit

  • PDF.co: API credits
  • pdfFiller: Users

Entry monthly price

  • PDF.co: $9.99/month
  • pdfFiller: $20/user/month

Entry annual effective rate

  • PDF.co: $8.99/month
  • pdfFiller: $8/user/month

Free evaluation

  • PDF.co: 10,000 trial credits advertised
  • pdfFiller: 30-day free trial

User-seat charges

  • PDF.co: No per-seat pricing for API access
  • pdfFiller: Yes

Usage charges

  • PDF.co: Credits vary by operation
  • pdfFiller: Generally included within the selected user plan

Enterprise option

  • PDF.co: Custom plan for higher credit volumes
  • pdfFiller: Business and enterprise plans with user minimums

Best suited to

  • PDF.co: Automated and programmatic workflows
  • pdfFiller: Manual editing, forms, and eSignature workflows

PDF.co’s credit requirements vary by API endpoint and document size. Use the PDF.co credit calculator instead of treating every credit as an identical page or operation.

pdfFiller pricing

pdfFiller offers individual and business plans. Customers can generally choose between an annual commitment and month-to-month billing.

Individual plans

Basic

  • Annual effective price: $8/user/month
  • Month-to-month price: $20/user/month
  • Main use case: Editing and filling documents

Plus

  • Annual effective price: $12/user/month
  • Month-to-month price: $30/user/month
  • Main use case: Templates, fillable fields, and collaboration

Premium

  • Annual effective price: $15/user/month
  • Month-to-month price: $40/user/month
  • Main use case: eSignature workflows, branding, and advanced document processes

Basic

Basic is designed for people who need everyday PDF editing and form-filling tools.

Typical features include:

  • Editing, filling, drawing, and printing
  • Rearranging or adding pages
  • Converting PDFs to editable Word documents
  • Highlighting and rewriting PDF content
  • Accessing documents through a browser
  • Customer support

Plus

Plus adds document-creation and collaboration features.

Typical additions include:

  • Reusable templates
  • Fillable fields
  • Previous-version restoration
  • Document tags and folders
  • Password protection
  • Faster support

Premium

Premium is designed for teams with more advanced signing and document-workflow requirements.

Typical additions include:

  • eSignature workflows through signNow
  • Web forms
  • Custom branding
  • User and permission management
  • Access to the USLegal Forms library
  • More advanced support

pdfFiller enterprise plans

pdfFiller also advertises enterprise plans with annual commitments and minimum user counts.

Basic for Enterprise

  • Advertised rate: $8/user/month
  • Minimum: 20 users

Premium for Enterprise

  • Advertised rate: $15/user/month
  • Minimum: 10 users

Enterprise capabilities can include audit trails, administrative controls, SSO, support, and additional compliance options. Confirm current inclusions with pdfFiller before purchasing.

PDF.co pricing

PDF.co plans include monthly credits that can be used across its API endpoints and supported integrations.

PDF.co monthly and annual pricing

Basic

  • Monthly billing: $9.99
  • Annual effective rate: $8.99
  • Credits per month: 16,500

Personal

  • Monthly billing: $24.99
  • Annual effective rate: $22.49
  • Credits per month: 37,000

Business 1

  • Monthly billing: $49.99
  • Annual effective rate: $44.99
  • Credits per month: 80,500

Business 2

  • Monthly billing: $99.99
  • Annual effective rate: $89.99
  • Credits per month: 159,850

Business 3

  • Monthly billing: $299.99
  • Annual effective rate: $270.00
  • Credits per month: 483,000

Enterprise

  • Monthly billing: Custom
  • Annual effective rate: Custom
  • Credits per month: Custom

Annual prices are presented as effective monthly rates based on annual billing. Check the current PDF.co pricing page before purchasing.

Trial credits

PDF.co advertises 10,000 trial credits and no credit card requirement on its integration pages. Trial terms can change, so confirm current eligibility and expiration during signup.

Basic

Basic is intended for developers and small businesses with steady but relatively modest API usage.

It includes:

  • 16,500 credits per month
  • Full API access
  • Access to supported integrations
  • Unlimited output-file creation
  • Security features described on the pricing and documentation pages

Personal

Personal provides more monthly capacity for individual developers, consultants, and growing applications.

It includes:

  • 37,000 credits per month
  • Full API and integration access
  • More API-log capacity than Basic

Business plans

Business plans are intended for production workflows and larger volumes.

Depending on the selected plan, they can include:

  • 80,500 to 483,000 monthly credits
  • Extended output-link retention
  • Additional API-log capacity
  • Security and account-management features
  • Priority or private support options

Because security features can vary by plan, confirm SSO, IP restrictions, retention, and other requirements before selecting a subscription.

Enterprise

Organizations requiring more than the published credit allowances can contact PDF.co for a custom plan.

Enterprise discussions may cover:

  • Higher credit volumes
  • Custom features
  • Priority support
  • Security requirements
  • Private or specialized deployment needs

How PDF.co credits work

PDF.co credits measure API usage. The number of credits required depends on the endpoint and operation.

For example, these tasks may have different credit costs:

  • Converting PDF pages to images
  • Running OCR
  • Extracting structured data
  • Generating PDFs from HTML
  • Merging documents
  • Filling forms
  • Reading barcodes

Do not estimate capacity by assuming every page costs the same number of credits.

To estimate a workload:

  1. List the API endpoints your workflow will call.
  2. Estimate monthly calls and pages for each endpoint.
  3. Enter those assumptions in the credit calculator.
  4. Include retries, test runs, and workflow growth.
  5. Select a plan with enough capacity for normal peaks.

Which service is cheaper?

There is no universal answer because the products use different pricing units.

pdfFiller may cost less when:

  • One person needs a browser-based PDF editor
  • Employees manually fill or sign documents
  • Your primary requirement is eSignature
  • You need templates and reusable forms
  • Document volume is less important than the number of users

PDF.co may cost less when:

  • A single automated workflow processes documents for an entire organization
  • Adding employees should not add document-processing seats
  • Documents arrive through email, storage, webhooks, or an application
  • You need API-based conversion, OCR, extraction, editing, or generation
  • You need batch processing or unattended automation

Example: five people manually editing PDFs

A five-person team will normally evaluate pdfFiller based on the appropriate per-user plan and billing schedule.

PDF.co is not a direct replacement if all five employees need a polished browser editor for manual document work.

Example: an application processing documents automatically

An application processing invoices, forms, or reports should estimate PDF.co costs from:

  • API endpoints used
  • Calls per month
  • Pages per document
  • OCR or extraction requirements
  • Expected growth

A per-user comparison is less relevant because the application—not an employee—is performing the work.

Feature and pricing summary

pdfFiller is the better starting point for:

  • Manual PDF editing
  • Browser-based form completion
  • Human-driven eSignature workflows

PDF.co is the better starting point for:

  • Automated PDF generation
  • API-based form filling
  • OCR and structured extraction
  • Automated conversion workflows
  • Barcode reading or generation
  • Zapier, Make, or n8n document automation

Consider both for:

  • Hybrid human and automated workflow

For a deeper capability comparison, read PDF.co vs pdfFiller: Features, APIs, and Automation.

When using both makes sense

The products can serve different stages of the same process.

One example:

  1. PDF.co generates a contract from CRM data.
  2. pdfFiller or signNow presents the document for human review and signature.
  3. PDF.co processes the returned document.
  4. OCR or extraction sends the resulting data back to the system of record.
  5. The finalized document is routed to storage.

This approach separates human-facing document work from backend automation.

Frequently asked questions

Is pdfFiller free?

pdfFiller advertises a 30-day free trial. It does not advertise a permanent free plan for continued use of premium features.

Is PDF.co free?

PDF.co advertises trial credits for evaluating its API. Check the current signup and pricing pages for applicable limits and expiration terms.

Does PDF.co charge per user?

PDF.co’s published API plans are based on credits rather than user seats.

Does pdfFiller charge per document?

pdfFiller’s standard plans are primarily priced per user. API or enterprise services may have separate terms.

Which is better for form filling?

Choose based on how the form is completed:

  • For a person filling a form in a browser, pdfFiller is the more natural fit.
  • For an application filling forms from database or webhook data, PDF.co is designed for programmatic workflows.

Which is better for eSignature?

pdfFiller is more directly focused on end-user eSignature workflows. PDF.co can add text and signature images programmatically and can participate in broader signing automations. Evaluate the exact signature, identity, audit-trail, and compliance requirements before choosing.

Which is better for OCR?

PDF.co specifically offers API-based OCR and structured-data extraction. pdfFiller provides scanned-document and OCR-related tools for its document workflows. For production extraction, compare output structure, accuracy, languages, review requirements, and pricing using your own documents.

Can PDF.co replace pdfFiller?

PDF.co can replace manual steps that should be automated, but it is not intended to reproduce every aspect of a human-facing PDF editor.

Can pdfFiller replace PDF.co?

pdfFiller can cover many manual document tasks and offers developer options, but teams requiring broad API-based transformation, extraction, barcode, or automation capabilities should compare the exact endpoints and integrations they need.

Final recommendation

Choose pdfFiller when the primary user is a person working directly with documents.

Choose PDF.co when the primary user is an application, integration, or automated workflow.

Choose both when people need a document interface and software needs to automate the work around it.

Automate your PDF workflow

Use PDF.co to generate, convert, edit, extract, and route documents through APIs and integrations.

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Review the API documentation
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