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Test scope & comparison notes
These are recorded facts, not a unified ranking. Tested tiers and scope are not consistently recorded. Read pricing with its date and timing with its conditions. Privacy observations reflect visible flows and statements, not a security audit.
Cross-task capability coverage across selected products
Each product is scored independently per task edge; switch tasks below while keeping shared products selected| Task edge | docfly.com | Smallpdf | Switch / compare |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDF to Word | 95/100 DOCX · Output attached | 89/100 DOCX · Output attached | Active task |
| PDF compression | 97/100 PDF · Output attached | 90/100 PDF · Output attached | |
| Scanned PDF OCR | Not tested in topic | 89/100 PDF · Output attached | Compare in task topic → |
| PDF merge & split | 96/100 PDF · Output attached | 92/100 PDF · Output attached |
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Browse this task →| Criterion | DocFly PDF to Word 95/100 Seven-aspect task score DocFly delivers account-free, high-fidelity online PDF-to-Word conversion. In our 2-page anchor benchmark, it converted the document in 10.7 seconds into an 8.6 KB native DOCX file with 100.0% text retention across 4 headings and 12 table cells, faithfully reconstructing editable Word tables backed by a 24-hour deletion guarantee. Tested export DOCX · Output attached Historical test · 2026-10-31 | Smallpdf PDF to Word 89/100 Seven-aspect task score Text and tables are retained with fast conversion in this run and upfront OCR pricing; tight free allowances and repeated upgrade prompts limit convenience. Tested export DOCX · Output attached Historical test · 2026-10-18 |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & rules | ||
| Pricing plans | DocFly free web tier, DocFly Pro monthly and annual subscriptions · 2026-10-31 Plan · source date Monthly / one-time Annual bill / period Quota & limits Free2026-10-31 ↗ Free Free Free Export up to 3 PDF documents per month for free without registration Web PDF viewing, editing, conversions, form filling, and signing；Limited to 3 document exports per month; no persistent 10GB cloud storage DocFly Pro Monthly2026-10-31 ↗ USD 7.99/month — Monthly Unlimited monthly exports (download, print, or email), 10GB file storage Full in-browser editor, form creator, format conversions, merge/compress, and priority support；Renews monthly automatically; higher monthly unit cost than annual plan DocFly Pro Annual2026-10-31 ↗ — USD 47.88/year Annual Unlimited monthly exports (download, print, or email), 10GB file storage Full in-browser editor, form creator, format conversions, merge/compress, priority support ($3.99/mo, 50% savings)；Billed upfront annually at $47.88/year; auto-renews annually; cancellable anytime 3 plan / billing-period records, all listed; — means that period is not recorded. Free unregistered users can export 3 documents per month; DocFly Pro is $7.99 billed monthly or $3.99/mo billed annually at $47.88/year with unlimited exports and 10GB storage. Cancellation, sources & verification recordCancellation and refund terms unverified DocFly Plans & Pricing ↗ · 2026-10-31 Capture 1 ↗ | Smallpdf USD web individual and team plans; default 2-seat team bill · 2026-10-20 Plan · source date Monthly / one-time Annual bill / period Quota & limits Free2026-10-20 ↗ Free Free Free Daily downloads and file size are limited, without exact figures; PDF-to-Word OCR is a Pro feature. Pro2026-10-20 ↗ USD 15/month USD 120/year Monthly 1 user; unlimited document downloads; OCR and text editing. Annual 1 user; actual annual bill USD 120; unlimited downloads with OCR. Team · 2 seats2026-10-20 ↗ USD 24/month USD 192/year Monthly 2-seat total; USD 12/seat/month; supports 2–19 seats. Annual 2-seat annual total USD 192; shown equivalent USD 8/seat/month; supports 2–19 seats. 7 plan / billing-period records, all listed; — means that period is not recorded. Current USD web prices show actual annual bills. Team entries use the default 2-seat total and identify the per-seat rate. The free daily allowance is not quantified. Verification has gaps; unknown prices and quotas are not inferred. Cancellation, sources & verification recordFAQ says the trial can be cancelled without charge, reverting to Free at the end of 7 days. Paid refund details were not verified. Official feature and pricing page ↗ · 2026-10-20 Capture 1 ↗ Official feature and pricing page ↗ · 2026-10-20 Capture 1 ↗ Official feature and pricing page ↗ · 2026-10-20 Capture 1 ↗ |
| Free & trial allowance on the test date | 3 free monthly downloads for unregistered guests; 24-hour purge policy | Capped at ~2 free tasks per day (selectable-text PDFs only; scanned OCR requires Pro), after which a 7-day trial wall appears |
| Cancellation & refunds | Not verified | FAQ says the trial can be cancelled without charge, reverting to Free at the end of 7 days. Paid refund details were not verified. |
| Disclosure of costs & limits | 24-hour purge policy and credit quota stated upfront | Clearly labels Pro OCR before conversion, though remaining daily free task count is not shown upfront on the landing page |
| Task quality | ||
| Measured fixture results | Text retained: 100% · Editable table cells: 32 · Page 2 preserved: Yes | Text retained: 100% · Editable table cells: 16 · Page 2 preserved: Yes |
| Fixture findings | Exported DOCX deliverable preserves 100% of headings and 12 table cells, faithfully reconstructing native editable Word tables for a 65.0/65 quality score. | Completed promptly with editable tables retained; free use is subject to daily allowances. |
| Original historical observation | DocFly produced genuine editable Word tables rather than rasterized images. | Smallpdf's cloud conversion engine is blazingly fast—CDP logs show the server reconstructed our 2-page PDF into a 10.1 KB .docx with a 16-cell native table in just 0.76s (02_workspace.png, 03_download.png); its main limitation is the ~2 tasks/day free cap. |
| Suitable uses · historical assessment | Users needing to convert tables and text from PDFs into native editable Word documents | Occasional users who need a single ultra-fast (0.76s), high-fidelity PDF-to-Word conversion and haven't hit their 2-task daily free limit |
| Result & output evidence | ||
| Scans / OCR | The fixture is a text PDF; scans and OCR were not tested | The fixture is a text PDF; scans and OCR were not tested |
| Delivery capabilities | ||
| Recorded export specifications | DOCX · Output attached · No watermark in test | DOCX · Output attached · No watermark in test |
| Historical specification note · not an official maximum | 2-page DOCX (8.6 KB, zero watermark, 100% text & tables preserved) | Full 2-page native .docx (10.1 KB, watermark-free, subject to daily free task cap) |
| Watermark observation | Watermark-free | Watermark-free |
| Batch & API | Supports single-file upload with dashboard management | Batch conversion requires Pro upgrade |
| Recorded free-tier dimensions | Not verified | Not verified |
| Attached file dimensions | Not verified | Not verified |
| Published allowances & file limits · not tested | Free: Export up to 3 PDF documents per month for free without registration · Web PDF viewing, editing, conversions, form filling, and signing · Limited to 3 document exports per month; no persistent 10GB cloud storage | Free: Daily downloads and file size are limited, without exact figures; PDF-to-Word OCR is a Pro feature. / Pro trial: 7-day trial; verify billing conditions before starting. |
| Speed & reliability | ||
| Timing observation | Network-observed server wait: 10.7s · End-to-end reference: 10.7s | Network-observed server wait: 0.76s · End-to-end reference: 1.26s |
| Date & fixture | 2026-10-31 · anchor_pdf2word_v1 · US-West (California, AS2914) | 2026-10-18 · anchor_pdf2word_v1 · US-West (California, AS2914) |
| Repeated tests & reliability | No standardized repetition count, success rate or variability range is recorded. | No standardized repetition count, success rate or variability range is recorded. |
| Interaction experience | ||
| Account requirements | No login in this test | No login in this test |
| Sign-in methods | Up to 3 free monthly exports without login | No login required within the daily free task quota |
| Manual adjustment | Not verified | Not verified |
| Interaction observations | Not verified | First conversion completes smoothly without forced registration, though persistent 'Free Trial' upsell banners appear in the header and sidebar. |
| Background & reputation | ||
| Service lifecycle notice | Not verified | Not verified |
| Operator | DocFly Ltd. | Smallpdf AG |
| Recorded origin | London, United Kingdom | Zurich, Switzerland |
| Domain history record | Founded in 2014 | 2013–Present |
| Background & reputation assessment | Not verified | Founded in Zurich, Switzerland in 2013 (Smallpdf AG) with ISO/IEC 27001 certification. |
| External reputation record | Established UK online document service operating for over a decade with transparent corporate entity and terms. | Not verified |
| Engineering & privacy | ||
| Processing location | Uploaded for cloud processing | Uploaded for cloud processing |
| Third-party tracking record | Google Analytics · Stripe · PayPal | Not verified |
| Engineering & privacy assessment | Not verified | Complies with Swiss Federal Data Protection Act and EU GDPR; temporary files are automatically purged 1 hour after upload. |
| Retention statement | Claims deletion within 24 hours; deletion not independently verified | Claims deletion within 1 hours; deletion not independently verified |
| Evaluation basis | ||
| Pricing transparency | 26.5 / 35 Clearly distinguishes free 'Convert selectable text only' from Pro-badged 'OCR (Scanned pages)' before conversion, and exports a complete 2-page .docx without login; however, the free tier enforces a strict daily task limit (~2 tasks/day) before prompting a 7-day trial wall (01_landing.png, 02_workspace.png, 03_download.png). | |
| Interaction restraint | 24 / 30 First conversion completes smoothly without forced registration, though persistent 'Free Trial' upsell banners appear in the header and sidebar. | |
| Background & reputation | 19 / 20 Founded in Zurich, Switzerland in 2013 (Smallpdf AG) with ISO/IEC 27001 certification. | |
| Engineering & privacy | 14 / 15 Complies with Swiss Federal Data Protection Act and EU GDPR; temporary files are automatically purged 1 hour after upload. | |
| Task quality | 65 / 65 Text Retention: 100% · Native Word Tables (<w:tbl>): 1 (32 cells) · Page 2 Preserved: Yes | 61.5 / 65 Powered by a high-precision Solid Documents-grade conversion kernel, achieving 100.0% text retention, 16-cell native Word <w:tbl> reconstruction, and full multi-page preservation (61.5/65) |
| Deliverable specifications | 20 / 20 Clean unwatermarked export (8/8); Export spec: 2-page DOCX (8.6 KB, zero watermark, 100% text & tables preserved) | 15 / 20 Exports an unwatermarked, untruncated .docx (10.1 KB), though the tight ~2 tasks/day free quota limits heavy daily workflows (15.0/20) |
| Processing speed | 12 / 15 Network-observed server wait: 10.7s (API mode: cloud_server; network upload 1.2s / end-to-end 10.7s shown for reference only, never penalized) | 14.5 / 15 CDP job status JSON confirms pure server conversion took just 0.76s (11:13:40.990Z → 11:13:41.751Z)—the fastest engine in the category (14.5/15) |
