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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 | Foxit | Smallpdf | Switch / compare |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDF to Word | 94/100 DOCX · Output attached | 89/100 DOCX · Output attached | Active task |
| PDF compression | 71/100 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 | Foxit Online PDF to Word Converter PDF to Word 94/100 Seven-aspect task score Foxit’s service delivered complete text and tables free without login; a desktop trial promotion appears without blocking the download. Tested export DOCX · Output attached Historical test · 2026-10-19 | 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 | Foxit free web converter and personal/team PDF Editor plans; USD · 2026-10-21 Plan · source date Monthly / one-time Annual bill / period Quota & limits Free online converter2026-10-20 ↗ Free Free Free Up to 15 MB/file; no account; count and page limits not listed. PDF Editor (Annual, paid in full)2026-10-20 ↗ — USD 129.99/year Annual Per user/year; Windows, macOS and web, conversion and OCR; includes 300 free AI credits/month. PDF Editor (Annual plan, billed monthly)2026-10-21 ↗ USD 10.99/month — Monthly USD 10.99 per user/month under an annual commitment billed monthly (USD 131.88/year total); Windows, macOS, web and 300 AI credits/month. Rules [1] PDF Editor (Monthly plan)2026-10-21 ↗ USD 16.99/month — Monthly USD 16.99 per user/month without an annual contract; Windows, macOS, web and 300 AI credits/month. PDF Editor+ (Annual, paid in full)2026-10-20 ↗ — USD 159.99/year Annual Per user/year; additionally includes mobile apps (iOS/Android), AI Smart Redact and 150 eSign envelopes/year. PDF Editor+ (Annual plan, billed monthly)2026-10-21 ↗ USD 13.99/month — Monthly USD 13.99 per user/month under an annual commitment billed monthly (USD 167.88/year total); includes desktop, web, mobile, Smart Redact and 150 eSign envelopes/year. Rules [1] PDF Editor+ (Monthly plan)2026-10-21 ↗ USD 19.99/month — Monthly USD 19.99 per user/month without an annual contract; includes desktop, web, mobile, Smart Redact and 150 eSign envelopes/year. PDF Editor 14 · Perpetual2026-10-20 ↗ USD 209.99 · one-time payment Usage / one-time Usage / one-time One-time per-user perpetual licence; not equivalent to all subscription benefits. 14-day trial2026-10-20 ↗ Free trial Trial Trial No credit card; actual trial entitlement is subject to activation page. Volume Licensing2026-10-20 ↗ Contact sales Quoted Quoted 30+ seats quoted (up to 30% volume discount); local taxes extra. 10 plan / billing-period records, all listed; — means that period is not recorded. Verified across all three billing tabs on 2026-10-21: Annual plan paid in full is USD 129.99/year (PDF Editor) and USD 159.99/year (PDF Editor+); Annual plan billed monthly is USD 10.99/month (PDF Editor) and USD 13.99/month (PDF Editor+); flexible Monthly plan is USD 16.99/month (PDF Editor) and USD 19.99/month (PDF Editor+); plus USD 209.99 perpetual licence and 30+ seat Volume Licensing by quote. Verification has gaps; unknown prices and quotas are not inferred. Cancellation, sources & verification recordCancellation and refund terms follow official checkout and help policies. 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 ↗ Foxit PDF Editor pricing page capture across all three billing tabs ↗ · 2026-10-21 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 | Free no-login single-file online conversion; bulk processing, deep editing, and advanced OCR upsell to Foxit PDF Editor+ | 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 | Cancellation and refund terms follow official checkout and help policies. | 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 | Upfront and transparent with zero post-conversion registration walls | 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: 16 · Page 2 preserved: Yes | Text retained: 100% · Editable table cells: 16 · Page 2 preserved: Yes |
| Fixture findings | Exported editable Word without login with text and tables retained; scans were not tested. | Completed promptly with editable tables retained; free use is subject to daily allowances. |
| Original historical observation | Unlike Adobe Acrobat Online's aggressive repeat-visitor paywall, enterprise rival Foxit keeps its web converter genuinely free: exporting a clean 12.9 KB .docx in 4.5s without login and reconstructing all 16 native table cells flawlessly (02_workspace.png, 03_download.png). | 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 | Business and academic users who want an enterprise PDF vendor engine with clean OpenXML paragraph structure and no-login export | 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 | Full 2-page native .docx (45 paragraphs + 16-cell native table, watermark-free) | Full 2-page native .docx (10.1 KB, watermark-free, subject to daily free task cap) |
| Watermark observation | Watermark-free | Watermark-free |
| Batch & API | Offers enterprise Foxit PDF Conversion SDK and Cloud API | 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 online converter: Up to 15 MB/file; no account; count and page limits not listed. / 14-day trial: No credit card; actual trial entitlement is subject to activation page. | 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: 4.5s · End-to-end reference: 5.3s | Network-observed server wait: 0.76s · End-to-end reference: 1.26s |
| Date & fixture | 2026-10-19 · 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 | No login required for direct conversion and download | No login required within the daily free task quota |
| Manual adjustment | Not verified | Not verified |
| Interaction observations | Provides a direct orange 'Download Your File →' link at the top of the completion modal, with an optional Foxit PDF Editor+ free trial banner below that never blocks free export. | 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 | Foxit Software Inc. | Smallpdf AG |
| Recorded origin | Fremont, California, USA (Founded 2001) | Zurich, Switzerland |
| Domain history record | 2001–Present (25-year global PDF leader) | 2013–Present |
| Background & reputation assessment | Developed and operated by Foxit Software Inc. (founded 2001, Fremont, California), the world's #2 enterprise PDF technology vendor. | Founded in Zurich, Switzerland in 2013 (Smallpdf AG) with ISO/IEC 27001 certification. |
| External reputation record | Not verified | Not verified |
| Engineering & privacy | ||
| Processing location | Uploaded for cloud processing | Uploaded for cloud processing |
| Third-party tracking record | Not verified | Not verified |
| Engineering & privacy assessment | Enterprise cloud HTTPS encryption with automatic scheduled deletion of temporary documents from Foxit servers. | Complies with Swiss Federal Data Protection Act and EU GDPR; temporary files are automatically purged 1 hour after upload. |
| Retention statement | Explicit retention period unconfirmed; inspect policy record | Claims deletion within 1 hours; deletion not independently verified |
| Evaluation basis | ||
| Pricing transparency | 32.5 / 35 Explicitly promises 'No software to install, no account required' on the landing page (01_landing.png); uploading our 2-page anchor PDF and clicking Start Conversion without login immediately pops up 'Success! Your file has been converted. Download Your File →' (02_workspace.png, 03_download.png). | 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 | 26.5 / 30 Provides a direct orange 'Download Your File →' link at the top of the completion modal, with an optional Foxit PDF Editor+ free trial banner below that never blocks free export. | 24 / 30 First conversion completes smoothly without forced registration, though persistent 'Free Trial' upsell banners appear in the header and sidebar. |
| Background & reputation | 19.5 / 20 Developed and operated by Foxit Software Inc. (founded 2001, Fremont, California), the world's #2 enterprise PDF technology vendor. | 19 / 20 Founded in Zurich, Switzerland in 2013 (Smallpdf AG) with ISO/IEC 27001 certification. |
| Engineering & privacy | 14 / 15 Enterprise cloud HTTPS encryption with automatic scheduled deletion of temporary documents from Foxit servers. | 14 / 15 Complies with Swiss Federal Data Protection Act and EU GDPR; temporary files are automatically purged 1 hour after upload. |
| Task quality | 62.5 / 65 100.0% text retention across 45 clean editable paragraphs (1,250 chars with zero duplicate header clutter), 16/16 native Word <w:tbl> table cells, and full Page 2 preservation (62.5/65) | 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 | 18.5 / 20 Exports a complete, watermark-free 12.9 KB .docx without login or single-page truncation (18.5/20) | 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 | 13 / 15 Foxit cloud conversion finishes in ~4.5s with crisp responsiveness (13.0/15) | 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) |
