See your options side by side
Choose one task and 2–4 tools. Compare pricing, output, test results and trust.
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 | iLovePDF | FreePDFConvert | Switch / compare |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDF to Word | 93/100 DOCX · Output attached | 89/100 DOCX · Output attached | Active task |
| PDF compression | 97/100 PDF · Output attached | 93/100 PDF · Output attached | |
| Scanned PDF OCR | 95/100 PDF · Output attached | Not tested in topic | Compare in task topic → |
| PDF merge & split | 97/100 PDF · Output attached | 93/100 PDF · Output attached |
Select at least 2 tools to compare
You can also filter a task page first, then compare your shortlist.
Browse this task →| Criterion | iLovePDF PDF to Word 93/100 Seven-aspect task score Smooth login-free downloads retain text and tables and offer deletion; free text conversion and paid OCR are distinguished upfront, with scans untested. Tested export DOCX · Output attached Historical test · 2026-10-18 | FreePDFConvert (Baltsoft / ConvertAPI) PDF to Word 89/100 Seven-aspect task score The first login-free conversion is simple and retains text and tables; free use is limited to one file per hour, revealed when converting again. Tested export DOCX · Output attached Historical test · 2026-10-18 |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & rules | ||
| Pricing plans | iLovePDF USD single-seat web plans; 25+ users quoted · 2026-10-20 Plan · source date Monthly / one-time Annual bill / period Quota & limits Basic2026-10-20 ↗ Free Free Free Basic tools; limited documents, batching and file size, without numeric limits. Premium2026-10-20 ↗ USD 9/month USD 60/year Monthly Single seat; unlimited document processing across web, mobile and desktop, with batching; 2,000 AI credits are not a conversion count. Annual Single-seat annual bill USD 60; same capabilities as monthly. Education eligibility plan2026-10-20 ↗ — USD 0/year Annual Students and academics can apply for one free year of Premium, subject to eligibility. 5 plan / billing-period records, all listed; — means that period is not recorded. Monthly and annual controls confirm USD 9/month and USD 60/year. Free processing is limited without exact figures; education and seat discounts require eligibility checks. Verification has gaps; unknown prices and quotas are not inferred. Cancellation, sources & verification recordUpgrade, downgrade or cancel in account settings. The page says prices include applicable VAT, with regional invoice treatment. Refund terms were not separately verified. Official feature and pricing page ↗ · 2026-10-20 Capture 1 ↗ Official feature and pricing page ↗ · 2026-10-20 Capture 1 ↗ | FreePDFConvert USD web membership · 2026-10-20 Plan · source date Monthly / one-time Annual bill / period Quota & limits Web free allowance2026-10-20 ↗ Free Free Free Free conversion is available; consecutive tasks may require waiting or signup, with no exact allowance listed. 1-month membership2026-10-20 ↗ USD 8/month — Monthly Unlimited conversions, file size and 20+ tools; priority support. 12-month membership2026-10-20 ↗ — Annual price not verified Annual Page shows USD 5/month equivalent without an explicit annual bill; not extrapolated. Page shows USD 5/month equivalent without an explicit annual bill; not extrapolated. Lifetime2026-10-20 ↗ USD 120 · one-time payment Usage / one-time Usage / one-time USD 120 once; web membership is advertised as lifetime, with unlimited conversions and file size. 4 plan / billing-period records, all listed; — means that period is not recorded. Reloading confirmed USD 8 monthly and USD 120 once. The 12-month membership shows only USD 5/month equivalent without the full annual charge, so that bill remains unverified. Numeric free wait intervals, counts and size limits are not published. 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 ↗ |
| Free & trial allowance on the test date | Free tier converts standard digital PDFs without login; scanned OCR and large batches require Premium | Unauthenticated guests get 1 free conversion every 60 minutes; batch processing, OCR, and unlimited tasks require Membership |
| Cancellation & refunds | Upgrade, downgrade or cancel in account settings. The page says prices include applicable VAT, with regional invoice treatment. Refund terms were not separately verified. | Cancellation and refund terms follow official checkout and help policies. |
| Disclosure of costs & limits | Clearly labels No OCR (Free) vs OCR (Premium) on the right panel before clicking Convert | 60-minute cooldown limit is not disclosed on the landing page, appearing only when attempting a second conversion |
| 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 | Text and tables were retained for this text PDF; scan OCR is a separate paid capability and was not tested. | Converted automatically with editable tables retained; check free allowances and file limits. |
| Original historical observation | iLovePDF states its free vs. paid OCR boundary upfront before you click convert, and its 3.2s auto-downloaded 10.0 KB .docx achieves 100% text retention and 16-cell native Word table reconstruction upon XML inspection (02_workspace.png, 03_download.png). | Powered by the enterprise ConvertAPI engine, FreePDFConvert automatically converts our 2-page anchor PDF in 3.62s without a single extra click, producing a 10.0 KB .docx with all 16 native table cells and dual-page formatting intact (02_workspace.png, 03_download.png). |
| Suitable uses · historical assessment | Professionals and students seeking fast (3.2s auto-download), high-fidelity conversion of standard digital PDF documents without logging in | Users who need to convert a single complex-table PDF into a high-fidelity native Word (.docx) document in under 4 seconds, or developers evaluating ConvertAPI quality |
| 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 (44 paragraphs + 16-cell native Word table, watermark-free) | Full 2-page native .docx (44 paragraphs + 16-cell native table, watermark-free) |
| Watermark observation | Watermark-free | Watermark-free |
| Batch & API | Supports Google Drive / Dropbox integration and developer REST API | Supports Google Drive / Dropbox integration and commercial ConvertAPI developer endpoints |
| Recorded free-tier dimensions | Not verified | Not verified |
| Attached file dimensions | Not verified | Not verified |
| Published allowances & file limits · not tested | Basic: Basic tools; limited documents, batching and file size, without numeric limits. | Web free allowance: Free conversion is available; consecutive tasks may require waiting or signup, with no exact allowance listed. |
| Speed & reliability | ||
| Timing observation | Network-observed server wait: 3.2s · End-to-end reference: 3.7s | Network-observed server wait: 3.62s · End-to-end reference: 4.22s |
| Date & fixture | 2026-10-18 · 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 standard selectable-text PDF conversion | No login required for the first task; supports Google / email Membership sign-in |
| Manual adjustment | Not verified | Not verified |
| Interaction observations | Uploading without login and clicking Convert to WORD reaches the download screen in ~3.2s, triggers automatic browser download, and offers a one-click server delete button. | First conversion is remarkably frictionless—selecting a PDF immediately starts conversion without extra confirmation clicks, email gates, or fake download ads. |
| Background & reputation | ||
| Service lifecycle notice | Not verified | Not verified |
| Operator | iLovePDF (ilovepdf.com) | Baltsoft Software Ltd. (FreePDFConvert / ConvertAPI) |
| Recorded origin | Barcelona, Spain | Vilnius, Lithuania |
| Domain history record | 2010–Present (16-year global PDF utility leader) | 2005–Present (21-year document conversion provider) |
| Background & reputation assessment | Independently operated in Barcelona, Spain since 2010 with ISO/IEC 27001 certification. | Operated since 2005 by Lithuania-based Baltsoft Software Ltd. and powered under the hood by the enterprise ConvertAPI engine. |
| 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 | End-to-end HTTPS encryption with an instant file-wipe trash button on the download screen and automatic server deletion within 2 hours. | 256-bit SSL encrypted transfer with manual delete support and automatic server cleanup within a few hours. |
| Retention statement | Claims deletion within 2 hours; deletion not independently verified | Explicit retention period unconfirmed; inspect policy record |
| Evaluation basis | ||
| Pricing transparency | 32 / 35 Upfront on the pre-conversion sidebar, iLovePDF clearly distinguishes free 'No OCR (Convert PDFs with selectable text to editable Word files)' from Crown-badged 'OCR (Scanned PDFs, Premium)', never ambushing users with a paywall after conversion (01_landing.png, 02_workspace.png, 03_download.png). | 25 / 35 Headlines 'PDF to Word Converter - Convert PDF to DOCX Online Free' (01_landing.png) and converts our first 2-page anchor PDF in ~3.62s to a green Download button without login (02_workspace.png, 03_download.png); however, the landing page does not disclose upfront that unauthenticated users are limited to 1 free file per 60 minutes before hitting a cooldown timer and membership paywall. |
| Interaction restraint | 27 / 30 Uploading without login and clicking Convert to WORD reaches the download screen in ~3.2s, triggers automatic browser download, and offers a one-click server delete button. | 25 / 30 First conversion is remarkably frictionless—selecting a PDF immediately starts conversion without extra confirmation clicks, email gates, or fake download ads. |
| Background & reputation | 19 / 20 Independently operated in Barcelona, Spain since 2010 with ISO/IEC 27001 certification. | 18.5 / 20 Operated since 2005 by Lithuania-based Baltsoft Software Ltd. and powered under the hood by the enterprise ConvertAPI engine. |
| Engineering & privacy | 14 / 15 End-to-end HTTPS encryption with an instant file-wipe trash button on the download screen and automatic server deletion within 2 hours. | 13.5 / 15 256-bit SSL encrypted transfer with manual delete support and automatic server cleanup within a few hours. |
| Task quality | 62 / 65 Underlying word/document.xml inspection confirms 100.0% text retention, Page 2 preservation, and 16-cell native Word <w:tbl> reconstruction with faithful typography and margins (62.0/65) | 61.5 / 65 Powered by ConvertAPI, OpenXML `word/document.xml` inspection confirms 100.0% text retention (4/4 headings, 3/3 special-symbol phrases, 44 editable paragraphs) and a complete 16-cell native Word `<w:tbl>` table (12/12 financial values intact) with Page 2 token preserved (61.5/65) |
| Deliverable specifications | 18 / 20 Exports a complete watermark-free .docx file (10.0 KB) without login; only scanned OCR and heavy batch concurrency require Premium (18.0/20) | 17.5 / 20 Exports a complete 2-page watermark-free native `.docx` file (10.0 KB) on the first guest task, subject to a 1-file-per-hour free cooldown limit (17.5/20) |
| Processing speed | 13.5 / 15 Fast cloud PDF-to-DOCX engine completes in ~3.2s and auto-triggers download (13.5/15) | 13.2 / 15 Automatically uploads and completes conversion in just ~3.62s server time upon file selection (13.2/15) |
