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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 | Smallpdf | hipdf.com | Switch / compare |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDF to Word | 89/100 DOCX · Output attached | 70/100 DOCX · Output attached | Active task |
| PDF compression | 90/100 PDF · Output attached | 86/100 PDF · Output attached | |
| Scanned PDF OCR | 89/100 PDF · Output attached | 77/100 DOCX · Output attached | |
| PDF merge & split | 92/100 PDF · Output attached | 89/100 PDF · Output attached |
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Browse this task →| Criterion | 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 | Wondershare HiPDF PDF to Word 70/100 Seven-aspect task score Signed-in free accounts can export a DOCX preserving an editable table and Page 2, but guest downloads hit a login wall despite No Sign Up copy, alongside a misleading Share button and collapsed heading spaces. Tested export DOCX · Output attached Historical test · 2026-10-19 |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & rules | ||
| Pricing plans | 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 ↗ | HiPDF web online PDF to Word tool (former /pricing page now returns 404) · 2026-10-21 Plan · source date Monthly / one-time Annual bill / period Quota & limits Web free account2026-10-21 ↗ Free Free Free Convert and download DOCX after signing in to a free Wondershare account; numeric daily and file-size limits are not listed on the page (uploaded files deleted within 60 minutes) 1 plan / billing-period records, all listed; — means that period is not recorded. The official tool page advertises free online conversion while /pricing returns 404 and header buttons promote desktop PDFelement; downloading the converted DOCX requires signing in to a free Wondershare account, and numeric daily or file-size limits are not published on the page. Verification has gaps; unknown prices and quotas are not inferred. Cancellation, sources & verification recordCancellation and refund terms follow official checkout and help policies. HiPDF official PDF to Word tool page ↗ · 2026-10-21 Capture 1 ↗ |
| Free & trial allowance on the test date | Capped at ~2 free tasks per day (selectable-text PDFs only; scanned OCR requires Pro), after which a 7-day trial wall appears | Requires Wondershare sign-in to download; 1 free conversion per day on the free account. |
| Cancellation & refunds | FAQ says the trial can be cancelled without charge, reverting to Free at the end of 7 days. Paid refund details were not verified. | Cancellation and refund terms follow official checkout and help policies. |
| Disclosure of costs & limits | Clearly labels Pro OCR before conversion, though remaining daily free task count is not shown upfront on the landing page | Not verified |
| Task quality | ||
| Measured fixture results | Text retained: 100% · Editable table cells: 16 · Page 2 preserved: Yes | Text retained: 68.4% · Editable table cells: 16 · Page 2 preserved: Yes |
| Fixture findings | Completed promptly with editable tables retained; free use is subject to daily allowances. | Preserved one editable 4x4 table and the Page 2 token; some heading word spaces were collapsed. |
| Original historical observation | 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. | Downloaded valid DOCX with 1 editable table (16 cells) and Page 2 preserved; extracted headings collapse inter-word spaces (68.4% strict phrase match). |
| Suitable uses · historical assessment | 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 | Not verified |
| 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 · Check watermark record |
| Historical specification note · not an official maximum | Full 2-page native .docx (10.1 KB, watermark-free, subject to daily free task cap) | Not verified |
| Watermark observation | Watermark-free | Not verified |
| Batch & API | Batch conversion requires Pro upgrade | Not verified |
| Recorded free-tier dimensions | Not verified | Not verified |
| Attached file dimensions | Not verified | Not verified |
| Published allowances & file limits · not tested | 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. | Web free account: Convert and download DOCX after signing in to a free Wondershare account; numeric daily and file-size limits are not listed on the page (uploaded files deleted within 60 minutes) |
| Speed & reliability | ||
| Timing observation | Network-observed server wait: 0.76s · End-to-end reference: 1.26s | Network-observed server wait: 8.82s · End-to-end reference: 9.13s |
| Date & fixture | 2026-10-18 · anchor_pdf2word_v1 · US-West (California, AS2914) | 2026-10-19 · 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 | Not verified |
| Sign-in methods | No login required within the daily free task quota | Wondershare SSO / Google sign-in required for download |
| Manual adjustment | Not verified | Not verified |
| Interaction observations | First conversion completes smoothly without forced registration, though persistent 'Free Trial' upsell banners appear in the header and sidebar. | Labels free No-OCR mode "There is uneditable content in the converted Word files" to push OCR Pro, and styles "Share" as the wide primary button on the completion screen while shrinking Download to an unlabeled icon. |
| Background & reputation | ||
| Service lifecycle notice | Not verified | Not verified |
| Operator | Smallpdf AG | Wondershare Online PDF Suite |
| Recorded origin | Zurich, Switzerland | Not verified |
| Domain history record | 2013–Present | Not verified |
| Background & reputation assessment | Founded in Zurich, Switzerland in 2013 (Smallpdf AG) with ISO/IEC 27001 certification. | Operated by Wondershare Technology (developer of PDFelement). |
| 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 | Complies with Swiss Federal Data Protection Act and EU GDPR; temporary files are automatically purged 1 hour after upload. | Processes files via web-api.hipdf.com async task queue and requires a Wondershare account to download. |
| Retention statement | Claims deletion within 1 hours; deletion not independently verified | Explicit retention period unconfirmed; inspect policy record |
| 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). | 14 / 35 Page title claims "100% Free, No Sign Up", yet unauthenticated guests hit a Wondershare login modal at download; signed-in free accounts get 1 free conversion per day before hitting a daily limit banner. |
| Interaction restraint | 24 / 30 First conversion completes smoothly without forced registration, though persistent 'Free Trial' upsell banners appear in the header and sidebar. | 9 / 30 Labels free No-OCR mode "There is uneditable content in the converted Word files" to push OCR Pro, and styles "Share" as the wide primary button on the completion screen while shrinking Download to an unlabeled icon. |
| 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. | 10 / 15 Processes files via web-api.hipdf.com async task queue and requires a Wondershare account to download. |
| Task quality | 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) | 53 / 65 Exported a valid 12,194-byte DOCX (46 paragraphs, 1,313 chars): reconstructs 1 native editable 4×4 Word table (16 cells, 12/12 cell values matched) and preserves Page 2; collapsed spaces in extracted headings reduce strict substring checkpoint matching to 68.4% without losing body text. |
| Deliverable specifications | 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) | 15 / 20 Signed-in free account exports a watermark-free 2-page DOCX (11.9 KB) with an editable table, but contradicts the "No Sign Up" title claim and enforces a strict daily free limit. |
| Processing speed | 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) | 11 / 15 2026-10-21 single-sample network timing: clicking Convert triggered /middle/converter (r9) through terminal /middle/get-task-result poll (r15) in 8.82s server wait (end-to-end 9.13s). |
