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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 | TinyWow | Switch / compare |
|---|---|---|---|
| Background removal | Not tested in topic | 62/100 2048 × 2048 · PNG | Compare in task topic → |
| Image compression | Not tested in topic | 82/100 2048 × 2048 (3,744.0 KB PNG, -9.52%) · Historical description; output not attached | Compare in task topic → |
| PDF to Word | 89/100 DOCX · Output attached | 71/100 7.9 KB OOXML package named .doc (100% text, 0 native tables) · Historical description; output not attached | Active task |
| PDF compression | 90/100 PDF · Output attached | 93/100 PDF · Output attached | |
| Scanned PDF OCR | 89/100 PDF · Output attached | Not tested in topic | Compare in task topic → |
| PDF merge & split | 92/100 PDF · Output attached | 95/100 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 | TinyWow PDF to Word PDF to Word 71/100 Seven-aspect task score Free login-free access required a retry after an error; text survived, but paragraph and table structure did not, and the file extension mismatched its format. Tested export 7.9 KB OOXML package named .doc (100% text, 0 native tables) · Historical description; output not 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 ↗ | TinyWow current PDF-specific and all-tool subscriptions; USD · 2026-10-20 Plan · source date Monthly / one-time Annual bill / period Quota & limits Web free2026-10-20 ↗ Free Free Free No registration; free PDF tools are available, but exact daily allowances are not listed. PDF Unlimited2026-10-20 ↗ USD 9/month USD 72/year Monthly 45+ PDF tools, unlimited PDF use, no daily limits or ads Annual 45+ PDF tools, unlimited PDF use, no daily limits or ads TinyWow Unlimited2026-10-20 ↗ USD 20/month USD 180/year Monthly All PDF/image/writing/video/file tools; no ads or captcha Annual All PDF/image/writing/video/file tools; no ads or captcha 5 plan / billing-period records, all listed; — means that period is not recorded. Monthly and annual modes confirm annual bills USD 72 / 180. Current PDF Unlimited and all-tool TinyWow Unlimited replace the historical Supporter description. Other single-category subscriptions do not include PDF. Numeric free limits and cancellation terms remain unspecified. 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 ↗ |
| 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 | Free unlimited conversions without login |
| 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 | Download button immediately delivers the converted file after completion |
| Task quality | ||
| Measured fixture results | Text retained: 100% · Editable table cells: 16 · Page 2 preserved: Yes | Text retained: 100% · Editable table cells: 0 · Page 2 preserved: Yes |
| Fixture findings | Completed promptly with editable tables retained; free use is subject to daily allowances. | Extracted the text but merged paragraphs and flattened tables; unsuitable when layout must be retained. |
| 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. | TinyWow PDF to Word retains 100% of text strings across both pages (including the Page-2 token), but collapses the entire document into 3 giant paragraphs with 0 native <w:tbl> tables and saves the OpenXML zip with a `.doc` filename extension. |
| 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 | Quick plain-text extraction from a PDF without login when table formatting is not needed |
| Result & output evidence | No native output obtained; the preview does not establish final export quality. | |
| 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 | 7.9 KB OOXML package named .doc (100% text, 0 native tables) · Historical description; output not attached · Check watermark record No native output is attached; check the evidence for specification and watermark claims. |
| Historical specification note · not an official maximum | Full 2-page native .docx (10.1 KB, watermark-free, subject to daily free task cap) | 2-Page OOXML Package Named .doc (7.9 KB, 3 Paragraphs, 0 Native Tables) |
| Watermark observation | Watermark-free | Watermark-Free |
| Batch & API | Batch conversion requires Pro upgrade | Single-file browser upload with Turnstile verification |
| 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: No registration; free PDF tools are available, but exact daily allowances are not listed. |
| Speed & reliability | ||
| Timing observation | Network-observed server wait: 0.76s · End-to-end reference: 1.26s | Network-observed server wait: 6.5s · End-to-end reference: 8s |
| 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 | No login in this test |
| Sign-in methods | No login required within the daily free task quota | No login required (Cloudflare Turnstile verification) |
| 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. | First conversion attempt after Cloudflare Turnstile threw 'An unexpected error occurred' before succeeding on immediate retry; also names the downloaded file `.doc` even though it is an OpenXML ZIP container. |
| Background & reputation | ||
| Service lifecycle notice | Not verified | Not verified |
| Operator | Smallpdf AG | Box20 Media LLC (United States) |
| Recorded origin | Zurich, Switzerland | United States |
| Domain history record | 2013–Present | 2021–Present |
| Background & reputation assessment | Founded in Zurich, Switzerland in 2013 (Smallpdf AG) with ISO/IEC 27001 certification. | Operated by US-based Box20 Media LLC. |
| 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. | Automatically deletes uploaded and converted files 1 hour after processing. |
| Retention statement | Claims deletion within 1 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). | 30.5 / 35 Completely free with no account registration required (01_landing.png, 02_result.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. | 22 / 30 First conversion attempt after Cloudflare Turnstile threw 'An unexpected error occurred' before succeeding on immediate retry; also names the downloaded file `.doc` even though it is an OpenXML ZIP container. |
| 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. | 13 / 15 Automatically deletes uploaded and converted files 1 hour after processing. |
| 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) | 41 / 65 Text Retention: 100.0% · Native Word Tables (<w:tbl>): 0 (0 cells, entire document merged into 3 paragraphs) · Page 2 Preserved: Yes (42.0/65) |
| 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) | 14 / 20 Outputs a 7.9 KB (8,113 bytes) OpenXML package misnamed with a .doc extension and flattens paragraph/table structure (12.0/20) |
| 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) | |

