Nitro PDF is a full desktop PDF suite that edits, signs, creates, and converts files, and it competes with Adobe Acrobat. If you landed here trying to turn a PDF table into a spreadsheet, the real question is narrower than whether the whole product is free: it is whether you can convert a PDF to Excel without paying, and where Nitro draws the line. Here are the straight answers, then a free way to get the conversion done.
Is Nitro PDF free?
No. Nitro PDF is a paid, premium product, not a free tool. There is no permanent free tier the way some online converters offer one. What Nitro does provide is a 14-day free trial with full access to every feature, including conversion to Excel, after which you need a paid plan to keep using it. The old free Nitro PDF Reader was discontinued, so today the only no-cost route through Nitro itself is that time-limited trial.
Does Nitro have a free trial?
Yes. Nitro offers a 14-day free trial that unlocks the full suite with no credit card required, so you can edit, sign, and convert during that window. PDF to Excel conversion is included in the trial, which means you can convert a document to a spreadsheet for free for those two weeks. Once the 14 days end, the features lock until you buy a license, so the trial suits a one-off project more than an ongoing task.
Can Nitro convert PDF to Excel?
Yes. Nitro converts PDFs to Office formats including Excel, and it includes OCR, so it can also read scanned pages and export them to a spreadsheet. It is genuinely capable at the job. The catch is not capability, it is cost and fit: you are running a whole desktop suite, and once the trial ends the conversion sits behind a paid plan. If pulling tables into Excel is the recurring task, a focused converter does the same export without the rest of the editor.
How much does Nitro PDF cost?
Nitro PDF is sold as a per-user subscription, commonly around $15 to $18 per user each month billed annually, with a one-time license option near $250 and custom pricing for larger plans. That price covers the full suite: editing, e-signature, creation, and conversion. Pricing changes over time, so confirm the current figures on Nitro's own site before you buy. For a team that mainly needs conversion, a per-seat suite license is a lot of tool for one job.
Does Nitro convert PDF to Excel for free after the trial?
No. After the 14-day trial expires, PDF to Excel conversion in Nitro requires a paid plan, like the rest of the suite. There is no free conversion mode left once the trial lapses. If you only need the spreadsheet and not a full editor, that is usually the point where people look for a converter they can use without an ongoing license, especially for the few PDFs a month that do not justify a seat.
Is there a free Nitro PDF alternative for converting to Excel?
Yes. You can convert a PDF to Excel free with the converter at the top of this page: your first conversion is free, it runs in the browser with nothing to install, and it handles scanned pages with built-in OCR. It keeps numbers numeric so a column totals on the first try, and it can process a whole batch at once. For the full feature-by-feature picture, see the Nitro PDF to Excel alternative, which lays out where each tool fits.
How do I convert a PDF to Excel for free?
Upload the file to the converter at the top of this page and download a clean Excel or CSV in seconds, with no software to install. The engine detects the table structure, applies OCR to any scanned pages, and exports a properly typed XLSX or CSV you can open in Excel or Google Sheets. The first conversion is free, which covers a one-off job without committing to a subscription. For a stack of files, the batch converter works through them in one pass.
What if I needed the rest of the PDF suite, not the conversion?
Be honest with yourself about what you actually need. If the job is editing page content, redacting, or combining documents, a full editor like Nitro earns its price and runs offline. If what you really wanted was to send a contract for signature, that is a different task: an online document e-signing tool handles upload, send, and sign without buying a whole PDF suite. And if your documents are receipts rather than statements, a dedicated receipt data extractor pulls the line items straight into a spreadsheet. Match the tool to the task and you usually stop paying for features you never open.
Does Nitro work on Mac for PDF to Excel?
Nitro PDF Pro has a Mac version, so it can convert PDFs to Excel on macOS, though Nitro has historically been strongest and most feature-complete on Windows. Either way it is a desktop app you download and install, which is a problem on a locked-down work machine where you cannot add software. A browser converter sidesteps that entirely: it runs the same on a Mac, a Windows PC, or a Chromebook, with nothing to install. If you work on a Mac, the PDF to Excel on a Mac page walks through it.
Free trial versus a free tool: why the difference matters
A 14-day trial and a free tool solve different problems. A trial is fine when you have a single batch of statements to clear this month and then you are done. It becomes a poor fit when the need is recurring, because the clock runs out and the conversion locks behind a paid plan exactly when you reach for it next quarter. A converter with a free first conversion and pay-as-you-grow pricing matches the second pattern better: an occasional user is never carrying an idle annual subscription, and a heavier user pays in line with the volume they actually run rather than per seat. Before you commit either way, convert one real document and check that the numbers come out numeric, the dates parse, and the columns line up against the source. That five-minute test tells you more than any feature list.
The short version
Nitro PDF is not free; it is a paid suite with a 14-day full-feature trial that does include PDF to Excel. If you need the whole editor and e-signature, that subscription or one-time license can be worth it. If you mainly need accurate tables in a spreadsheet, you can convert your first file free here, with OCR on scans and batch built in, and skip the install and the per-seat cost. For accuracy on tricky layouts, see the accurate PDF to Excel converter, and for the broader trade-offs read whether it is worth paying for a PDF to Excel converter.