Zamzar PDF to Excel Alternative: Zamzar PDF to Excel Converter Pricing and Limits
Zamzar converts two files a day for free and 1,100 format pairs after that. If the only conversion you actually run is a PDF table into a spreadsheet, convert it here instead: every table on its own sheet, scanned pages read automatically, and plans that count files rather than formats.
For bookkeepers, analysts and operations teams converting invoices, statements and reports every month.
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Upload the file Zamzar stopped you on and compare the sheets.
The short answer
Zamzar PDF to Excel is free for two files a day with a 50 MB upload cap. Paid website plans are $12, $19 and $39 a month, and they make website conversions unlimited rather than metered. The separate Zamzar API starts at $25 a month for 500 conversion credits. Zamzar bills per file, so a 400 page report costs the same as a one page invoice, which makes it unusually cheap for long documents and expensive for many short ones. It is a general format converter, not a table extractor: it does not describe OCR as part of the PDF to Excel step. PDFxlsx does one job instead of 1,100, starting at $49 a month for 50 files, with OCR on every plan and each table on its own sheet.
Where Zamzar PDF to Excel stops fitting business work
Zamzar has run since 2006 and converts more than 1,100 format pairs, from CAD to audio to ebooks. PDF to XLSX is one pair among hundreds, and the product is built for breadth rather than for getting a balance sheet into columns.
Two free files a day
The free tier allows two conversions per day across the site. A month-end close that touches twelve statements takes six days at that rate.
50 MB on free uploads
Go over it and the upload stops with a message that you need a paid account to download the result. Scanned statements pass 50 MB quickly.
No OCR in the conversion step
The PDF to XLSX page describes a format conversion, not text recognition. Feed it a scan and the workbook can come back empty.
One sheet, whatever was on the page
A report with four tables and three headers is one document to a format converter. Splitting them back apart is manual work in Excel.
How much does Zamzar cost?
Zamzar sells two separate products with two separate meters. The website subscription is what you buy if a person clicks the button. The API is what you buy if a script does. These figures come from Zamzar's own sign-up and developer pricing pages.
Zamzar website plans
| Plan | Price per month | Max file size | Website conversions a day | Desktop app a day | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 50 MB | 2 | Not included | Files deleted within 24 hours |
| Basic | $12 | 200 MB | Unlimited | 50 | 5 GB |
| Pro | $19 | 400 MB | Unlimited | 100 | 20 GB |
| Business | $39 | 2 GB | Unlimited | 500 | 100 GB |
All three paid plans carry a one month minimum and can be cancelled at any time. Concurrent conversions run 25, 50 and 100 across Basic, Pro and Business.
Zamzar API plans
| Plan | Price per month | Credits included | Cost per credit | Max file size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | $0, no card | 100 total | No overages | 1 MB |
| Startup | $25 | 500 a month | $0.05 | 50 MB |
| Growth | $99 | 2,500 a month | $0.04 | No stated limit |
| Scale | $299 | 10,000 a month | $0.03 | No stated limit |
Overages are billed at the plan's own credit rate. Zamzar states that every successful conversion costs at least one credit and that more intensive conversions can cost more. The API reads from and writes to Amazon S3, FTP and SFTP, and HTTP endpoints. Custom conversions are Scale only.
The thing to understand about Zamzar pricing: it counts files, not pages
Almost every document extraction vendor bills per page. Zamzar bills per conversion. One PDF in, one credit out, whether that PDF is a single invoice or a 400 page loan file. That one difference decides whether Zamzar is the cheapest option on your desk or the most expensive, and it flips depending on the shape of your documents rather than the size of your team.
| Monthly workload | Files | Pages | Zamzar API credits | A typical per page meter at $0.05 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One 400 page annual report | 1 | 400 | 1 credit, about $0.05 | $20.00 |
| 40 thirty page bank statements | 40 | 1,200 | 40 credits, about $2.00 | $60.00 |
| 1,000 one page invoices | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 credits, about $40 on Growth | $50.00 |
Read the first row again. A per page vendor charges 400 times what Zamzar charges for the same document, and neither one is being unreasonable: they are just selling different units. If your work is a handful of very long PDFs, the file meter is the cheapest thing on the market. If your work is a thousand one page invoices, the gap closes to almost nothing and the deciding factor becomes accuracy rather than price.
The quota is on the API, not the website
This catches people out. The $12 Basic website plan has no cap on how many files you convert through the browser. The $25 API Startup plan caps you at 500 conversions a month. Paying twice as much moves you from unlimited to metered, because what you are really buying on the API is automation, not volume. If a human is willing to click the button, the cheap plan is the unlimited one.
The desktop app is metered too
On the same subscription, website conversions are unlimited while the desktop app is capped at 50, 100 or 500 files a day by tier. If you were planning to drag a quarter of folders onto the desktop app on the last day of the month, that daily number is the one to check before you pick a plan, not the monthly price.
Zamzar and PDFxlsx side by side
These are not the same kind of product, so the honest comparison is about fit rather than about which one is better.
| Question | Zamzar | PDFxlsx |
|---|---|---|
| What it converts | More than 1,100 format pairs across documents, images, audio, video, CAD and ebooks | PDF into Excel, CSV and JSON, and nothing else |
| Billing unit | Per file on the API, unlimited on the paid website plans | Per file, on a flat monthly plan |
| Largest file accepted | 2 GB on Business, no stated limit on API Growth and Scale | Sized for documents rather than media |
| Scanned and photographed PDFs | Not described as part of the PDF to Excel step | OCR runs automatically on the pages that need it, on every plan |
| Several tables in one PDF | Converted as one document | Each table lands on its own sheet |
| Batch upload | Multiple files at once, 25 to 100 running concurrently | Up to 20 files per batch, returned as one ZIP, from the $99 plan |
| Storage and integrations | Up to 100 GB, plus Amazon S3, FTP and SFTP on the API | Convert and download, with an API on the $199 plan |
| Entry price | $12 a month, or free for two files a day | $49 a month for 50 files, $99 for 500 |
Where Zamzar is the better buy
If you convert more than one kind of file, Zamzar is cheaper than buying a tool per format, and at $12 a month with unlimited website conversions it is hard to beat on raw volume. It also accepts far larger files than most document tools, keeps converted files on its servers for you, and has an API that reads directly from S3 and FTP. Twenty years of operation is worth something too.
Where a table converter wins
A format converter's job is finished when the file opens in Excel. That is not the same as the numbers being in the right cells. If you are reconciling a statement, tying out an invoice or building a model from a report, what you need is column fidelity across page breaks, OCR on the scanned pages, and each table kept separate. Those are the specific things a tool built for one conversion can afford to get right.
Converting a PDF to Excel here
Upload the PDF
Drop in the file Zamzar capped you on. Digital and scanned pages go through the same upload.
Every page is read
Pages with a text layer are parsed directly. Pages without one go through OCR before the tables are found.
Check the columns
Each table comes back on its own sheet with numbers kept numeric, so totals add up instead of arriving as text.
Export XLSX or CSV
Download the workbook, or convert the PDF to CSV if something downstream expects flat rows.
If your documents are scans rather than digital files, the OCR PDF to Excel converter explains what to check first. For a folder of files rather than one, see batch PDF to Excel conversion, and for very long documents, converting a large PDF to Excel. If you would rather convert a PDF to a spreadsheet that opens in Google Sheets or Numbers instead of Excel, that page covers the export formats. Automating it from your own code is the PDF to Excel API.
Comparing other converters as well? The same questions are answered for the CloudConvert alternative, the iLovePDF alternative and the Nitro PDF to Excel converter alternative, and the whole field is ranked on best PDF to Excel converter.
Zamzar PDF to Excel questions
Zamzar is free for two file conversions per day, with a 50 MB cap on the file you upload and converted files deleted after 24 hours. There is no free tier beyond that on the website. Paid plans start at $12 a month for Basic, which removes the daily cap on website conversions entirely and raises the file size limit to 200 MB.
Zamzar sells three website plans on a one month minimum: Basic at $12 a month, Pro at $19 and Business at $39. The API is priced separately and starts at $25 a month for 500 conversion credits, rising to $99 for 2,500 and $299 for 10,000. A free API tier gives 100 credits with a 1 MB file size limit and no card required.
Yes, and it moves with the plan. Free uploads are capped at 50 MB. Basic raises that to 200 MB, Pro to 400 MB and Business to 2 GB. On the API side the free tier caps files at 1 MB and the Startup plan at 50 MB, while the Growth and Scale plans list no file size limit at all.
Zamzar has run since 2006 and says it has converted more than 510 million files. Its stated policy is that free users' converted files are deleted after a maximum of 24 hours, that paying users keep files until they choose to delete them, and that any user can delete files earlier. Files are uploaded to its servers rather than processed in your browser, so the usual rule for regulated documents applies: check the retention terms against your own policy first.
You can convert two files a day on Zamzar without an account, and most converters offer some free allowance. The limits that matter for business work are not the price but the cap: how many files a day, how large each file can be, and whether the columns survive. Convert one of your real documents on any tool before you pay, then compare the sheet against the original page.
Zamzar's PDF to XLSX converter page describes a straight format conversion and does not list OCR as part of that step, so a scanned or photographed PDF may come back as an empty or near-empty sheet. Our converter checks every page for a text layer and runs OCR on the pages that need it inside the same upload, which is why mixed files of digital and scanned pages come back as one workbook.
Pick XLSX unless something downstream specifically requires the old format. XLSX is the current Excel format, handles far more rows per sheet than XLS, and opens in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Apple Numbers. XLS is the pre-2007 format and its row limit will truncate a long statement without warning.
It depends on which half of Zamzar you use. If you convert audio, video, images, CAD and ebooks as well as documents, no table converter replaces 1,100 format pairs and you should keep Zamzar. If the only conversion you run is PDF into a spreadsheet, a table-first converter is the better buy: it puts each table on its own sheet, reads scans automatically, and bills per file rather than per format.
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Convert the third file of the day
Upload the PDF you were about to run through Zamzar, check the sheets against the original page, and pick a plan by how many files you convert a month. Monthly plans cancel any time. Details are on the pricing page.