# ConvertAPI vs Foxit PDF Services API

> ConvertAPI scores 64 (B) to Foxit PDF Services's 33.3 (F) for pdf conversion. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convertapi-vs-foxit-pdf-services
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convertapi-vs-foxit-pdf-services.md (~5,050 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

ConvertAPI scores 64 (B) on agent readiness against Foxit PDF Services API's 33.3 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Foxit PDF Services API leads on payments & pricing. Both do pdf conversion.

- ConvertAPI: grade B, 64/100, rank #490 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/convertapi.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/convertapi.json
- Foxit PDF Services API: grade F, 33.3/100, rank #1384 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/foxit-pdf-services.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/foxit-pdf-services.json
- Best PDF manipulation and conversion APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/pdf-tools/index.md
- All 53 pdf comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pdf-tools/index.md

## Which one, for what

### ConvertAPI (B)

Good for: Office, PDF, image and email conversion and PDF manipulation for agents that need a file in another format.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 54 against 30
- Schema & documentation, 92 against 29
- Agent ergonomics, 79 against 32
- Security & auth, 55 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 80 against 18

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: Per-conversion prices on the pricing page are drawn by script and could not be read

### Foxit PDF Services API (F)

Good for: An agent that needs conversion, page operations, protection, redaction, forms and OCR at a flat per-request price with free failures.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 25

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: Application credentials carry no scopes, and the MCP client sends the client ID and secret as headers on every call


## Why the edge

### Schema & documentation: ConvertAPI +63

- ConvertAPI (92): OpenAPI 3.0.4 at v2.convertapi.com/info/openapi, 333 operations with token, JWT and secret schemes, plus per-conversion documents and wildcard listings (25). A long llms.txt written for agents (10). llms.txt tells agents to discover conversions rather than assume them and explains workflows and storage; converter pages describe each parameter (16 of 20). Per-converter parameter schemas in the OpenAPI document, validated by the MCP convert tool (12 of 15). 25 numbered error codes with meanings and examples throughout (14 of 15). v2 API and a dated public changelog (15). 25+10+16+12+14+15 = 92.
- Foxit PDF Services API (29): The OpenAPI YAML was found only in the reference page's script configuration, with no visible download link, so it and the credits, limits and authentication guides held in it are struck. The official MCP server's tools carry typed zod schemas in its public repository (0.2.3, 32 tools, re-read in a clone on 4 November) and in the npm 1.1.2 source read on 8 October (42 tools), with no linked contract for the API itself. Schemas in source code are not a published contract document, as a repository spec file with no visible download isn't (karrio, jambonz), so the contract line scores 0 (25 to 0). No llms.txt on either portal host and no Markdown twins, per the 8 October check (0). MCP descriptions state purpose and the upload, operate and poll order, but none says when not to use a tool (13 of 20, partial kept). Inputs are typed with optional fields marked, but the repository has three enums (rotation, page mode, scaling) and page ranges are free strings; the enums read from the YAML are struck (11 to 8). The README gives usage examples in prose, and tools return a `code` with a fallback such as CONVERSION_FAILED and a message, with no documented error table; the 235 YAML examples and coded bodies are struck (10 to 5). Package versions with no changelog; the YAML version number is struck (3 of 15). 0+0+13+8+5+3 = 29.

### Maintenance & community: ConvertAPI +62

- ConvertAPI (80): Closed service. Newest changelog entry 5 November 2026 (30). Twelve dated entries from 1 October to 5 November (20). Public changelog, support email, phone and form, and SDK repositories on GitHub; issue replies not sampled (10 of 15). Current official SDKs, npm 1.16.0 on 26 October and PyPI 2.0.1 on 20 October 2026 (15). The MCP repository's last commit is 12 May 2026 and has no LICENSE file though its README says MIT; SDK CI not checked (5 of 10). 30+20+10+15+5 = 80.
- Foxit PDF Services API (18): The MCP server's last npm release read is 1.1.2 on 13 July 2026, 114 days before 4 November, so within 180 days (20 to 10, cause time). The public repository's last commit is still 23 January 2026 (re-read in a clone), npm could not be re-read without its JSON registry, and the developer blog feed is on a paused host. The API itself has no dated release notes. One release in the last 90 days as of 8 October and none since 6 August on what could be read (0). Per the 8 October check, two GitHub bug reports of 27 August 2026 and a fix submitted on 29 August were open, the newest developer forum topics had no replies, and support runs through a case form (6 of 25). The official MCP registry entry was read from the registry's data API, which is struck, and `mcpName` in package.json is a claim, not presence; no official API SDK was found (10 to 0). The repository has no CI workflow, no test files and no licence file, and its source stops at 0.2.3 while npm carries 1.1.2 (2 of 10). 10+0+6+0+2 = 18.

### Agent ergonomics: ConvertAPI +47

- ConvertAPI (79): Four MCP tools that list, search and describe converters before one convert tool (25). `StoreFile=true` returns a URL and FileId instead of base64, and converters can be filtered by tag or search; nothing to paginate (14 of 20). Numbered codes such as 4014 balance exhausted and 5003 password protected an agent can act on (17 of 20). No idempotency key; a repeated conversion is billed again, and MCP tool annotations weren't found (8 of 20). SDKs in nine languages and a CLI, with one required file parameter on most converters (15). 25+14+17+8+15 = 79.
- Foxit PDF Services API (32): The OpenAPI YAML was found only in the reference page's script configuration, with no visible download link, so it and the credits, limits and authentication guides held in it are struck. The MCP server at 1.1.2 has 42 tools in about 89 KB of source with no toolsets, the more-than-30 band (5); the API half of the earlier average rested on the struck YAML (10 to 5). Page ranges, extract types and image DPI limit output in the tool inputs, and nothing lists or pages stored documents (12 of 20). Tool errors carry a code and a message in the MCP source; the reading of the API's error bodies came from the struck YAML (14 to 8). The `request_id` deduplication came from the struck credits guide, and the MCP tools carry no `readOnlyHint` or `destructiveHint` in the source (6 to 0). Most tools need only a document ID. No official SDK package was found beyond the MCP server (7 of 15). 5+12+8+0+7 = 32.

### Security & auth: ConvertAPI +25

- ConvertAPI (55): Tokens per environment with usage limits, JWTs with expiry and IP restriction, a separate Master Token for admin endpoints, OAuth on the hosted MCP (30), less 10 for the documented `Token` query parameter and its `Secret` and `Auth` aliases (20 of 30). Usage limits per token, but no read-only token, and stored files can be deleted (8 of 20). Extracted text and OCR output come from the documents, with no prompt-injection guidance (3 of 15). Usage statistics and per-environment consumption through the Master Token (10 of 15). ISO 27001 certificate linked, SOC 2 Type 2 stated with the report on request, cyber insurance; no disclosure policy, security.txt or bug bounty found (14 of 20). 20+8+3+10+14 = 55.
- Foxit PDF Services API (30): The OpenAPI YAML was found only in the reference page's script configuration, with no visible download link, so it and the credits, limits and authentication guides held in it are struck. The MCP client source sends `client_id` and `client_secret` headers on every call, from an application created in the developer portal, with no scopes; token lifetime, rotation and the ban on query-string credentials came from the struck authentication guide, so revocation and rotation are not shown on readable evidence (20 to 10, one all-powerful credential). No read-only mode. Sandbox mode is the only separation. The MCP server has no annotations or confirmation step, `delete_document` is permanent, `upload_document` reads any `file://` path, `download_document` writes to any absolute path, and the HTTP stream transport binds 0.0.0.0 (confirmed in `http-server.ts` on 4 November) with no authentication in the source (2 of 20). Extracted text, Markdown and HTML, and pages fetched by URL, are untrusted content with no injection guidance (0). Per the 8 October check, the dashboard shows credits used and remaining, and no per-call log is documented (4 of 15). Per the 8 October check, not re-read on 4 November, a disclosure policy with safe harbour, CVE numbering authority status, security bulletins and SOC 2 Type II for the cloud PDF APIs, with an expired security.txt and no bounty (14 of 20, partial kept). osv.dev lists no advisory for the npm package. 10+2+0+4+14 = 30.

### Reliability: ConvertAPI +24

- ConvertAPI (54): Hosted lines. status.convertapi.com is a Checkly dashboard drawn by script, so its components were not confirmed (10 of 20) and no history could be read (5). Concurrency per plan is published (1 to 4 concurrent conversions), with no request-rate figure (12 of 15). Under load the API answers 503 and llms.txt gives a 5, 10 and 15 second retry pattern; no 429, Retry-After or idempotency key (12 of 15). The compliance page states '99,95% monthly uptime' and says the SLA sits in the terms, but the terms read on 6 November state no uptime figure (5 of 10). Generally available (10). 10+5+12+12+5+10 = 54.
- Foxit PDF Services API (30): Foxit's General Terms of Service (27 June 2025) bar data mining or similar data gathering and extraction methods on Foxit's websites and web services, so foxit.com hosts were not requested beyond the two terms pages on 4 November and other foxit.com readings are per the 8 October check, not re-read. The OpenAPI YAML was found only in the reference page's script configuration, with no visible download link, so it and the credits, limits and authentication guides held in it are struck. status.foxit.com keeps 90-day component history for Foxit's cloud products, but has no component for the API gateway at na1.fusion.foxit.com or for PDF Services; a vendor status page with no component for the product takes the settled 15 (8 to 15). With no component there is no readable incident history for this API (5). The rate limits (15 to 0) and the 429 backoff and credit-deduplication guidance (9 to 0) were read from the struck guides, and no other readable page states them. The trust centre states an aim of 99.99 per cent uptime, and the API Service Agreement, re-read on 4 November and still dated 30 June 2025, gives no availability warranty, so no SLA (0). PDF Services is generally available on the product page (10). 15+5+0+0+0+10 = 30.

### Payments & pricing: Foxit PDF Services API +15

- ConvertAPI (25): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan quotas are public, but the prices and per-conversion overage on the pricing page are drawn by script and could not be read (5 of 20). A free trial of 250 conversions with no card, per llms.txt (20). A person signs up in a browser (0). 0+5+20+0 = 25.
- Foxit PDF Services API (40): Foxit's General Terms of Service (27 June 2025) bar data mining or similar data gathering and extraction methods on Foxit's websites and web services, so foxit.com hosts were not requested beyond the two terms pages on 4 November and other foxit.com readings are per the 8 October check, not re-read. No x402, MPP or L402 (0). The pricing page publishes the price per unit without a login, at $1,750 a year for 5,000 credits or $4,500 for 15,000 (20). The Developer plan gives 500 credits a year and the sign-up page asks only for an email address. We did not go past that page, so a later card step is unchecked (20). A person signs up in a browser to get the client ID and secret (0). Total 40.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | ConvertAPI | Foxit PDF Services API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 54 | 30 | ConvertAPI +24 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 92 | 29 | ConvertAPI +63 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 32 | ConvertAPI +47 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 55 | 30 | ConvertAPI +25 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 40 | Foxit PDF Services API +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 18 | ConvertAPI +62 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 63 | ConvertAPI +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **64 · B** | **33.3 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | ConvertAPI | Foxit PDF Services API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | ConvertAPI, UAB | Foxit Software Incorporated |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.convertapi.io` | `https://na1.fusion.foxit.com/pdf-services` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service. SDKs on GitHub; the npm SDK is MIT | Proprietary service under the Foxit API Service Agreement. The MCP server is MIT per its package.json, with no licence file in the repository |
| Tools exposed | 4 | 42 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.foxitsoftware/foxit-pdf-api-mcp-server` |
| Last release | 2026-11-05 | 2026-07-13 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-24 | 2025-06-30 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-11-05 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 177k npm/wk, 82k PyPI/wk | 12 stars, 47 npm/wk |

## How the scores have moved

### ConvertAPI

No score change since it was listed.

### Foxit PDF Services API

- -15.0 on 4 November 2026 (D to F): correction
- -0.1 on 28 October 2026: correction
- +0.1 on 27 October 2026: checklist

## Verdicts

**ConvertAPI.** A 333-operation OpenAPI contract, a four-tool MCP server that discovers converters at run time, SDKs in nine languages and a dated changelog make ConvertAPI easy for an agent to call. Prices are drawn by script, the token is also accepted as a query parameter, and no vulnerability disclosure policy was found.

**Foxit PDF Services API.** The pricing page lists $1,750 a year for 5,000 credits and a 500-credit yearly free plan, and the official MCP server's tools carry typed schemas. Credentials carry no scopes, the MCP server reads and writes any local path, the status page has no component for the API, and no changelog or linked API contract was found.

## Before you call either

### ConvertAPI

1. Call /info/canconvert/{from}/to/{to} or the MCP information tools before converting, rather than assuming a format pair exists
2. Send the token in the Authorization header, never as `?Token=`, so it stays out of logs
3. Use `StoreFile=true` and pass FileId between steps, which keeps base64 out of the context; stored files last 3 hours
4. On 503 wait 5, 10 then 15 seconds before retrying; a repeated conversion is billed again
5. Treat text extracted from documents as untrusted input

### Foxit PDF Services API

1. Set FOXIT_CLOUD_API_HOST, FOXIT_CLOUD_API_CLIENT_ID and FOXIT_CLOUD_API_CLIENT_SECRET for the MCP server. The client sends the ID and secret as headers
2. Upload first, start the operation, poll the task until its status is COMPLETED or FAILED, then download `resultDocumentId`, as the MCP tools do
3. Delete documents with `DELETE /api/documents/{document-id}` when done. Deletion is permanent
4. With the MCP server, pass only paths the task needs. `upload_document` reads any `file://` path and `download_document` writes to any absolute path
5. Run the MCP server over stdio, or put its HTTP mode behind a firewall. It binds 0.0.0.0 with no authentication

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, ConvertAPI or Foxit PDF Services API?

ConvertAPI scores 64 (B) on agent readiness against Foxit PDF Services API's 33.3 (F), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Foxit PDF Services API leads on payments & pricing.

### Do ConvertAPI and Foxit PDF Services API need an API key?

ConvertAPI takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Foxit PDF Services API uses an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call ConvertAPI and Foxit PDF Services API without installing anything?

Yes. ConvertAPI has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.convertapi.io and Foxit PDF Services API at https://na1.fusion.foxit.com/pdf-services.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convertapi-vs-foxit-pdf-services.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convertapi-vs-foxit-pdf-services.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "convertapi", "b": "foxit-pdf-services"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare convertapi foxit-pdf-services`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/convertapi.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/foxit-pdf-services.json

## Other comparisons with ConvertAPI or Foxit PDF Services API

- [CloudConvert API vs ConvertAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudconvert-vs-convertapi.md)
- [CloudConvert API vs Foxit PDF Services API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudconvert-vs-foxit-pdf-services.md)
- [ConvertAPI vs DocRaptor](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convertapi-vs-docraptor.md)
- [ConvertAPI vs iLoveAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convertapi-vs-iloveapi.md)
- [ConvertAPI vs Nutrient DWS Processor API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convertapi-vs-nutrient-dws-processor.md)
- [ConvertAPI vs PDF.co API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convertapi-vs-pdf-co.md)
- [ConvertAPI vs pdfRest API Toolkit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convertapi-vs-pdfrest.md)
- [Foxit PDF Services API vs iLoveAPI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foxit-pdf-services-vs-iloveapi.md)
- [Foxit PDF Services API vs Nutrient DWS Processor API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foxit-pdf-services-vs-nutrient-dws-processor.md)
- [Foxit PDF Services API vs PDF.co API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foxit-pdf-services-vs-pdf-co.md)
- [Foxit PDF Services API vs pdfRest API Toolkit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foxit-pdf-services-vs-pdfrest.md)
- [ConvertAPI vs PDFMonkey](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/convertapi-vs-pdfmonkey.md)
- [DocRaptor vs Foxit PDF Services API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docraptor-vs-foxit-pdf-services.md)
- [Foxit PDF Services API vs PDFMonkey](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/foxit-pdf-services-vs-pdfmonkey.md)

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp