# iLoveAPI vs PDFMonkey

> PDFMonkey scores 59.3 (C) to iLoveAPI's 42.1 (E) for pdf generate. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/iloveapi-vs-pdfmonkey
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/iloveapi-vs-pdfmonkey.md (~4,400 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: 2026-11-04

PDFMonkey scores 59.3 (C) on agent readiness against iLoveAPI's 42.1 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. iLoveAPI leads on security & auth. Both do pdf generate.

- iLoveAPI: grade E, 42.1/100, rank #1180 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/iloveapi.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/iloveapi.json
- PDFMonkey: grade C, 59.3/100, rank #637 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pdfmonkey.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/pdfmonkey.json
- Best PDF manipulation and conversion APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/pdf-tools/index.md
- All 43 pdf comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pdf-tools/index.md

## Which one, for what

### iLoveAPI (E)

Good for: An agent that needs common PDF and image operations with a monthly free allowance and a choice of processing region.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 41 against 36

Watch for: No OpenAPI file, llms.txt or Markdown docs. The reference is one HTML page

### PDFMonkey (C)

Good for: Agents that fill known templates with JSON to produce invoices, reports, forms and images, and teams that want an agent to author templates through the CLI.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 60 against 26
- Schema & documentation, 61 against 37
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 61
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 81 against 62
- Transparency & trust, 78 against 53

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: One secret key with the whole account's privileges, no scopes and no read-only key


## Why the edge

### Reliability: PDFMonkey +34

- iLoveAPI (26): Graded as a hosted API. No status page is linked from the site, the docs or the security page (0), so there is no readable incident history (5). Rate limits are described as tier-dependent and reported in response headers, with no numbers. The open-task cap of 10% of the monthly file limit and two signature reminders a day are the only figures (3). 429 is documented with advice to back off exponentially, and failed files are not charged, but there is no Retry-After and no idempotency key (8). The pricing FAQ says the API guarantees over 99.95% uptime and the functions page says 99.9%+, with no SLA document or remedy, and the terms disclaim availability (0). Generally available (10).
- PDFMonkey (60): Read with the hosted lines. status.pdfmonkey.io is an updown.io page with six checks (API, dashboard, preview, website, generation latency, queue size) and one month of rolling uptime per check, but no incident write-ups (15). The readable record is the uptime figures (API 99.98 per cent and queue 99.97 per cent since 3 October 2026) and the one incident the vendor wrote up, a slowdown of a little under an hour on 29 September 2026 with a post-mortem on 1 October; the 90-day list itself isn't published, so minor incidents only (20). The docs say there is no hard rate limit, only the monthly quota, so no request-rate numbers (5 for the quota numbers). The Node.js SDK retries 408, 429 and 5xx with backoff and honours Retry-After, and the webhook docs say delivery is at least once and to make handlers idempotent, but document creation has no idempotency key (10). No SLA found in the terms or pricing (0). GA (10). 15 + 20 + 5 + 10 + 0 + 10 = 60.

### Transparency & trust: PDFMonkey +25

- iLoveAPI (53): Closed service with terms naming iLovePDF S.L., last modified 14 February 2017, and MIT client libraries (15). The reference says files are deleted after an hour depending on tier and elsewhere after two hours, the security page says two hours and the terms say at most 48 hours. The privacy policy is an iubenda document closed to us by robots.txt and was not read (12). No deprecation policy, and the terms allow the API to be discontinued at any time (0). Seven processing regions are selectable per task and Stripe is named for payments. No subprocessor list was read (10).
- PDFMonkey (78): Closed service with iubenda terms that name the owner only as PDFMonkey at a Paris address, while the MCP server, CLI, Node SDK and Ruby gem are MIT (20). Retention statements agree across the plans page, the retention page and the data storage page (per-template TTL, 1 day, 7 days or unlimited by plan), the DPA and DsPA of 15 October 2026 are downloadable, and the privacy policy of 16 September 2026 names its processors, though it still lists Heroku where the docs name Fly.io (24). Engine deprecations were announced with a promised heads-up in 2023 and key rotation has a 2-day overlap, but there is no written deprecation policy with notice periods (8). Data locations are named (Paris and Frankfurt) and the DPA carries the approved sub-processor list (18). 20 + 24 + 8 + 18 = 70.

### Schema & documentation: PDFMonkey +24

- iLoveAPI (37): No OpenAPI file or other machine-readable contract was found (0). `llms.txt` answered 404 and there are no Markdown docs (0). The single-page reference states what each tool and parameter does, without guidance on when not to use one (10). Parameters carry types, accepted values and defaults, such as rotation 0, 90, 180 or 270 (11). JSON response samples, an error table, and file and task status lists, with request examples mostly in the library guides (10). The path carries `/v1`. No API changelog was found, and the Python and PHP libraries keep their own (6).
- PDFMonkey (61): No OpenAPI document was found on pdfmonkey.io, in llms-full.txt or in the repositories; the 11 MCP tools carry JSON Schema inputs from src/tools.ts (12). llms.txt and llms-full.txt, and every docs page has a Markdown twin (10). MCP tool descriptions are one line each and say what the tool does, and the MCP docs say what the server can't do (create or edit templates) and send that job to the CLI; the API docs explain async against sync and when to use each (12). Parameter tables give types and required fields, list_documents has a status enum, and `payload` is by nature a free JSON object matched to the template (10). Request examples in curl, Ruby, Node.js, Python and PHP on every endpoint, a 401 body, a 422 body with field names and a troubleshooting section for blank documents, empty and 403 download URLs (12). The API lives under /api/v1 and docs pages carry a last-updated date, but there is no changelog page, changes are announced in blog posts such as What We Shipped Since the Summer of 26 October 2026 (5). 12 + 10 + 12 + 10 + 12 + 5 = 61.

### Maintenance & community: PDFMonkey +19

- iLoveAPI (62): The .NET library v1.6.4 was tagged on 3 September 2026, 36 days before this check (20). Three library releases in the last 90 days, PHP v1.4.1 on 22 July, Python v1.1.0 on 28 July and .NET v1.6.4 (20). Closed service with no API changelog. Support is by email and a chat widget, and GitHub issue replies were not read (6). PHP, .NET and Python libraries are current, while Node.js last changed in May 2025 and Ruby in October 2024 (10). CI workflows and tests in the Python, .NET and Node.js repositories (6).
- PDFMonkey (81): Read as a closed service with open-source clients. pdfmonkey-mcp-server 1.0.1 on 26 October 2026, @pdfmonkey/cli 2.1.0 on 15 October and docs pages updated 2 November (30). Node SDK 1.1.0 to 1.4.0 between 2 and 5 October, CLI 2.0.0 and 2.1.0 on 13 and 15 October, MCP 1.0.1 on 26 October (20). Blog posts announce changes, and support answers by in-app chat and email within a few hours in CET business hours per the docs; GitHub issue replies couldn't be read (10 of 15). io.github.pdfmonkey/pdfmonkey-mcp in the official registry, 1.0.1 latest (15). The MCP server has unit tests, a release workflow on tags and a prepublish test step, but no CI on pull requests and a loose `^1.0.4` pin on the MCP SDK (6). 30 + 20 + 10 + 15 + 6 = 81.

### Agent ergonomics: PDFMonkey +14

- iLoveAPI (61): Responses are small JSON and output arrives as a file or ZIP, but every job takes four calls and the start call's server must be reused (12). `/task` lists 50 a page with filters by tool, status and `custom_int`, and the signature list takes page and per-page (14). One error structure with type, message, code and param, plus per-file statuses such as WrongPassword and DamagedFile (14). No idempotency keys. A `debug` parameter echoes a request without processing, and a wrong password leaves the task waiting for a resend (6). Most parameters have defaults, and there are official libraries in five languages (15).
- PDFMonkey (75): 11 compact MCP tools from a 17 KB tools.ts, and API responses are cards without payload or logs on list and sync endpoints, while a full template fetch is large and the SDK docs warn about it (22). `page[number]`, `q[status]`, `q[document_template_id]`, `q[updated_since]` and `q[search]` on document cards, `q[folders]` on templates and snippets, a `meta` block with pagination, and the CLI's `--json` (18). 401 and 422 bodies name the problem, 403 on an expired download URL is explained, and a quota overrun rejects the create rather than making a draft; the MCP server returns the API's error text (14). No idempotency key on create, so a retried create queues and bills a second document; webhooks are at least once with idempotency guidance; the MCP server sets no readOnlyHint or destructiveHint and `delete_document` is permanent, which the docs leave to the client to confirm (6). Only `document_template_id` and `payload` are needed, and official SDKs exist in two languages (Node.js and Ruby) plus the CLI (15). 22 + 18 + 14 + 6 + 15 = 75.

### Payments & pricing: PDFMonkey +10

- iLoveAPI (30): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). The credit cost of every tool is public without a login, but the euro price of a credit is drawn by script and was not read, so this is scored as public plan pricing (10). 2,500 free credits a month, and the sign-up form asks for name, email and password with no card field (20). A person registers in a browser to get keys (0).
- PDFMonkey (40): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices in euros, per-document pay-as-you-go rates and the Boost Pack price are on the public pricing page and in the docs (20). A Free plan of 20 documents a month and a 30-day Pro trial of 300 documents, no card (20). Signup is a browser flow and the key is minted in the dashboard (0). 0 + 20 + 20 + 0 = 40.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | iLoveAPI | PDFMonkey | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 26 | 60 | PDFMonkey +34 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 37 | 61 | PDFMonkey +24 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 61 | 75 | PDFMonkey +14 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 41 | 36 | iLoveAPI +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 40 | PDFMonkey +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 81 | PDFMonkey +19 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 53 | 78 | PDFMonkey +25 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **42.1 · E** | **59.3 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | iLoveAPI | PDFMonkey |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | iLovePDF S.L. | PDFMonkey |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.ilovepdf.com/v1` | `https://api.pdfmonkey.io/api/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | stdio |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the iLovePDF API terms. The client libraries are MIT | MIT (MCP server, CLI and SDKs) |
| Tools exposed | none | 11 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.github.pdfmonkey/pdfmonkey-mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-09-03 | 2026-10-26 |
| Terms last updated | 2017-02-14 | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 9.6k npm/wk | 97 npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.8/5 (4) | none |

## How the scores have moved

### iLoveAPI

- -0.1 on 28 October 2026: correction
- +0.2 on 27 October 2026: checklist

### PDFMonkey

No score change since it was listed.

## Verdicts

**iLoveAPI.** Per-tool credit costs are public, 2,500 free credits arrive each month on a sign-up that asks for no card, and five official libraries are MIT. No OpenAPI file, status page or published rate-limit numbers were found, and the governing terms date from 14 February 2017.

**PDFMonkey.** An agent gets 11 compact MCP tools, a scriptable CLI and a sync endpoint, with public euro prices and a free plan. The one account-wide key has no scopes, document creation has no idempotency key, and there is no OpenAPI document, SLA or security disclosure policy.

## Before you call either

### iLoveAPI

1. Run four calls per job. `GET /v1/start/{tool}/{region}` returns a `server` and a `task`, then send upload, process and download to that server
2. Sign a JWT with the project secret key and send it as `Authorization: Bearer`. Tokens expire after one hour
3. Download results promptly. The reference says files are deleted one to two hours after processing, depending on tier
4. Back off exponentially on 429 and read the rate-limit headers on each response. No limit numbers are published
5. Add `debug=true` to any request to have the server echo the parameters without processing or spending credits

### PDFMonkey

1. Use `POST /api/v1/documents/sync` or the MCP `generate_document` tool for one document; for batches create with `status: pending` and poll `document_cards` or take the webhook
2. Fetch the template first (`get_template` or `pdfmonkey template get --json`) to learn the payload shape; a mismatched payload generates a blank or wrong document, not an error
3. Download within the hour; `download_url` returns 403 after 60 minutes, and fetching the document again gives a fresh link
4. Do not retry a create on a timeout without checking `list_documents` first; there is no idempotency key and each generation counts against the quota
5. Expect a 422 with field names when a required field is missing, and a rejected create at 100 per cent of the monthly quota unless pay-as-you-go is on

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, iLoveAPI or PDFMonkey?

PDFMonkey scores 59.3 (C) on agent readiness against iLoveAPI's 42.1 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. iLoveAPI leads on security & auth.

### Do iLoveAPI and PDFMonkey need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call iLoveAPI and PDFMonkey without installing anything?

Yes. iLoveAPI has a hosted endpoint at https://api.ilovepdf.com/v1 and PDFMonkey at https://api.pdfmonkey.io/api/v1.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with iLoveAPI or PDFMonkey

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