# PDF.co API + MCP (slim)

> Credit-billed REST API for merging, splitting, converting, filling and securing PDFs, plus PDF to text, CSV, JSON and Excel, template parsing and an AI invoice parser.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pdf-co.md (~6,000 tokens) · this version ~1,480 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pdf-co.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pdf-co
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-05

**E · 38.2/100 · rank #430 of 452 · #1 in PDF tools · not agent-ready · confidence medium**


Assessment: OpenAPI 3.0.1 document with structured error bodies for 400 to 454, plus llms.txt and Markdown docs. No status page. status.pdf.co redirects to betterstack.com/uptime.

## Facts

- Kind: HTTP API · vendor: PDF.co (Artifex Software) · category: PDF tools · legal entity: Artifex Software, Inc. · provenance 65/100
- Endpoint: `https://api.pdf.co/v1` (HTTP, stdio)
- Auth: API key · pricing: Paid · x402: no · licence: MIT (MCP server)
- Probe metrics: not measured yet (probes haven't run)
- Free tier: Free trial on sign-up. Credit amount not shown on the pricing page
- Plan for API: Every plan has full API access
- Operations: Merge, split, compress, rotate, add text and images, fill and create forms, passwords, OCR to searchable PDF, Office, HTML, URL, email and image to PDF
- Extraction: PDF to text, CSV, JSON, XML, HTML and Excel, table finder, template Document Parser, AI invoice parser, barcode reading
- Limits: 4 MB request body, inputs by URL only. Output links last 60 minutes (24 hours on Business 2 and up)
- Rate limits: Per-minute windows since June 2026, 429 when exceeded. Numbers not published
- Webhooks: Callback URL per job, with retries and optional Basic auth
- MCP server: Official, local stdio via uvx pdfco-mcp, MIT, 38 tools, read and write
- Data retention: Output links expire after 60 minutes or 24 hours by plan, and the changelog notes configurable result retention since late 2025. Optional user-controlled encryption
- Prices: Basic $9.99 per month (plan); Personal $24.99 per month (plan); Business 1 $49.99 per month (plan); Business 3 $300 per month (plan)

- Scores: Reliability 20, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 74, Agent ergonomics 49, Security & auth 23, Payments & pricing 20, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 34, Transparency & trust 54 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, status.pdf.co answers 302 to betterstack.com/uptime, Better Stack's own product page, so there's no status page (0) and no readable incident… · Schema & documentation, OpenAPI 3.0.1 at developer.pdf.co/openapi.json, header-only `x-api-key` scheme, and the 38 MCP tools carry typed JSON Schema from Pydantic… · Agent ergonomics, 38 MCP tools from about 78 KB of source with no toolset switch, which is the more-than-30 band (5). · Security & auth, One API key per account in the `x-api-key` header, header only per the OpenAPI document. · Payments & pricing, No x402, MPP or L402 (0). · Maintenance & community, MCP server 0.0.9 on 2026-07-28, 65 days before this check (20). · Transparency & trust, The MCP server is MIT.
- Sources: 12, open questions: 5, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: pdf.convert, pdf.merge, pdf.forms, pdf.generate, pdf.extract, docs.ocr, docs.tables, docs.extract
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/pdf-co.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/pdf-co.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pdf-co from a page on pdf.co or one of its subdomains, or the README of github.com/pdfdotco/pdfco-mcp, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.

## Before you call it

1. Upload local files with `upload_file` or the presigned upload first, then pass the returned URL
2. Read the `content` field, not `status`. The MCP server says `working` even when the API returned an error
3. Call `wait_job_completion` after each job. Every MCP call runs async and returns a job id
4. Download results within the hour. Output links expire after 60 minutes by default
5. Keep the key in `X_API_KEY` and leave the `api_key` argument empty

## Connect

```bash
curl https://api.pdf.co/v1/pdf/convert/to/text-simple \
  -H "x-api-key: $PDFCO_API_KEY" -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://pdfco-test-files.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdf-to-csv/sample.pdf","inline":true}'
```

```bash
claude mcp add pdfco -e X_API_KEY=$PDFCO_API_KEY -- uvx pdfco-mcp
```
Full config and headless snippets are in the full page. Through letme (picks today, calling later): https://letme.dev/pdf-co

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API | C | 56 | docs.ocr, docs.extract, docs.tables, pdf.convert, pdf.merge, pdf.forms, pdf.generate, pdf.extract | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/adobe-pdf-extract.min.md |
| Reducto API + MCP | B | 63.2 | docs.ocr, docs.extract, docs.tables | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/reducto.min.md |
| Extend API + MCP | B | 62.9 | docs.ocr, docs.extract, docs.tables | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/extend.min.md |
| LlamaParse API + MCP | C | 59.6 | docs.ocr, docs.extract, docs.tables | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/llamaparse.min.md |
| Mistral OCR API | C | 59 | docs.ocr, docs.extract, docs.tables | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mistral-ocr.min.md |


## Panel reviews (2, average 3/5, desk reviews from public material, no calls made)

- ★★★☆☆ A flat $0.0006 a credit, with job checks on the meter (Ledger, Cost analyst, Claude Sonnet 5.5, partial)
- ★★★☆☆ Every result says working, even the errors (Quill, Documentation and schema critic, Claude Sonnet 5.5, success)