Best Free PDF to Excel Converters in 2026 (Limits Compared)
Ten converters compared on what a free run allows, which sheet layout the output gets, and where the file is processed, with prices checked on 10 October 2026.
Short answer: PDFgear is the free pick for one large table. Its online converter takes files up to 100 MB, states no usage cap, and writes every PDF page into one Excel file. PDF24 fits work you repeat all week, since its Excel page says there are no limits and no sign-up.
The free tiers break at their caps. Soda PDF takes 3 MB files and 2 a day, iLovePDF takes 15 MB and one file per task, and Sejda allows 3 tasks an hour. Scans are the hard case: iLovePDF marks OCR Premium, Smallpdf keeps it for Pro, Soda PDF asks for a trial sign-up, and Tabula does not read scans at all.
Key facts10 tools compared: PDFgear, PDF24, Tabula, Adobe Acrobat online, CloudConvert, Smallpdf, Soda…
- 10 tools compared: PDFgear, PDF24, Tabula, Adobe Acrobat online, CloudConvert, Smallpdf, Soda PDF, PDF Candy, Sejda, iLovePDF
- PDF24 (best for: Repeat conversions for a team that wants no account and no cap): Free, with no sign-up or stated limits.
- Tabula (best for: Confidential text-based PDFs, such as a financial report, that must never leave your computer): Free and open source, with no paid tier. It runs on your own computer.
- Adobe Acrobat online (best for: People who already work in Acrobat and want the converter from the PDF format's own maker): Free converter with no daily count published on the page, and a 7-day free trial for Acrobat.
The best free PDF to Excel converter in 2026 is PDFgear for a single big table, and PDF24 for the job you repeat.
All ten converters here produce a spreadsheet, so the real difference is how much a free run allows before a cap stops you, and whether a scan gets through without paying.
A PDF stores lines and text, not cells, so the converter has to rebuild the grid.
A tool that reads text line by line can scramble the columns, while one that reads the layout keeps them. A free plan can end the job at the file size or the page count, so a 40-page quarterly pack can fail on a tool with a short page cap.
Toolradar data: the directory we run tracks 11,051 tools in 343 categories as of October 2026, and the productivity category alone lists 2,614 of them.
Methodology: we read each converter's own PDF to Excel page, and its pricing page where it has one, on 10 October 2026.
The list is ordered by how little a free run stops you: no published cap first, then daily, hourly and file-size caps. Prices appear only where the vendor printed them.
Top Picks
Based on features, real-world fit, and value for money.
The free online converter with an OCR mode for scanned tables and no stated usage limit.
Free, with no stated usage or page cap and a 100 MB limit per file on the online converter.
One large table or report that needs a single clean Excel file and no daily cap.
A free converter with no stated limits or sign-up that writes real cells, numbers, currencies and dates.
Free, with no sign-up or stated limits.
Repeat conversions for a team that wants no account and no cap.
A free open-source desktop tool that exports the table you box in as CSV or Excel, with no upload.
Free and open source, with no paid tier. It runs on your own computer.
Confidential text-based PDFs, such as a financial report, that must never leave your computer.
| Tool | Pricing | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| PDFgear | Free, with no stated usage or page cap and a 100 MB limit per file on the online converter. | One large table or report that needs a single clean Excel file and no daily cap. |
| PDF24 | Free, with no sign-up or stated limits. | Repeat conversions for a team that wants no account and no cap. |
| Tabula | Free and open source, with no paid tier. It runs on your own computer. | Confidential text-based PDFs, such as a financial report, that must never leave your computer. |
| Adobe Acrobat online | Free converter with no daily count published on the page, and a 7-day free trial for Acrobat. | People who already work in Acrobat and want the converter from the PDF format's own maker. |
| CloudConvert | Free plan: 10 conversions a day that reset daily, 1 GB per file, and a 5-minute processing cap. | Power users who convert in small batches and can live with a daily credit reset. |
| Smallpdf | Free with a daily download limit the page does not number. OCR needs Pro, which has a 7-day trial. | Light users who want a familiar brand and can pay for Pro only when a scan needs OCR. |
| Soda PDF | Free for files of 3 MB or less and 2 files a day. Paid plan prices sit behind See prices links. | Small single-table files where you want one sheet per PDF page and only a handful of conversions a day. |
| PDF Candy | Free for files up to 40 MB, deleted after 2 hours. Desktop plus web yearly is €4 a month. | Mid-sized files from people who want no sign-up for basic tasks and a short deletion window. |
| Sejda | Free for 3 tasks an hour on documents up to 10 pages or 50 MB, then €5.50 for a 7-day web pass. | Short documents converted a few at a time, when an hourly task cap is acceptable. |
| iLovePDF | Free with 15 MB per file and one file per task. Premium is €60 a year, or €9 a month. | A quick one-off conversion of a small file, when you want to choose one sheet or several. |
Pricing read from each vendor's own pricing page, checked Oct 2026. Every vendor here publishes a price.
PDFgear
The free online converter with an OCR mode for scanned tables and no stated usage limit.
- Pricing
- Free, with no stated usage or page cap and a 100 MB limit per file on the online converter.
Best for: One large table or report that needs a single clean Excel file and no daily cap.
Pros
- No stated limit on how often you convert or how many pages a file has, so a long report is not cut short.
- Advanced mode turns on OCR for scanned PDFs, and the converter page does not put that mode behind a paid plan.
- All pages of the PDF come out in one structured Excel file, so a multi-page report stays together.
Cons
- The online converter takes one file at a time, so a folder of statements means one upload after another.
- Processing runs on Amazon cloud servers in the US, which rules the online tool out for a confidential file.
PDF24
A free converter with no stated limits or sign-up that writes real cells, numbers, currencies and dates.
- Pricing
- Free, with no sign-up or stated limits.
Best for: Repeat conversions for a team that wants no account and no cap.
Pros
- The page says it runs without restrictions, needs no registration, and carries no subscription trap.
- The output is real Excel cells you can calculate with, not text piled into one column.
- Its servers sit in Germany, and uploaded files are removed after one hour.
Cons
- The Excel page makes no OCR claim, so test one scan before you rely on it for a scanned table.
- The service is funded by advertising, and the page says so, with ad blocks shown alongside the converter.
Tabula
A free open-source desktop tool that exports the table you box in as CSV or Excel, with no upload.
- Pricing
- Free and open source, with no paid tier. It runs on your own computer.
Best for: Confidential text-based PDFs, such as a financial report, that must never leave your computer.
Pros
- Nothing is uploaded, because the tool runs locally, so a confidential statement stays on your machine.
- You draw a box around the table, and the preview shows the extracted rows before you export.
- The project says Tabula will always be free and open source, so there is no upgrade to plan around.
Cons
- It reads only text-based PDFs, so a scanned page needs OCR in another tool first.
- The download page lists version 1.2.1 from 4 June 2018 as the latest release, and Windows and Linux users also need Java.
Adobe Acrobat online
Adobe's converter, with no free daily count on the page and a 7-day trial for the full tools.
- Pricing
- Free converter with no daily count published on the page, and a 7-day free trial for Acrobat.
Best for: People who already work in Acrobat and want the converter from the PDF format's own maker.
Pros
- The converter comes from the company behind the PDF format, and the page says files are handled on Adobe servers.
- Signing in lets Adobe keep the converted file, so you can come back to it, as the page explains.
- The page lists OCR among the features a 7-day trial includes, which matters for a scanned table.
Cons
- The converter page gives no daily count, file-size cap or page limit for free users, so the limit shows up only when you hit it.
- Acrobat plan prices sit on a separate plans page, so no Adobe upgrade price is given.
CloudConvert
A conversion service with 10 free conversions a day and paid credits beyond that.
- Pricing
- Free plan: 10 conversions a day that reset daily, 1 GB per file, and a 5-minute processing cap.
Best for: Power users who convert in small batches and can live with a daily credit reset.
Pros
- The free plan takes files up to 1 GB, the largest free cap on this list, and the page says it extracts tables from any PDF.
- The daily reset means a light user who converts a few files a day never has to buy credits.
- Five concurrent tasks on the free plan let a short batch run at the same time.
Cons
- The 5-minute processing cap ends a long scan, and lifting it means buying credits on a slider.
- Paid use is sold as credits, and the pricing page shows no fixed paid amount.
Smallpdf
A familiar browser converter whose free plan has a daily download cap and whose OCR needs Pro.
- Pricing
- Free with a daily download limit the page does not number. OCR needs Pro, which has a 7-day trial.
Best for: Light users who want a familiar brand and can pay for Pro only when a scan needs OCR.
Pros
- The converter's Basic mode handles selectable text, so a text PDF converts without a paid plan.
- Files are protected with 256-bit TLS and deleted from its servers after one hour, as the page states.
- The output is XLSX, which the page says works in Excel 2007 and later and in Google Sheets.
Cons
- The free download limit is daily with no number, so you learn the cap only when it stops you.
- Pro carries OCR and unlimited downloads, and its price appears only on Smallpdf's pricing page.
Soda PDF
A free converter with a file cap and a daily cap, writing each PDF page to its own Excel sheet.
- Pricing
- Free for files of 3 MB or less and 2 files a day. Paid plan prices sit behind See prices links.
Best for: Small single-table files where you want one sheet per PDF page and only a handful of conversions a day.
Pros
- Every PDF page becomes its own Excel sheet, so a page-per-table report keeps its order without setup.
- The page says colors, borders and fonts stay intact, and blank cells stand in for the original spaces.
- Files are deleted from its servers within 24 hours, and the page says so beside the upload box.
Cons
- The size and daily caps can end a month-end pack at the first attempt, so check the file size before you start.
- OCR needs a free trial sign-up or a Pro subscription, so a scanned table is a gated step.
PDF Candy
A free converter for files up to 40 MB, with no sign-up for basic tasks and a 2-hour deletion window.
- Pricing
- Free for files up to 40 MB, deleted after 2 hours. Desktop plus web yearly is €4 a month.
Best for: Mid-sized files from people who want no sign-up for basic tasks and a short deletion window.
Pros
- Files up to 40 MB convert on the free plan, more than twice the size the iLovePDF free plan allows.
- No registration is needed for basic tasks, and signing up buys higher-priority processing.
- Uploads are encrypted in transit and deleted from its servers after 2 hours, as the converter page states.
Cons
- The free plan has hourly limits the page does not give as a number, while the paid plans list none.
- Paid prices are in euros: €4 a month yearly for desktop plus web, €6 a month for web, and €99 once for a lifetime license.
Sejda
Free within its page and hourly caps, with paid web and desktop plans priced in euros.
- Pricing
- Free for 3 tasks an hour on documents up to 10 pages or 50 MB, then €5.50 for a 7-day web pass.
Best for: Short documents converted a few at a time, when an hourly task cap is acceptable.
Pros
- The free tier takes files up to 50 MB, and its OCR runs on up to 10 pages per task, so a short scan converts at no cost.
- Paid plans list no page or hourly limits and OCR up to 100 pages, which covers a longer scan.
- The web week pass is a one-time charge for 7 days, and the page says it does not renew automatically.
Cons
- The free tier stops once the hourly cap is used up, so a batch of statements waits or costs money.
- Paid prices are in euros, including €71 per user a year for Desktop plus web.
iLovePDF
A browser converter whose free plan caps files, offers a sheet-layout choice, and puts OCR on Premium.
- Pricing
- Free with 15 MB per file and one file per task. Premium is €60 a year, or €9 a month.
Best for: A quick one-off conversion of a small file, when you want to choose one sheet or several.
Pros
- The converter asks you to choose one sheet or several before you convert, which decides how a multi-table PDF lands.
- Premium raises the PDF to Excel file size to 4 GB per task and removes the processing limit, per the plan table.
- OCR is marked Premium on the converter, so you know a scan is a paid step before you upload.
Cons
- The free plan's processing is described only as limited, and the pricing page gives no daily count.
- The page shows euro prices only, with no USD price for Premium on either billing option.
What it is
A free PDF to Excel converter reads the tables in a PDF and writes them to an XLSX file you can sort and calculate in. A free tier is any version that converts without a card.
The limits that matter are file size, conversions per day or hour, page count, and whether a scanned page needs OCR.
Every converter here except Tabula sends the file to a server, and most say when they delete the copy. PDFgear names Amazon cloud servers in the US for its online tool.
Tabula is the one desktop option, so the file stays on your machine, but it reads only text-based PDFs and a scan needs OCR somewhere else first.
For the word version of this job, see best free PDF to Word converters.
For editing rather than converting, see best free PDF editors, and for shrinking a file first, best free PDF compressors.
Why it matters
The limit that stops you is rarely the one in the headline. A converter can call itself free and still cap you at a small file size or a few files a day. Soda PDF states those caps in a footnote on its converter page, and Sejda states its hourly cap beside the upload box.
Read that box before you upload a 60-page bank statement.
The second cost is the file's route. Deletion windows differ: PDFgear says 20 minutes after you leave the site, PDF24 and Smallpdf delete after one hour, Sejda and PDF Candy after 2 hours, and Soda PDF within 24 hours.
Treat a window as a promise you can check, and note it before a confidential file goes up.
Sheet layout is the Excel-specific detail. Soda PDF writes every page to its own sheet, iLovePDF lets you pick one sheet or several, and PDFgear folds all pages into one file.
A multi-table report split across sheets is harder to total, so choose the layout before you convert.
Key features to look for
Pricing
Each converter was read on its own PDF to Excel page, and on its pricing page where that page printed prices, on 10 October 2026. Free tiers are quoted as the pages state them. Paid prices appear only where the vendor printed a figure, in euros, because the vendor pages we read show euros and no USD price.
No currency was converted.
Sejda's Web Week Pass is €5.50 for 7 days, its web monthly plan is €8.50 a month, and Desktop plus web costs €71 a year per user. iLovePDF Premium is €60 a year billed annually, which works out to €5 a month, against €9 billed monthly.
PDF Candy's Desktop plus web yearly plan is €4 a month, and its lifetime desktop plus web license is €99 paid once.
Four converters quote no paid price here. CloudConvert sells credits on a slider, Soda PDF lists plan prices behind See prices links, Smallpdf's Pro prices sit on its pricing page, and Adobe sends Acrobat pricing to a separate plans page.
Our Adobe Acrobat review covers that product in full.
| Plan | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| PDFgear online | Free | 100 MB per file, no stated usage cap |
| PDF24 | Free | No stated limits, no sign-up, files removed after one hour |
| Tabula | Free | Open source, runs on your own computer, text PDFs only |
| Adobe Acrobat online | Free | No daily count on the converter page, 7-day Acrobat trial |
| CloudConvert free | Free | 10 conversions a day, 1 GB per file, 5-minute cap |
| Smallpdf free | Free | Daily download limit with no number stated, OCR needs Pro |
| Soda PDF free | Free, 2 files a day | Files of 3 MB or less, one sheet per PDF page |
| PDF Candy free | Free | Files up to 40 MB, uploads deleted after 2 hours |
| PDF Candy Desktop plus Web yearly | €4 a month | Yearly billing, desktop and web, files up to 500 MB |
| PDF Candy Web monthly | €6 a month | Web only, files up to 500 MB, no hourly limits |
| Sejda free | Free, 3 tasks an hour | Documents up to 10 pages or 50 MB, OCR on 10 pages per task |
| Sejda Web Week Pass | €5.50 for 7 days | One-time charge, web only, no automatic renewal |
| Sejda Desktop plus Web annual | €71 per user a year | Desktop and web, no page or hourly limits |
| iLovePDF free | Free | 15 MB per file, one file per task |
| iLovePDF Premium annual | €60 a year | Billed annually, unlimited processing, OCR |
| iLovePDF Premium monthly | €9 a month | Billed monthly, same Premium features |
The bottom line
Start with PDFgear for one large report, since its online converter takes large files with no stated usage cap. Use PDF24 when the work repeats all week and you want no sign-up. Choose Tabula when the PDF is text-based and must stay on your computer.
Skip Soda PDF for anything above its size cap, because its caps end the job early.
Sejda suits short documents only, and iLovePDF's free plan suits small files. OCR costs money at iLovePDF and Smallpdf, and Soda PDF asks for a trial sign-up, so plan for it before a scan lands on your desk.
To edit a PDF once it is converted, see best PDF editors.
Cite this: Techpresso, "Best Free PDF to Excel Converters in 2026", October 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best free PDF to Excel converter in 2026?
Can I convert a scanned PDF to Excel for free?
Which free PDF to Excel converter has no daily limit?
Does the converted Excel file keep formulas?
Is it safe to upload a bank statement to a free converter?
How much does a paid PDF to Excel converter cost?
Some offers on this page may be paid placements or contain affiliate links.
Get the Techpresso brief
Free daily newsletter, read in 5 minutes.
Subscribe free