PDF Text Extractor: PDF to Text & JSON from URLs, in Bulk

PDF Text Extractor turns PDF URLs into clean text and JSON in bulk: the full text, optional per-page text (ideal for RAG chunking and citations), page ranges, keyword counts with page numbers, and document metadata (title, subject, page count, created/modified dates, file size, SHA-256) plus a scanned-PDF flag. Export as JSON, CSV or Excel or call it from the API, Make, Zapier or n8n. No start fee, no OCR surcharges. Pay per result from $0.80 per 1,000 PDFs.

Why use this PDF text extractor

• ✅ Bulk: paste or upload hundreds of PDF links; 5 are processed in parallel by default.
• ✅ Per-page text and page ranges (1-3,7, 5-) so you only process what you need.
• ✅ Keyword finder: counts each keyword and lists the pages it appears on.
• ✅ Layout mode keeps table/column spacing for forms and statements.
• ✅ Honest failures: broken links, non-PDF files and password-protected PDFs come back as an item with a clear error and are never charged.
• ✅ Cheapest per PDF: planned price is about $1 per 1,000 PDFs with no start fee (popular alternatives charge $3.45–$5 per 1,000 plus a start fee).
• ✅ Pay only for results: $1.20 per 1,000 PDFs on the Free plan, down to $0.80 on Gold+. No start fee.

Use cases

• RAG and AI pipelines: per-page text with page numbers for chunking and citations.
• Document monitoring: hash + keyword hits to spot changes in policies, filings or price lists.
• Research and compliance: pull text from reports, regulations and public filings at scale.
• Data entry automation: extract text from invoices, statements and forms you're allowed to process.

How to extract text from PDFs

1. Add your PDF URLs (or upload a list).
2. Optional: set page ranges, turn on per-page text, add keywords.
3. Click Start, then export the dataset or use the API.

An empty input {} runs a demo on three public IRS forms (W-9, W-4, 1040).

Input example

{
  "pdfUrls": [
    {"url": "https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15.pdf"},
    {"url": "https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf"}
  ],
  "pages": "1-20",
  "includePageTexts": true,
  "keywords": ["deadline", "penalty"],
  "maxTextLength": 2000
}

Field	What it does
pdfUrls	Direct PDF links
pages	Page ranges, e.g. 1-3,7 or 5- (empty = all)
includePageTexts	Adds a pages array: [{page, text}]
keywords	Case-insensitive count + page list per keyword
preserveLayout	Keep visual spacing (tables, forms)
maxTextLength	Truncate text (0 = full)
maxPagesPerPdf, maxFileSizeMb, maxConcurrency	Safety and speed limits

Sample results (real rows from our test run, Oct 24, 2026, pages 1-20, keywords "deadline" and "penalty")

PDF	Title	Pages	Words (p.1-20)	"penalty" hits (pages)	Time
p17.pdf	2025 Publication 17	142	23,809	15 (5, 8, 13, 16, 18)	1.2 s
p15.pdf	2026 Publication 15	59	19,187	6 (10, 12, 17)	1.9 s
i1040gi.pdf	2025 Instruction 1040	126	14,025	0	2.5 s
notapdf_xyz.pdf	(error: 404 Not Found, not charged)				0.8 s

Output example

{
  "url": "https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf",
  "fileName": "fw9.pdf",
  "success": true,
  "fileSizeBytes": 140815,
  "sha256": "2d420cbb4123dcf1fb82595b2359cfbb5d81f00b9df9d359fcc7af361d093f53",
  "title": "Form W-9 (Rev. March 2024)",
  "subject": "Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification",
  "producer": "Designer 6.5",
  "createdAt": "2024-03-06T08:18:13",
  "pageCount": 6,
  "pagesExtracted": 6,
  "encrypted": false,
  "charCount": 37734,
  "wordCount": 6520,
  "hasTextLayer": true,
  "text": "Form W-9\n(Rev. March 2024)\nRequest for Taxpayer\nIdentification Number and Certification\n...",
  "textTruncated": false,
  "durationSec": 0.31
}

With includePageTexts you also get "pages": [{"page": 1, "text": "..."}], and with keywords you get "keywordHits": {"penalty": {"count": 6, "pages": [10, 12, 17]}}.

Limits

• Reads the PDF's text layer. Scanned image-only PDFs return little or no text and are flagged with hasTextLayer: false (no OCR).
• Password-protected PDFs return an error.
• Author/creator personal names in PDF metadata are intentionally not output.

Pricing

Pay per result, live since Oct 24, 2026: you pay only for PDFs saved to the dataset. No start fee, no monthly rental. Failed or skipped PDFs are never charged.

Apify plan	Price per 1,000 PDFs
Free	$1.20
Bronze	$1.00
Silver	$0.90
Gold, Platinum, Diamond	$0.80

Apify platform usage is included. Set Maximum cost per run in the run options to cap spend; the run stops charging at your limit.

FAQ

Does it work with Google Drive or Dropbox links? Use a direct-download link that returns the PDF file itself.

Does it follow robots.txt? Yes. URLs disallowed by a site's robots.txt are skipped and reported.

Is this legal? Only process PDFs you have the right to use. The Actor downloads only the links you provide; it does not crawl sites.

Found a bug or need a field? Open an issue on the Issues tab.

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