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

This PDF text extractor and PDF parser turns PDF URLs into clean text and JSON in bulk (PDF to text, PDF to JSON): 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.
• ✅ Low price per PDF: $0.80–$1.20 per 1,000 PDFs with no start fee (popular alternatives charged $3.45–$5 per 1,000 plus a start fee when we checked on Oct 24, 2026).
• ✅ 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 (PDF to text and JSON)

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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