Clioos › Compare › PDF Probe vs Smallpdf

PDF Probe vs Smallpdf: One-Time Pages vs a 30-Tool Subscription

Both tools turn a PDF into an Excel file. The real difference is scope and billing: PDF Probe is built for one job — bank statements into clean spreadsheets — sold in one-time page packs; Smallpdf is a 30+ tool subscription suite where PDF-to-Excel sits next to compression, merging, editing, e-signing and AI tools. One honest gap: Smallpdf's pricing page renders prices dynamically (confirmed again 2 November 2026: the fetched page shows placeholders, not figures), so no paid figure below comes from a live vendor read. Recent third-party reads of that page disagree by billing term and possibly region — Pro from $9/month annual to $15/month month-to-month — so the table lists the range with sources instead of picking one number. Check the vendor page before buying.

By Clioos 团队 · Prices and features checked 2 November 2026 on smallpdf.com/pricing and clioos.com/pdf/ · Prices change; check the vendor's site before buying.

At a glance

PDF Probe: first 10 pages free, then one-time packs — $9 for 100 pages, $29 for 500, $79 for 2,000. No subscription, no monthly reset. Output is .xlsx / .csv only, with a reconciliation preview before you spend a page on a download.
Smallpdf: a subscription suite — free tier with daily limits on convert tools (vendor pricing page shows a daily download limit on free conversions; Toolradar specifies 2 tasks/day), Pro roughly $9–$15/month depending on billing term and source (see table), Team roughly $7–$12/user/month on the same basis. 30+ tools: PDF to/from Word, Excel, PowerPoint and images, OCR, compression, merge/split, editing, e-signing and AI tools.
Both convert PDF tables to Excel and handle scanned PDFs through OCR (Smallpdf OCR on paid plans; PDF Probe OCR for scanned statements).
Pick PDF Probe if you convert a few statements a year and want to pay once. Pick Smallpdf if PDF work is daily and you also need editing, compression, signing and the rest of the suite.

Side by side

	PDF Probe	Smallpdf
Pricing model	One-time page packs; no subscription	Monthly subscription (annual billing variants listed by aggregators)
Entry price	$9 for 100 pages	No single figure: Toolradar's 4 Oct 2026 read lists Pro $9/month; Signaturely's Oct 2026 read lists Pro $9/month annual / $12 month-to-month; several other Oct 2026 reads list Pro $15 month-to-month / $10 annual ($120/yr); one lists $108/year — vendor page renders prices dynamically, verify there before buying
Larger tiers	$29 for 500 pages; $79 for 2,000 pages	Team $7/user/month annual (Toolradar Oct 4; Signaturely) to $12/user/month monthly (Oct 18 read); Business custom pricing
Unused allowance	One-time packs — no monthly cycle to expire in	Monthly subscription; unused capacity does not carry over as pages (it is an unlimited-access subscription, not a page quota)
Free tier	First 10 pages free, no account, no card; uploads limited to 10/hour per IP	Free tier with daily limits: vendor pricing page shows a daily download limit on convert tools; Toolradar specifies 2 tasks/day and a 5MB file cap
Documents covered	Bank statements and statement-style PDF tables; scanned PDFs via OCR	Any PDF: conversion to/from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, images; plus editing, compression, merge/split, signing and AI tools
Outputs	.xlsx and .csv	Excel plus the full suite's outputs (Word, PowerPoint, images, signed and edited PDFs)
Scanned PDFs (OCR)	Yes, scanned statements via OCR	Yes, OCR on paid plans (PDF to Word, Excel and PowerPoint)
Reconciliation check	Yes — preview shows beginning balance, computed ending, statement ending and difference before download	Not a listed feature — Smallpdf converts tables but does not reconcile extracted totals against a statement's printed balances on any page checked
Accuracy evidence	100% cell accuracy on 20 synthetic one-page statements (211 transactions, 4 known layouts) in our own tests — synthetic sample, not real user uploads	No published statement-extraction accuracy figure found on pages checked
API	Not offered	Not listed on pages checked
Data handling	Uploads and results deleted automatically within an hour	ISO/IEC 27001 certified, TLS encryption (per vendor pricing page); retention terms per vendor policy
Support	Email (contact@clioos.com)	Not compared — support tiers were not the focus of the pages checked

Sources: Smallpdf pricing page at smallpdf.com/pricing (fetched 2 November 2026; plan prices render as dynamic placeholders, so no paid figure is taken from a live vendor read) and PDF Probe at clioos.com/pdf/. Paid figures are per third-party reads of the vendor page in October 2026 — Toolradar (4 Oct: Pro $9/month, Team $7/user/month), Signaturely (Oct: Pro $9 annual / $12 monthly, Team $7 annual / $10 monthly), and multiple other Oct reads (Pro $15 monthly / $10 annual, $120/yr; one lists $108/year). Where they disagree, the table shows the range rather than picking one silently.

When PDF Probe is the better fit

You convert statements a few times a year. A $9 pack of 100 pages covers many years of occasional use, while a subscription costs every month even in months you convert nothing.
Your workflow ends in Excel and you want the reconciliation visible before you pay: the preview shows the row count and the balance difference before any page is spent on a download.
You want files gone fast: uploads and results are deleted automatically within an hour.

When Smallpdf is the better fit

PDF work is daily, not occasional: unlimited access to 30+ tools beats buying page packs once conversion, compression, editing and signing are all in the same week.
You convert more than bank statements — Word, PowerPoint, images, scanned documents and e-signatures are in the same subscription.
You need the suite's extras: strong compression, batch conversion, desktop and mobile apps, and team management on the Team plan.

What PDF Probe cannot do (tested)

Generic tables: only statement-style headers (Date, Description, Amount, Balance) are recognised; other tables come back empty.
Debit / Credit columns: statements that split money into separate Debit and Credit columns return 0 rows.
ISO dates: dates written as 2026-09-01 are not read; US-style dates (9/1/2026) are.
No accounting export: no QBO/QFX, no QuickBooks or Xero push, no API — Smallpdf does not offer those either on the pages checked, so this is a limit of PDF Probe against accounting tools, not against Smallpdf.

Frequently asked questions

Is PDF Probe cheaper than Smallpdf?
It depends on how often you convert. PDF Probe sells one-time page packs: $9 for 100 pages, $29 for 500, $79 for 2,000. Smallpdf is a subscription whose Pro price varies by source and billing term (recent October 2026 reads range from $9/month annual to $15/month month-to-month; see the table). If you convert a few statements a year, one-time packs cost less in total; if you use PDF tools daily, a subscription with unlimited access may fit better.

Does Smallpdf reconcile statement balances like PDF Probe?
No such feature was found on the pages checked. Smallpdf converts PDF tables to Excel, but it does not compare extracted totals against a statement's printed opening and closing balances. PDF Probe shows that reconciliation in the preview before download.

Can I try either tool for free?
Yes. PDF Probe converts the first 10 pages free, no account needed (uploads limited to 10/hour per IP). Smallpdf's free tier covers convert tools with daily limits — the vendor pricing page shows a daily download limit on free conversions.

Do both handle scanned PDFs?
Yes. PDF Probe reads scanned statements through OCR. Smallpdf offers OCR on paid plans for PDF to Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

PDF Probe is a Clioos product. This page compares it with Smallpdf using only published pricing and feature information; Smallpdf is an independent product by a different company, and its prices and features may have changed since this page was checked.