Free PDF limits are usually tied to a particular action, account, or time period. These examples preserve the vendor's scope; they are not a ranking of complete products.
| Product | Allowance and scope |
|---|---|
| Smallpdf | Up to 2 conversions per day in the support article; pricing separately says limited daily downloads. |
| iLovePDF | Basic merge: 100 MB per task. Basic compression: 200 MB per task. |
| Adobe Acrobat online | Most tools: 100 MB. Compression: 2 GB. Guest use: one free transaction. |
| PDF24 | The publisher describes the tools as free without usage restrictions. |
| Sejda | Editor: 200 pages or 50 MB, with 3 tasks per hour. |
| PDFgear | The secure tools page describes free browser-local processing without a fixed file restriction. |
| Soda PDF | A numeric free quota was not verified in the checked pages. |
| Foxit PDF Editor | A 14-day trial is advertised; this is not an ongoing free editor plan. |
| PDFescape | Free uploads: 10 MB per file; recent storage: 10 files for 7 days. |
| PDF Candy | Free page, hourly, and file-size restrictions are listed without exact amounts in the checked page. |
| Xodo | Web: 1 free action per day, with limited tool access. |
| Nitro | A 14-day PDF trial is described. No ongoing free full-editor tier is asserted. |
| DocHub | Free core features share 3 uses per month on the current pricing page. |
| macOS Preview | Included with macOS; no separate task subscription is described. |
| Microsoft Edge PDF tools | Basic reading, inking, and form filling are built into the browser. |
Why unlike quotas stay separate
A task per hour, a conversion per day, and a file cap measure different things. Converting them into a single score would require assumptions about the user's schedule, file size, and tool mix. This chart shows selected file caps only, and labels the operation for each bar.
A vendor with no fixed usage restriction can still encounter practical limits from a browser, a server timeout, or a particular file structure. Similarly, an explicitly limited free plan can be enough for a short occasional job. The useful question is whether the complete workflow fits the published allowance.
A worked workflow check
Imagine a task that needs a merge followed by a conversion. If a service counts each action independently, you need an allowance for both stages, not merely the final download. If it distinguishes conversions from downloads, check the definitions before assuming they use the same counter. The example is a planning method, not a statement about every product's metering.
Pagestays has no daily task counter, but does have memory guardrails and supported-format boundaries. Compare the actual operation and output before choosing. For broader work, OCR or existing-text editing may be more valuable than a larger free file cap.