10 Best Free PDF to Excel Converters in 2024

How to choose the best free PDF to Excel converter? What is the optimal way of converting PDFs into Excel documents with minimum effort? You’ll find the answer to these questions as well as a rundown of high-rated converters that includes browser-based tools, online software, and smartphone apps below.

The best free PDF to Excel converter has to offer a simple and convenient way of exporting data, tables, and calculations from PDF files to a digital Excel table. This article will help you find a suitable option that can achieve exactly that regardless of what device you’re using.

Top 10 Free PDF to Excel Converters

  1. SmallPDF - Convert into any format you need
  2. PDFChef - User-friendly PDF to Excel online conversion
  3. iLovePDF - Available offline and online
  4. EasePDF - Convenient online-based PDF utility
  5. PDFelement - Great for large teams
  6. Adobe Acrobat Pro - Helps you stay organized
  7. Soda PDF - Modest system requirements
  8. Nitro PDF Converter - Handy cloud integration
  9. PDF Converter and PDF Reader - Perfect for beginners
  10. Cometdocs - Cloud storage for your files

Whether you have a business or work at a research or educational establishment and you’re constantly creating, editing, and sharing spreadsheets, having the best free PDF to excel converter can be extremely handy. While some tools make the conversion process an unnecessary hassle, the software you choose has to be user-friendly and intuitive while also posing zero risks of data loss.

1. SmallPDF – Our Choice

Perfect for beginners
  • Reasonably-priced
  • Works with plenty of file types
  • Convenient
  • Not found

Verdict: SmallPDF is a prime example of a multifunctional PDF management utility. With its help, you can conveniently transform PDFs into various other formats such xlsx, Docx, and ppt among many others.

This PDF to Excel conversion tool is intuitive and offers cloud integration for increased convenience, allowing you to transform files regardless of what device you’re using as long as you have internet access. You can also get a separate app if you want to use SmallPDF’s functions offline.

This utility lets you compress, combine, and divide files and apply e-signatures. It’s also quite secure, as SmallPDF deletes all documents 1 hour after the conversion is complete, ensuring none of your vital business files can get stolen by third-parties.

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2. PDFChef by Movavi

Intuitive user interface
  • Robust UI
  • Combines simplicity and power
  • Highly secure and reliable
  • None

Verdict: PDFChef is among the most efficient tools for reading and working with PDF documents. It’s also possibly the best free PDF editor out there. This software lets you edit, combine, split, move around and remove pages from PDF documents as well as convert them into other formats with maximum ease and speed.

PDFChef is irreplaceable when it comes to managing PDF files and rearranging their pages. It also allows you to convert PDFs to Excel files and is often regarded as the best free PDF to Word converter, while being equally as efficient at transforming PDFs into JPG and PNG images, and other formats.

pdfchef free pdf to excel software interface

3. iLovePDF

Offers batch conversion functionality
  • Easy to use
  • Free online version
  • Can upload files to Dropbox or Google Drive
  • Doesn’t allow you to edit PDFs
  • OCR function isn’t implemented

Verdict: iLovePDF is a fantastic PDF to Excel converter program that can also be used for digitizing documents, editing PDFs, and managing them – all with a single UI. Additionally, it has team functionality, allowing you to create document groups with watermarks, company logos, and e-signatures.

iLovePDF is widely used by large companies for managing, categorizing, and editing PDFs by combining, dividing, compressing, and adding notes to them. As for conversion functionality, you can transform PDFs into a variety of formats including Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and JPEG. Finally, the software lets you translate files into a variety of languages and employ a drag-and-drop UI to work with several documents simultaneously in a unified space.

ilovepdf free pdf to excel software interface

4. EasePDF

PDF converter and compressor
  • Handy UI
  • Robust conversion functionality
  • Safe data encryption
  • Completely free
  • Several tools have to be developed further

Verdict: EasePDF is probably the best free PDF to Excel converter you can find online. This tool excels at carefully exporting all table sheets from a PDF and carefully transforming them into Excel spreadsheets with maximum accuracy. It’ll help ensure all of your data, layouts, and formatting remain intact while not costing a single cent to do so.

All uploaded and converted documents are auto-removed from the cloud within a single day, leaving no trace behind and zero risks of anyone getting ahold of your files without your consent. You can also integrate this software with Google Drive, OneDrive, or Dropbox, allowing you to download files from the cloud and upload converted Excels to the online storage platforms.

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5. PDFelement

Great for converting scanned PDFs
  • Universal tool for PDF documents
  • Free trial version available
  • Fantastic performance
  • Efficient customer support
  • Trial version is fairly limited
  • OCR accuracy leaves much to be desired

Verdict: PDFelement Pro is among the most interesting options you have if you’re interested in programs to convert PDF to Excel. It’s pleasantly user-friendly and lets you transform even large documents in a couple of minutes. You are placed in full control of your PDFs and can easily convert them into such file types as xls, HTML, doc, etc.

The developer of this tool provides an in-depth guide on their official site that will help you convert a PDF into an Excel spreadsheet with ease. It also explains how to edit both the text and pictures included in the file. During the conversion process, PDFelement Pro ensures all your formatting remains unchanged, saving you a ton of time on formatting the received Excel file.

pdfelement free pdf to excel software interface

6. Adobe Acrobat Pro

For big companies
  • PDF to Excel conversion results are terrific
  • Fast conversion
  • In-depth reviewing and form design functionality
  • Online editing
  • OCR feature is extremely useful for editing
  • PRO version is quite expensive

Verdict: Many users prefer Adobe Acrobat Pro to Standard version, as here you can view, change, convert, and e-sign PDFs with unparalleled ease and efficiency. All you have to do to convert a file is select “Export PDF” > “Spreadsheet” > “Microsoft Excel Workbook”, and that’s it.

This software offers fantastic conversion, editing, and annotating functionality, which you can access by either paying for it separately or getting a Creative Cloud subscription. You can also decide what version suits you better by comparing Acrobat XI vs Acrobat DC.

adobe acrobat pro free pdf to excel software interface

7. Soda PDF

Work on PDF files as a team
  • Compact and full-screen reading mode
  • Allows taking snapshots of selected file areas
  • Modest system requirements
  • Document design can be personalized
  • Official website doesn’t release updates anymore

Verdict: If you’re looking for the best free PDF to Excel converter that also has additional features like editing and merging, then Soda should be right u your alley. It sports a stylish, minimalist user-interface, allowing anyone to learn how to use it in a matter of minutes. It also offers batch conversion functionality, and its other main strengths include a reasonable price and a straightforward PDF editing process.

This PDF editor is available in Standard, Professional, and Pro + OCR versions and can handle any task you have for it. All editions allow users to convert and edit PDF documents, as the difference between them lies in the availability of professional-grade functions. For instance, only the Pro + OCR version allows you to convert scanned documents into a PDF file.

soda pdf free pdf to excel software interface

8. Nitro PDF Converter

Impressive feature set
  • Quality text conversion
  • Has a batch conversion function
  • Conversion process is fast and intuitive
  • Newbie-friendly interface
  • Supports all popular formats
  • Restricted trial version

Verdict: Nitro PDF converter is a great choice for anyone looking for PDF to Excel software for their business. It enables you to create, edit, categorize and annotate files, but it’s only available on Windows and most of the offered functionality is aimed at company use.

You can employ this tool for converting and sharing documents from a browser or your smartphone thanks to the provided Nitro Cloud integration. Additionally, Nitro PDF offers a straightforward PDF editing process thanks to the included drag-and-drop feature with multi-window support.

nitro pdf converter free pdf to excel software interface

9. PDF Converter and PDF Reader

For scanned hand-written PDF files
  • Supports a search engine
  • High PDF-file upload speed
  • Software is simple to use
  • Includes a PDF editor
  • Editor doesn’t have a lot of functions
  • Only for iOS

Verdict: If you’re a fan of Apple devices and need software to convert PDF to Excel spreadsheets, this option deserves your attention. It offers reading and editing functionality and runs seamlessly on iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touch. This tool lets you transform PDFs into xls, doc, JPEG, and ppt files. Additionally, you can use the PDF Converter and PDF Reader to compress, unblock and e-sign your documents. You can even integrate it with MS Office, Google Documents, Sheets, Slide, and OpenOffice for additional convenience.

Other advantages of this option include user-friendliness, compact size, iOS compatibility, and advanced security features. If you’re looking to receive high-quality conversion results from your phone, it’s hard to beat what the PDF Converter and PDF Reader brings to the table.

pdf converter and pdf reader free pdf to excel software interface

10. Cometdocs File Converter

Large number of supported formats
  • Quick and reliable
  • Wide-format support
  • Cloud integration
  • Free and easy to learn
  • Document limit

Verdict: If you want to get the best PDF to Excel converter free and you’re an iOS or Android user, then the Cometdocs File Converter should be on top of your shortlist. It lets you transform PDFs into DOC, XLS, PPT, and other file formats by using your smartphone. If you want to utilize the app for free, you can convert any file as long as it isn’t larger than 150MB. Paid users don’t have such a restriction and can even convert several PDFs simultaneously.

This software comes with an integrated API, which is useful for automating some PDF tasks. The Cometdocs File Converter is also pleasantly user-friendly and doesn’t take much time to learn. Moreover, it even includes a drag-and-drop function that is far more intuitive and handy to use than adding documents the traditional way.

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