About PDF to Markdown Converter
Learn about our mission to provide the best PDF to Markdown conversion experience, completely free and privacy-focused.
Why I Built This
I'm Ben, an indie hacker. I built PDF2MD because I needed it for my own work — turning API docs into Markdown to feed Claude Code, and turning research material into notes I can grep across. The existing tools either uploaded my files somewhere or asked me to install Python, so I made a browser-only one.
Built for my own use first
I use this tool several times a day, mostly for converting API documentation before pasting it into Claude Code. It exists because I needed it, not because I was looking for something to ship.
Free for the everyday case, paid if you push it
Daily conversions, single files, and basic batches stay free — that covers what most people need. If you convert at heavy volume, want ad-free, or need the larger batch ZIP downloads, there's a Pro tier that helps me keep the lights on. No surprise paywalls in the middle of a conversion.
One person, no company
PDF2MD isn't a startup. It's one of several small tools I make. No funding, no team, no roadmap meeting. Just me, occasional commits, and a public issues page.
What I Use It For
Two real workflows shape how PDF2MD works. If you do similar things, you'll probably get along with it. If you don't, there are other tools and I link to a few of them in the blog.
Feeding Claude Code clean docs
Most API docs come as PDFs. Pasting raw PDFs into Claude works badly — too many tokens, broken structure. Converting to Markdown first means Claude reads headings as a map, and the integration code I get back is cleaner.
Batching research material
When I research an article I collect 30+ files: PDFs, web pages, the occasional Word doc. To grep across them or quote from them, I need them in one format. Markdown is the format. Drop a folder in, get a zip back.
Quick one-off conversions
A receipt, a contract, a slide deck I want to skim in plain text. Open the page, drop the file, copy the result. No login, no upload bar, no email field, no follow-up newsletter.
Things I don't pretend to handle
Scanned PDFs (no OCR), heavy math (LaTeX is better), and three-column magazine layouts (Marker handles those better than I do). I'd rather be honest about the failure modes than overpromise.
How I Think About This Tool
A few decisions I keep making the same way, even when it would be easier to do otherwise.
Your file stays on your machine
There's no upload step. The PDF is parsed in your browser by PDF.js — the same engine Firefox uses to render PDFs natively. I can't see your file because it never reaches me.
Boring is a feature
No animation library, no AI summary sidebar, no "upgrade to Pro" prompt. Drop file in, get Markdown out. I keep wanting to add things and then deleting them again.
Honest about edge cases
Some PDFs come out wrong, especially scanned ones and complex tables. I'd rather tell you what fails than pretend it's perfect. The blog has a post on the why.
Slow, deliberate updates
I improve the converter when I hit a real PDF that breaks it, not on a feature schedule. If you find a bad case, mail it to [email protected] and I'll add it to my test set.
Ready to Convert Your PDFs?
Experience the difference of privacy-focused, client-side PDF to Markdown conversion. Try it now and see why users trust our tool.