DocTable
Smallpdf alternative — for turning documents into Excel or Word data
Updated October 2026
DocTable turns a photo, scan or PDF into a real Excel, Word or CSV file, including pages with no text layer that a general toolkit such as Smallpdf cannot read. Your first 3 pages are free — scan and download, no card needed. After that, $3 buys 20 pages (one-time, no subscription). Try your first page without an account — sign in only to download it. It reads photos and scans with no text layer, rebuilds real rows and columns, and handles Arabic, Persian and mixed-script documents.
| Item | Description | Qty | Amount (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Consulting, May | 10 | 1,200.00 |
| 2 | Design review | 4 | 480.00 |
| 3 | Hosting, annual | 1 | 240.00 |
How DocTable compares
| Task | Smallpdf | DocTable |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | quick, everyday PDF housekeeping: shrinking a file, merging a few PDFs, or getting a signature | Turning a document into structured Excel/Word data |
| PDF file operations (merge, split, compress, sign) | Yes — core of the product | No |
| Table & field extraction from scans and photos | Not the main focus | Yes — rows, columns and label/value fields |
| What you get back | A PDF, or a converted copy of the file | Excel, Word or CSV with real cells |
| Pricing | See their site | 3 free pages (download included), then $3 for 20 pages |
Why DocTable
- Vision OCR reads tables and fields, not just characters
- Exports to Excel, Word or CSV
- 3 free pages, download included; then $3 for 20 pages
- Same OCR model across all 10 UI languages
Why people look for a Smallpdf alternative
Smallpdf is built around operations on a file: make it smaller, merge it, sign it, convert it to another format. Its PDF-to-Excel step converts a PDF that already contains a real table. The moment the input is a scan or a phone photo, there is no table in the file to convert — the page is just pixels, and a file converter has nothing to work with.
That is the gap DocTable fills. A vision model reads the page the way a person does, finds the rows and columns visually, and writes them into spreadsheet cells. If your input is a clean digital PDF and you only need a format change, Smallpdf already does that well and you do not need to switch.
Be honest about the fit
Smallpdf covers a much wider range of file operations than DocTable does; if you need to merge, split or e-sign PDFs, it — or a similar all-purpose toolkit — is the better fit.
If your actual task is "I have a photo or PDF of a table, invoice, receipt or form and I need the data in a spreadsheet or a document I can edit" — that is the one job DocTable is built around, using a vision-language model rather than character-level OCR. If your task is something Smallpdf does and DocTable does not (see the table above), Smallpdf is the right tool.
Is Smallpdf safe?
Smallpdf's own trust center states that it uses TLS encryption during file transfer, is ISO/IEC 27001 certified, and complies with GDPR, CCPA and nFADP. Its privacy policy says uploaded files are deleted within one hour unless you save them to your file storage, and its AI supplementary terms say customer data is not used to train the machine learning models behind Smallpdf's AI products. To work offline, Smallpdf offers a Windows desktop app with offline access. None of these pages mentions a SOC 2 report.
DocTable holds an upload in memory, sends it over TLS to a third-party AI model provider for extraction, does not keep the original after processing and never uses it to train models; the downloaded spreadsheet is deleted on a timer measured in minutes (details on the security page). A Data Processing Agreement is available on request (business). DocTable has no offline or on-device mode. For a fuller answer for financial documents, see is it safe to upload bank statements online.
What DocTable does not claim
No SOC 2 report, no guaranteed uptime SLA, no custom-trained models, no workflow builder. Full detail on what DocTable does and does not do with your data is on the security page — including the parts we don't do.
Try it before switching anything
Run your first 3 pages free before deciding — the first page needs no account. If DocTable's extraction isn't accurate enough for your documents, you've lost nothing by checking.
Frequently asked questions
Is DocTable a replacement for Smallpdf?
Not entirely. Smallpdf is a general-purpose PDF toolkit — merge, compress, split, e-sign, and convert PDF, Word and Excel files. DocTable does one narrower thing: it reads a document with AI vision OCR and outputs structured Excel or Word data. Smallpdf covers a much wider range of file operations than DocTable does; if you need to merge, split or e-sign PDFs, it — or a similar all-purpose toolkit — is the better fit.
What does DocTable actually do differently?
DocTable focuses on one step: turning a photo, scan or PDF into real spreadsheet rows or an editable Word document, using a vision-language model that reads tables and fields rather than just characters.
Is DocTable free?
Your first 3 pages are free — scan and download, no card needed. Your first page needs no account; sign in only to download it. After that, $3 buys 20 pages (one-time, no subscription).
Does DocTable have a mobile app or API?
DocTable is browser-based with no mobile app. DocTable also offers a REST API and an MCP server for automation (see the developers page).
Is Smallpdf safe?
Smallpdf's trust center states TLS encryption during file transfer and ISO/IEC 27001 certification, and says it complies with GDPR, CCPA and nFADP. Its privacy policy says uploaded files are deleted within one hour unless you save them to your file storage.
Is Smallpdf safe for confidential documents?
That is your organisation's call; Smallpdf publishes its measures (trust center), its AI terms say customer data is not used to train the models behind its AI products, and it offers a Windows desktop app with offline access. DocTable keeps no original after processing and deletes the spreadsheet within minutes (is it safe to upload bank statements).
Related pages
Temporary processing — files are not archived. Always verify OCR output before financial or legal use. See Privacy in the app.