Disclosure (before price): Some links below may be affiliate or lead to checkout on Shop. If you buy we may earn a commission at no extra cost — rates verified Aug 2026. Prices below dated Aug 30 2026. Full disclosure · Privacy. Shop is the only checkout.
Compare: $29 once vs monthly subscriptions
Honest numbers, dated sources — no bundle, no upsell hidden.
| Tool | Price | Where it runs | What you keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDF Tables to Excel (this tool) | $29 once pay once, 1.x updates, your PCs | On your PC — offline, no upload | .xlsx + preview.html + Summary grade HIGH/MED/LOW |
| Adobe Acrobat Pro | $22.99/mo $275.88/yr if kept 12 mo | Cloud + desktop — account required | Subscription — stops when you cancel |
| Smallpdf Pro | $12/mo billed yearly $144/yr | Cloud — upload required | Subscription — online conversion |
Math: $29 once vs $22.99 ×12 = $275.88/yr vs $12 ×12 = $144/yr. If you use it 2 years, Adobe ~$552, Smallpdf ~$288, this tool stays $29. Your files never leave your PC with this tool; the others require upload/account.
Sources (dated)
- Adobe Acrobat Pro — $22.99/mo — source: adobe.com/acrobat/pricing — checked Aug 30 2026
- Smallpdf Pro — $12/mo billed yearly ($144) — source: smallpdf.com/pricing — checked Aug 30 2026
- PDF Tables to Excel — $29 once — source: products/pdf-tables-excel/README.md + STORE_LISTING.md — Aug 2026
Prices move — we date every claim so you can verify. No affiliate for Adobe/Smallpdf here; their prices are public listings, not affiliate links.
Honest limits (same on every page)
- No handwriting — not read reliably.
- No password-protected PDFs — unlock first.
- No blurry phone photo of crumpled receipt — garbage in, garbage out.
- Image-only scanned pages need free Tesseract OCR — always graded LOW, always proofread.
- Tables split across two pages or nested headers may need quick Excel touch-up — grades flag them.
See maker page for demo GIF + 2 real hosted samples (HIGH digital and LOW OCR) with preview.html + xlsx. No MED sample — clean spacing grades HIGH. Transcripts are included in the buyer package (RECEIPTS.md).