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ConvertAPI VS mdstill

Compare ConvertAPI VS mdstill and see what are their differences

ConvertAPI logo ConvertAPI

High-Performance File Conversion API

mdstill logo mdstill

Document-to-markdown preprocessor built for LLM and RAG workflows. Turn any document (PDF, Word, Excel, EPUB +20 formats) into clean, structure-preserving markdown ready for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or your RAG pipeline.Includes REST API.Free to use
Not present
  • mdstill
    Image date //
    2026-04-21
  • mdstill
    Image date //
    2026-04-21
  • mdstill
    Image date //
    2026-04-21
  • mdstill
    Image date //
    2026-04-21
  • mdstill
    Image date //
    2026-04-21

mdstill is a document-ingestion tool purpose-built for LLM and RAG workflows. Where generic converters dump messy text, mdstill outputs clean, semantic markdown that preserves tables, headings, and document structure โ€” the things LLMs actually need to understand context.

What you can do with it:

Prepare documents for RAG pipelines (chunk-ready, semantic boundaries preserved) Feed PDFs, Word files, or spreadsheets into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini without losing tables Build knowledge bases in Obsidian, Notion, or Logseq from existing document archives Extract structured context for AI agents and embeddings How it's different: Deep-conversion mode runs layout-aware parsing (tables, OCR, multi-column PDFs) โ€” not just text dumping. Markdown output is ~40% more token-efficient than raw text, so your LLM costs drop. REST API available for pipeline automation.

Free tier, no signup required for basic use. Competes with markitdown, Unstructured.io, and LlamaParse โ€” but with a zero-friction web UI.

ConvertAPI features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

mdstill features and specs

  • Supported formats
    20+ (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, EPUB, HTML, CSV, JSON, Apple iWork)
  • Output format
    GitHub-flavored Markdown (GFM) with preserved tables, headers, structure
  • REST API
    Yes โ€” for RAG pipelines and batch automation
  • Token efficiency
    ~40% fewer tokens than raw text extraction
  • Privacy
    Files deleted immediately after processing โ€” no storage, no logging, no training
  • Pricing
    Free tier + Pro plans
  • LLM integrations
    ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini โ€” output tuned for AI context windows

Analysis of ConvertAPI

Overall verdict

  • ConvertAPI is a reliable and well-documented file conversion service that handles a wide range of formats with strong performance and solid developer support, making it a good choice for teams needing programmatic document processing.

Why this product is good

  • Supports a broad range of file conversions including PDF, Word, Excel, images, and web-to-PDF
  • Offers clean REST APIs with SDKs for popular languages like Python, PHP, Node.js, C#, and Java
  • Good documentation and straightforward integration reduce development time
  • Reliable uptime and reasonable processing speed for most conversion tasks
  • Flexible pricing with a free tier and pay-as-you-go options suitable for varying workloads
  • Provides additional PDF manipulation features such as merging, splitting, watermarking, and OCR

Recommended for

  • Developers building applications that require automated document conversion
  • SaaS platforms needing to offer file conversion features to their users
  • Businesses that process invoices, reports, or contracts in bulk
  • Teams handling web-to-PDF or HTML-to-document generation
  • Startups and enterprises looking for a scalable API-based conversion solution without maintaining their own infrastructure

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to ConvertAPI and mdstill)
API Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Markdown Editor
0 0%
100% 100
PDF Conversion API
73 73%
27% 27
PDF Tools
100 100%
0% 0

Questions & Answers

As answered by people managing ConvertAPI and mdstill.

What makes your product unique?

mdstill's answer:

mdstill is built specifically for LLM and RAG workflows, not generic file conversion. Drop any of 20+ document formats (PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, EPUB, and more) and get back clean, structure-preserving Markdown that's tuned for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini context windows and vector-database ingestion. Tables stay intact, headers become linkable anchors, output is ~40% more token-efficient than raw text extraction. Free web tool + REST API โ€” humans and pipelines use the same engine.

Why should a person choose your product over its competitors?

mdstill's answer:

Alternatives fall into two camps: developer libraries that require setup, or enterprise SDKs that require a sales call. mdstill fills the middle: open a browser, drop a file, get Markdown in seconds โ€” and when you need to scale, the same conversion runs through a REST API. 20+ formats in one tool instead of picking a different parser per format. Tables survive the trip (most tools mangle them). Files are deleted immediately after processing. Free tier, no credit card, no signup for basic use.

How would you describe the primary audience of your product?

mdstill's answer:

Two overlapping groups. Developers building AI features โ€” engineers feeding documents into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini APIs; teams building RAG pipelines and AI agents who need reliable document ingestion. Knowledge workers and researchers โ€” Obsidian and Notion users importing legacy PDFs, students preparing papers for AI analysis, analysts converting spreadsheets for LLM review. Common thread: anyone who's discovered that pasting raw PDF text into an LLM loses tables and wastes tokens.

What's the story behind your product?

mdstill's answer:

mdstill started from a personal frustration: feeding documents into ChatGPT and Claude meant pasting messy PDF text with broken tables and lost structure, or paying for heavyweight enterprise tools just to preprocess a few files. The fix seemed obvious โ€” Markdown is what LLMs understand best, so the conversion should be a utility anyone can use, not a product you buy. mdstill was built to make high-quality document-to-Markdown preprocessing free and instant for everyone, with an API for teams who need to scale.

Who are some of the biggest customers of your product?

mdstill's answer:

mdstill launched publicly in April 2026 and is in the early-adopter phase. Currently used by individual developers, indie AI-tool builders, and small research teams โ€” customer logos will be added as early adopters opt in to share them.

Which are the primary technologies used for building your product?

mdstill's answer:

Python + FastAPI on the backend, Next.js + TypeScript on the frontend.

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare ConvertAPI and mdstill

ConvertAPI Reviews

14 Best PDF APIs for Every Business Need
Do you often need to merge multiple smaller PDF files to create a consolidated PDF file? ConvertAPI makes this process easier for developers by helping them combine multiple PDF files into one document. As you use this REST API, youโ€™ll notice a significant reduction in the time and effort that was needed earlier to manage large numbers of PDF files.
Source: geekflare.com

mdstill Reviews

We have no reviews of mdstill yet.
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing ConvertAPI and mdstill, you can also consider the following products

PDFShift - Convert any HTML documents to high-fidelity PDF using a single POST request

Firecrawl - Turn any website into LLM-ready data.

DocRaptor - As the only API powered by the Prince HTML-to-PDF engine, DocRaptor provides the best support for complex PDFs with powerful support for headers, page breaks, page numbers, flexbox, watermarks, accessible PDFs, and much more

Reducto - Reducto is the complete agentic document platform for leading AI teams needing performance at enterprise scale.

PDFLoom - PDFLoom is a versatile PDF conversion API for developers.

Mindee - Extract any data point, from any document, in a second