PDFCellsPDFCells vs Tabula
Tabula and PDFCells are both free and both keep your files on your computer. Tabula is mature open-source desktop software where you draw a box around each table in a text PDF; PDFCells runs in the browser, finds tables itself, reads scans with OCR, checks totals and balances, and exports Excel, OFX and QBO.
Side by side
| Tabula | PDFCells | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free and open source | Free for PDF text and OCR; AI optional and paid after the free allowance |
| Runs | Desktop app for Windows, Mac and Linux (Java needed on Windows and Linux), opened in your browser | In your browser, nothing to install |
| Scanned PDFs | No: “Tabula only works on text-based PDFs, not scanned documents” | Yes: in-browser OCR, or AI |
| Finding tables | You select each table area | Detected on every page; you can mark areas to keep or ignore |
| Output | CSV or Excel | Excel, CSV, OFX, QBO, Xero CSV |
| Checks | None | Running balance, footing, line totals, cross-footing, summary ties |
| Latest release | 1.2.1, June 2018 | Updated continuously |
| Source code | Open source | Public repository on GitHub |
Choose Tabula if
- You want a long-established, open-source desktop tool and are happy to select tables by hand.
- Your PDFs are all text-based and you only need CSV.
- You need to script extraction (tabula-java and its wrappers).
Choose PDFCells if
- Some pages are scanned or photographed.
- You want tables found and joined across pages automatically, with numbers typed for Excel.
- You need balances checked or statement files for accounting software.
Sources (checked October 2026)
Questions
Does Tabula work on scanned PDFs?
No. Tabula’s site says it only works on text-based PDFs. PDFCells reads scanned pages with in-browser OCR.
Are both private?
Yes for local use: Tabula runs on your computer, and PDFCells converts in your browser. PDFCells sends a page to a server only if you choose AI for it.