PDFShift pricing in India: API plans and conversion costs

Direct answer: PDFShift counts credits by the size of the generated output: one credit covers up to 5 MB, so a 14 MB PDF uses three credits. PDFShift’s FAQ gives an example of its Boost plan at $24 per month for 2,500 credits, with overage at $0.03 per additional credit. Its terms say customers outside the EU are billed in U.S. dollars, but the official sources reviewed do not state a fixed India price in rupees, exchange rate, or tax-inclusive total. Check the live pricing selector and checkout before budgeting.

This guide explains the published plan example, how to estimate credits, what is known about billing from India, and which operating limits to compare. PDFShift’s plan selector is dynamic, so treat the named price below as the FAQ’s published example, not a guaranteed current quote.

1. How PDFShift credits and conversion costs work

PDFShift’s pricing is based on generated data size rather than simply counting API requests. Each credit covers a conversion output of up to 5 MB. An output larger than 5 MB uses additional credits, rounded up to the next 5 MB band:

Generated output size	Credits used
Up to 5 MB	1
More than 5 MB through 10 MB	2
More than 10 MB through 15 MB	3

For example, PDFShift’s FAQ says a 9 MB output uses two credits and a 14 MB output uses three. This makes the average output size essential to a monthly cost estimate: 1,000 documents averaging 2 MB use about 1,000 credits, while 1,000 documents averaging 15 MB use about 3,000 credits, assuming each conversion succeeds and produces those sizes.

PDFShift’s official pricing page describes a free allowance of 50 credits per month. Its current free-plan card also lists a 15 MB maximum file size and a 30-second timeout. The FAQ says a card is not required to start the free account. Verify the live page for current limits before relying on them.

2. Published plan example and overage math

PDFShift’s FAQ gives the following Boost example:

Item	FAQ example
Monthly subscription	$24
Monthly credits	2,500
Credits above allowance	$0.03 each

In the FAQ’s example, usage of 2,700 credits means 200 credits beyond the allowance. The overage is 200 × $0.03 = $6, making the example total $30 before any applicable taxes or other charges. PDFShift says overage is disabled by default and can be enabled in account settings. It also says it notifies users at 50%, 80%, and 100% of credit usage.

PDFShift says annual sign-up costs ten months of the listed monthly price. Its FAQ phrases this as: “If you sign up for an annual plan, you’ll only pay for 10 months.” Check whether the annual offer is available to your account and still current at checkout. The FAQ lists card payments through Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB, and Diners Club via Stripe; availability for a particular India-based buyer should also be confirmed in checkout.

3. What an India-based customer can expect to pay

PDFShift’s terms say entities outside the EU are billed in USD, and that non-EU entities may be subject to EU or non-EU terms and pricing at PDFShift’s discretion. The same terms say listed fees exclude applicable taxes, levies, and duties, which are the customer’s responsibility.

The official sources reviewed do not publish a fixed India-specific INR plan price, a guaranteed card-statement currency, an exchange-rate formula, or a fixed tax-inclusive total. Therefore, the $24 Boost example should not be presented as an India rupee amount or a final bill. The practical estimate is:

Estimate monthly credits from output sizes and expected successful conversion volume.
Choose the applicable plan and price shown in PDFShift’s live pricing selector or account checkout.
Check whether overage is enabled and the current excess-credit rate.
Account separately for taxes or duties that apply to your purchase.
Check with your card issuer or payment provider for any currency conversion and the currency shown on your statement.

Do not treat a currency conversion estimate as PDFShift’s published INR price. The provider’s USD billing terms and your payment provider’s statement conversion are separate parts of the eventual cost.

4. Limits that affect the plan you need

Credits are only one part of choosing a plan. PDFShift’s FAQ states a default timeout of 30 seconds for free accounts and 100 seconds for paid accounts. It says paid timeout settings can be adjusted by contacting PDFShift. Its default maximum is 50 parallel conversions across plans; higher parallel capacity requires contacting the provider.

The free pricing card lists a 15 MB maximum file size and 30-second timeout. Before selecting a paid tier, use the live pricing page to check the current tier-specific feature and limit details. The page lists feature categories such as CSS and JavaScript injection, headers and footers, encryption, watermarking, S3 delivery, and asynchronous responses; the sources reviewed do not establish which current tier includes each one.

PDFShift describes an API for turning HTML and web pages into PDFs, and also mentions document screenshots and Open Graph images. Its product materials show a POST request to the v3 conversion endpoint with API-key authentication. This article focuses on pricing; use the vendor’s current API documentation for request parameters and response handling.

5. A practical way to forecast monthly usage

Collect representative outputs. Measure the resulting PDF sizes for typical, large, and unusually complex documents.
Convert each size into credits. Divide output size by 5 MB and round up to a whole credit. For example, 14 MB is three credits.
Multiply by monthly volume. Estimate separately for ordinary and large documents instead of applying one average if sizes vary substantially.
Add a reserve for peaks. Use your own observed volume variation to set a buffer. Do not assume overage will be disabled or enabled; check the account setting.
Check throughput and timeouts. Confirm your longest conversion fits the account timeout and expected simultaneous jobs fit the default parallel limit or an arrangement agreed with PDFShift.
Recheck the live price and billing total. Confirm the current plan, overage rate, annual availability, tax treatment, and payment currency presentation in checkout.

A simple planning formula is monthly credits = sum of ceil(output size in MB / 5) for each conversion. If output size is recorded in bytes, convert consistently to MB using the same convention as your file-size measurements; values close to a 5 MB boundary can land in a higher credit band.

6. Reliability, performance, and cost controls

Size drives spend. Large PDFs consume multiple credits per conversion, so optimize unnecessary images or oversized output where document quality permits.
Timeouts shape reliability. A job that exceeds the account’s timeout may not complete within the configured limit. Identify slow templates and external resources, then test representative worst cases against the applicable timeout.
Parallel capacity is finite by default. PDFShift states a default maximum of 50 parallel conversions across plans. If your workload needs more concurrency, ask about capacity before assuming it is available.
Control overage deliberately. Since overage is off by default according to the FAQ, decide whether requests should stop at the allowance or continue with extra charges; make the corresponding account setting part of deployment readiness.
Watch usage alerts. PDFShift says it sends notifications at 50%, 80%, and 100% of credit usage. Route these notices to someone who can act before a production workload reaches its limit.
Reconcile actual output size. Track generated file size and consumed credits over time. This helps catch a template or asset change that increases the cost per conversion.

7. Troubleshooting billing and plan surprises

Problem	Likely cause	What to check or do
Usage is higher than the number of API calls	Credits are based on output size; some documents use more than one credit.	Compare each generated file size with the 5 MB credit bands and total the rounded-up amounts.
Expected INR price is not shown	The reviewed official sources do not publish a fixed India INR price; terms specify USD billing outside the EU.	Use the current checkout amount, then confirm applicable taxes and card conversion with the relevant provider.
Unexpected amount above the plan price	Overage may be enabled and usage may exceed the allowance, or taxes may apply.	Review credit use, the overage setting and rate, and the invoice’s tax line items.
Conversion exceeds the free timeout	The free default timeout is 30 seconds according to the FAQ.	Review slow page resources and conversion complexity; check paid timeout options if the workload requires more time.
Jobs queue or throughput is lower than expected	The stated default maximum is 50 parallel conversions.	Limit client concurrency or contact PDFShift to discuss higher parallel capacity.
Free account cannot process a large file	The pricing page’s free card lists a 15 MB maximum file size.	Check the current limit and reduce output size or select a plan that supports the needed size.
Annual billing or a listed card is unavailable	Payment and annual-plan availability may vary by account or region.	Confirm supported checkout options for the account rather than assuming the FAQ list guarantees availability in India.

8. ScreenshotNeo as an alternative for screenshot workflows

If your need is a screenshot of a web page rather than a generated PDF document, try ScreenshotNeo first. It is a website screenshot API and MCP server from Yorker Media: one GET request returns a PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF. Its clean-capture flow accepts cookie and consent banners like a visitor, then removes more than 60 known consent platforms along with newsletter popups and chat widgets; each step can be switched off. Only clean shots are billed: bot checks or CAPTCHAs, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits cost nothing, and response headers report the page verdict and billing status.

ScreenshotNeo supports full-page captures, selector-based element captures, device presets and custom viewports, PDF settings, custom CSS and JavaScript, wait conditions, request blocking, cookies and headers, geolocation, caching, signed links, asynchronous jobs, bulk capture, and more. Its API accepts parameter names used by other screenshot APIs to make switching easier. See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for options.

Or skip the browser setup

Make one GET request to capture a page. The example saves a WebP response as shot.webp:

curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://stripe.com -o shot.webp

With Python:

import requests

r = requests.get(
    "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot",
    params={"access_key": "YOUR_API_KEY", "url": "https://stripe.com"},
    timeout=90,
)
open("shot.webp", "wb").write(r.content)

With Node.js:

const q = new URLSearchParams({ access_key: 'YOUR_API_KEY', url: 'https://stripe.com' });
const res = await fetch(`https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot?${q}`);
const bytes = new Uint8Array(await res.arrayBuffer());
await import('node:fs/promises').then(fs => fs.writeFile('shot.webp', bytes));

Cookie banners, popups, and chat widgets are removed before the shot. Bot checks, blank pages, and failed loads are never billed. An MCP server lets AI agents take screenshots. The free plan includes 1,000 screenshots per month with no card; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000. Create a free ScreenshotNeo account to get started.

9. Frequently asked questions

Does PDFShift charge per API call?

Not simply per request. Credits depend on the generated output size, with each credit covering up to 5 MB.

Is PDFShift priced in rupees in India?

The official sources reviewed do not publish a fixed INR price for India. PDFShift’s terms state USD billing for entities outside the EU.

Does the Boost example guarantee a $24 India bill?

No. It is an example in PDFShift’s FAQ, and taxes, duties, current plan pricing, and payment-provider currency conversion can affect the amount paid.

Can I start without a payment card?

PDFShift’s FAQ says a card is not required to start its free account. Confirm the current free offer on the official site.

How much parallel work can I send?

The FAQ states a default maximum of 50 parallel conversions across plans. Contact PDFShift if you need a higher limit.

Sources

PDFShift pricing — current dynamic plan selector and free-plan details.
PDFShift FAQ — credit counting, Boost example, overage, annual billing, payment options, timeouts, and parallel conversions.
PDFShift terms — currency and customer responsibility for applicable taxes and duties.