MDifyCut PDF token costs by 70% with Markdown.
Markdown is the cheapest way to hand a document to AI. Many chat apps read a PDF as text plus a picture of every page, so a 500-word page costs about 2,235 tokens. The same page as Markdown costs about 667. MDify converts PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, images and ZIP files to Markdown for free, with no sign-up.
The problem, side by side
How much does converting a PDF to Markdown save?
About 70% of the tokens for a typical 500-word page. Claude's documentation says each PDF page is converted into an image and charged as image tokens on top of the text (Claude PDF support documentation). Markdown carries only the text and its structure.
| How the page reaches the AI | Text | Page image | Total tokens | Markdown saves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MDify Markdown | 667 | 0 | 667 | |
| PDF, standard-resolution model | 667 | 1,568 | 2,235 | 70% |
| PDF, high-resolution model | 667 | 2,714 | 3,381 | 80% |
- Text: 100 tokens is about 75 English words (OpenAI Help Center: what are tokens), so 500 words is about 667 tokens.
- Page image: one token per 28 × 28 pixel patch, capped at 1,568 on standard-resolution models and 4,784 on high-resolution models (Claude vision documentation). A US Letter page at 150 dpi (1275 × 1650 px) reaches the 1,568 cap, or 2,714 patches on a high-resolution model.
- Your result will vary. Dense pages save less, pages full of charts save more. Apps that read only the extracted text skip the image cost, but Markdown still keeps the headings and tables plain text loses.
Why this matters on a free AI plan
Most people use AI chat for free. OpenAI reported 900 million weekly ChatGPT users and 50 million paying subscribers in February 2026 (TechCrunch, 27 February 2026), so roughly 9 in 10 weekly users don't pay. Free plans cap how much you can send, and big attachments use that allowance fastest. Convert first, paste only the sections you need, and the same free session answers more questions.
What you get from MDify
Structure survives
Headings stay headings, nested lists stay indented, and tables keep their columns as Markdown pipe tables.
Cuts PDF token costs by 70%
A 500-word page drops from about 2,235 tokens to 667 when the AI no longer reads a picture of every page.
Built for RAG chunking
Heading-aligned chunks keep their parent context, so search returns complete ideas instead of orphaned sentences.
PDFs, scans, images and ZIP files
Documents, scanned pages, photos of text and whole project folders. One tool for the full pipeline.
What can MDify convert to Markdown?
MDify converts documents, scanned PDFs, images and ZIP files to Markdown, up to 20 files per batch.
| Input | Formats | Limit | You get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Documents | PDF, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX, XLS, EPUB, HTML, CSV, TSV, JSON, XML, TXT, MD | 15 MB per file | Markdown with headings, lists and pipe tables |
| Scanned PDFs | PDF pages that are only pictures | 15 MB per file | Text pages read directly, scanned pages through text recognition (up to 100 per file) |
| Images | PNG, JPG, JPEG, WebP, TIFF, BMP, GIF | 10 MB per image | The text in the image, as Markdown |
| ZIP files | Code projects and document folders | 15 MB upload, 2,000 files inside | One combined Markdown file, a project index and a manifest |
How to convert a PDF to Markdown
- 01Drop your files on the converter, up to 20 in one batch.
- 02Pick a profile: Standard, Clean, Compact or RAG-ready.
- 03Copy the Markdown, download a .md file, or export the batch as a .zip.
Honest comparison
| FEATURE | MDify | Copy-Paste | Raw Text Dump |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keeps structure | ✓ Yes | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| Table preservation | ✓ Pipe-grid | ✕ Broken | ~ Flattened |
| Scanned pages and images | ✓ Text recognition | ✕ No | ✕ No |
| Batch and folders | ✓ Free · up to 20 · ZIP | ✕ Manual only | ~ Partial |
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a PDF to Markdown for free?
Open MDify, drop the PDF on the page and press Convert all. MDify returns a Markdown file with the headings, lists and tables of the original. It is free, needs no account, and handles up to 20 files per batch with a 15 MB limit per document.
Does converting a PDF to Markdown save ChatGPT tokens?
Yes, when the AI app reads the page image as well as the text. For a typical 500-word page, Markdown costs about 667 tokens against about 2,235 for the PDF, 70% less. Apps that read only the extracted text save less, but still get cleaner tables and headings from Markdown.
How can I make a free AI plan last longer?
Send less data per question. Convert long PDFs, slides and spreadsheets to Markdown first, then paste only the sections you need, and pick the Compact profile for the fewest tokens. Smaller messages use less of the plan's allowance, so you can ask more before you hit the limit.
Can MDify read scanned PDFs and images?
Yes. MDify reads the text pages of a PDF directly and runs text recognition on pages that are only pictures, up to 100 scanned pages per file. Images such as PNG, JPG and WebP are read the same way, up to 10 MB each. Handwriting and very small print can come out with errors.
What happens to my files after conversion?
Your upload and its Markdown result are stored privately only so you can download them, then deleted automatically within 48 hours. MDify needs no account, shows no ads, and nobody uses your files to train AI models. The Privacy Policy lists every detail.
Can I convert a whole project folder or ZIP file?
Yes. Upload a ZIP of up to 15 MB and 2,000 files. MDify converts the code, documents and images inside into one Markdown file, adds a project index with the folder tree and a manifest, skips build folders, and never reads files that look like passwords or keys.
What do the output profiles do?
Standard keeps the full result with a title and a one-line source note. Clean drops the source note and extra blank lines. Compact also removes divider lines for the fewest tokens. RAG-ready adds a chunk marker before every section heading for search and retrieval pipelines.
Last updated . Token figures are estimates from the cited documentation and depend on the AI app, the model and the page.