pypdf and pdfminer return nothing for scanned pages and need care with layout. This tool returns the text of each page, the metadata, and reads scans with OCR automatically.
ocr: "auto").from apify_client import ApifyClient # pip install apify-client
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN>")
run = client.actor("fguiraud/pdf-text-extractor").call(run_input={
"sources": [
{
"url": "https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf"
}
],
"outputs": [
"text",
"pages"
]
})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
for page in item["pages"]:
print(page["page"], page["text"][:100])
No Python? Open the Actor page, paste your input in the form and press Start; results export to JSON, CSV or Excel.
Fields from a real run on 2026-10-04 (long values shortened):
{
"source": "https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf",
"status": "ok",
"fileType": "pdf",
"pageCount": 6,
"title": "Form W-9 (Rev. March 2024)",
"author": "SE:W:CAR:MP",
"language": "en",
"characters": 37694,
"ocrPages": 0,
"text": "W-9\nRequest for Taxpayer\nForm Give form to the\n(Rev. March 2024) Identification Number and Certification requester. …",
"pages": [
{ "page": 1, "text": "W-9\nRequest for Taxpayer …", "ocr": false },
{ "page": 2, "text": "Form W-9 (Rev. 3-2024) Page 2\nmust obtain your correct taxpayer identification number (TIN) …", "ocr": false }
],
"metadata": {
"subject": "Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification",
"creator": "Designer 6.5",
"created": "2024-03-06T08:18:13",
"modified": "2024-03-06T08:18:13",
"pageCount": 6
}
}
$0.003 per document.
| Tool | Price |
|---|---|
| This tool | $0.003 per document, OCR included |
| automation-lab/pdf-text-extractor | $0.003 + $0.005 start, no OCR |
| memo23/pdf-text-extractor | $0.005 + $0.005 start |
Competitor prices as listed in the Apify Store on 2026-10-03 (Bronze plan where tiers differ); they can change.
Password-protected PDFs?
Pass the password in pdfPassword.
Only some pages?
Use pageRange, e.g. "1-3, 7".
Can an AI agent use it?
Yes. It is an MCP server at https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fguiraud/pdf-text-extractor (listed in the official MCP registry), and there is an agent skill for Claude Code, Codex and Cursor. Field-name guesses such as url or urls are accepted.