Side by side
Beam vs PDF Pals — ChatPDF on Mac
Compare what each tool does, what it costs, and how it fits your workflow.
Designed for
Instant ChatGPT access anywhere on your Mac
PDF document analysis & extraction for professionals
Primary task
MacOS
MacOS
Pricing
Freemium · Free + from $5
Paid · from $34
Pricing details
Free + from $5
from $34
Billing cycle
One-time
One-time
API access
Listed as available
Not documented
Platforms
Web, macOS
Web, macOS
Integrations
Make
Not documented
Source rating
No rating recorded
4.0 / 5 · 5 ratings
Catalog views
1.9k
7.9k
Estimated monthly traffic
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Catalog imported
30 Aug 2026
30 Aug 2026
Listed strengths
- Instant access to ChatGPT
- Works within existing apps
- Floating chat window feature
- Enhances productivity by reducing switching
- Supports use of macros
- Native macOS application
- No upload or file size limit
- Powerful OCR engine
- Handles scanned PDFs
- Handles complex forms
Listed limitations
- MacOS only
- Lacks multi-device support
- One-time purchase, no subscription
- No login system
- Offers no additional system permissions
- No Windows or Linux support
- Doesn't support languages apart from English
- Incompatibility with other document types
- One Time Purchase, only one-year updates
- No team plan license