Traditionally, PDF readers don’t do much actual reading — they are simply tools that act like digital paper for documents, with the user needing to do the actual work themselves.
Newer AI PDF readers have flipped this around, allowing users to talk directly with their PDFs and ask questions, get clarification, and extract information within seconds. Modern AI PDF readers can make you faster, smarter, and more efficient with your files.
In this article we’ll discuss how you can use AI to read your PDFs and the best apps for it.
What is an AI PDF Reader?
AI PDF readers are the same as any other PDF app, except they have additional integrations outside providers that give access to special AI features.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve definitely already used AI before, either to ask a question, create some content, or just to mess around.
For example, Google Chrome can open PDFs but not edit, review, or analyze them; an AI PDF reader app like Macro can answer questions, extract data, and compare info in the document all nearly instantly, saving you time turbocharging your efficiency.
Which AI PDF Readers Are The Best?
The evolution of AI has created a ton of super useful apps and websites that can help you read and understand your PDFs within seconds.
We’ll go through a couple of the best possible AI PDF reader options available in 2025:
#1) Macro
One of the original AI PDF apps, Macro is now an AI workspace that lets users maximize their productivity and narrow their focus onto the content that matters most to them.
Macro’s 2 main AI features for PDFs are AI Chat and AI Explain.
AI Chat
AI Chat, which is useable for all supported file types, is basically a hub where you can choose from a selection of the major AI chatbots. You can drag in a file, and immediately ask questions or prompts from the AI.
Macro currently supports Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini models, meaning you can experiment with each and see which is best for you!
You can highlight open a PDF, highlight a specific paragraph, and click “Ask AI to use it as context for a question, prompt, or statement.
AI Chat is a fantastic way for you to get as much out of your PDFs as possible, all without wasting time looking elsewhere for info that you already have.
It’s even possible to reference multiple documents and get answers that pool in context from each PDF.
Macro lets you store your favorite prompts to use them in other chats. It’s super useful for when you want to calibrate the AI for a specific task, or you use a prompt frequently enough that you can save time typing.
AI Explain
Macro’s AI Explain feature is like a cheat-code that can instantly explain any word, term, sentence or paragraph within your PDF.
You don’t need to type or configure anything to use AI Explain. Just highlight a portion of text, as little or as much as you need, and click Explain to get a breakdown in seconds.
If you’ve forgotten a specific definition, phrase, or even entire sentence, AI Explain is especially helpful in giving you the context you need with just a couple clicks.
A neat little feature in Macro is that you can also translate text! Translate that one recipe you’ve always wanted to try, or see if that foreign investment paper is worth looking into.
Choose your AI
Unlike other AI PDF readers, Macro lets you choose between multiple AI models and experiment to see which one is best for you.
Macro currently supports:
- Claude 3.5 - Sonnet
- ChatGPT-4o & o1
- Gemini - Flash & Pro
- Grok-2
Different AI are best for different tasks — Claude may be best for your tax documents, whereas ChatGPT can summarize research papers better.
All of Macro’s incredible AI PDF features are available for free, meaning can head to the website and give it a whirl yourself, right now!
#2) Adobe Acrobat
Adobe’s signature PDF reader, Acrobat, now has an AI Assistant add-on to enhance its already large set of features with a dedicated AI sidebar to talk to.
The AI can auto detect suggested prompts, reference multiple files in Collections to help aggregate information, and provides citations to let you fact-check responses.
The AI can read PDFs and answer any prompts or questions, much like regular AI chatbots. Acrobat’s AI Assistant can even auto-suggest prompts based of the PDF content.
You can add multiple PDFs to a Collection so the AI can reference each when generating responses. It’s very handy for comparing or consolidating information all in one place.
The AI Assistant also provides citations so you can fact-check responses for accuracy.
However, Acrobat’s AI is much slower than other PDF apps like Macro and actual AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini, and you’re limited to only Adobe’s AI — you can’t choose between different provides or calibrate it to your liking. It also can’t interpret images or charts, which chatbots and Macro can.
Acrobat’s AI Assistant is a great tool if you already use Acrobat and want the increased productivity that AI can provide.
It costs $4.99/mo if you already own Acrobat Pro, or $29.99/mo if you need to upgrade from the Free version.
#3) ChatPDF
ChatPDF is an online AI PDF reader that’s tailored for students and academics. The AI specializes in analyzing textbooks, research papers, and homework or assignment papers.
ChatPDF acts like most other readers with an AI integration — simply start a new chat by uploading a file, and you can start asking questions immediately.
The free version is very limited and can’t save any chat history, so you’ll need to pay to unlock the full potential of ChatPDF. It’s also limited in scope to mostly academic-related PDFs and not intended for broader topics or uses.
#4) ChatDOC
ChatDOC is an online AI PDF reader that does exactly what it sounds like. You can upload any PDF and use the AI chat to ask questions and extract information in seconds.
ChatDOC can recognize scientific and mathematic formulas, recognize different languages, and auto-suggest prompts based off the PDF content.
You to choose between a vast selection of AI models, even allowing choices of sub-models such as GPT-4o or GPT-4o turbo.
ChatDOC can be accessed for free, and even has some sample files that you can test out to demonstrate the app’s capabilities.
A paid upgrade is required to access more than 2 files a day, or upload anything more than 50 pages. ChatDOC is super handy as an AI PDF reader and has plenty of flexibility when it comes to customizing how you analyze and read your files.
#5) AI Chatbots
Most AI providers, like OpenAI or Google, actually let you upload PDFs directly to their AI interface and use the chatbots as usual.
While not traditional “PDF readers”, AI chatbots can help you understand your PDFs by connecting to the AI directly, unlike other apps that use integrations, cutting out the middleman.
ChatGPT
The original AI LLM that kickstarted the AI revolution across the world, ChatGPT is developed by OpenAI and is known as the fastest growing app of all time .
ChatGPT’s free model lets you upload PDFs as long as you have an OpenAI account. Drag and drop in your PDF and start asking questions.
While great for asking questions, ChatGPT can’t open or navigate PDFs for you, so you’re limited to only asking prompts and using a separate app for reading the PDF yourself.
Gemini
Google’s answer to ChatGPT was Gemini (formerly Bard), their own version of an AI LLM that integrates with all of Google’s other offerings like Sheets, Docs, and more.
Just like ChatGPT, you can upload files from your desktop, but exclusive to Gemini is the ability to take files directly from your drive.
Gemini even has a NotebookLM option for taking notes and data extraction.
Although convenient, you’ll need to pay a subscription fee to access file uploads in Gemini, and the Google PDF reader is very barebones with no editing or analysis features.
Claude
Claude is developed by Anthropic and has 3 distinct models: Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus, each with their own strengths.
Sonnet is the best option for reading PDFs as the AI is fast and concise in its outputs. Upload a PDF and ask away — you can also upload PDFs to a Project, and reference them across multiple chats.
Claude offers a Retry button with 2 options - one to reiterate and try a separate response, and one that spends extra time “thinking” which is useful for match, science, or coding questions.
You’ll need an Anthropic account to access the app and upload files.
Claude is great in teams and has lots of flexibility with its models, but isn’t as useful for individual users and has a lackluster interface relative to the other AI options.
DeepSeek
A Chinese AI LLM that, unlike the above, is named after it’s company, and has burst onto the scene in 2025 as a cheaper, more efficient challenger model to others in the space.
You need a DeepSeek account in order to use the AI, which is completely free and operates like every other major AI interface. Simply upload a file and start asking questions!
DeepSeek offers a similar DeepThink option for complex-reasoning tasks, much like ChatGPT and Claude.
While technically impressive, DeepSeek is effectively a cheaper clone to other AI chatbots. Some have concerns about its censorship and privacy control, given the tensions between the US and China regarding AI, although this shouldn’t affect everyday users looking for alternative LLMs.
It’s best to consider all these factors before deciding to use DeepSeek AI to read your PDFs.
Grok
Developed by xAI and owned by X (formerly Twitter), Grok is an AI chatbot named after a science fiction novel from the 60s. It’s intended to be as impartial and truthful as possible.
Grok can read through PDFs and answer questions, like the other AI. It’s a bit slower and won’t accept larger PDFs, so it’s best used for smaller questions or prompts.
You’ll need a Grok account to access file uploads, which you can sign-up for or use X if you already have an account. You access Grok straight from X itself.
What’s best overall?
You can’t go wrong choosing any AI PDF reader, as they all function nearly the same. Upload a file, plug into the AI, and get a response nearly instantly.
The downside is that most are locked behind paywalls and dedicated AIs, while very handy, are built around general use and come with no PDF-specific features.
Macro is free, easy-to-use, and sign-up takes 2 clicks — try it out for yourself!