iLovePDF API
Simple, affordable PDF manipulation API for common operations including merge, split, compress, convert, OCR, and repair.
Score Breakdown
⚙ Agent Friendliness
🔒 Security
HTTPS enforced. JWT token model adds a layer of security over simple API keys. No scope granularity — all operations available to any valid token. Files are deleted from iLovePDF servers after download. EU-hosted, GDPR compliant.
⚡ Reliability
Best When
An agent needs straightforward PDF operations (merge, split, compress, convert) with minimal setup and predictable per-task pricing.
Avoid When
You need advanced document generation, form automation, or digital signatures — use pspdfkit-api or adobe-pdf-services-api instead.
Use Cases
- • Merging multiple PDFs into a single document in an automated pipeline
- • Splitting large PDFs into individual pages or sections
- • Compressing PDFs for email or web delivery
- • Converting images to PDF or PDF to images
- • Running OCR on scanned PDFs to extract text
- • Repairing corrupted PDF files
Not For
- • Complex document generation from templates — no HTML-to-PDF support
- • Digital signatures or form filling workflows
- • Enterprise compliance requirements needing dedicated infrastructure
Interface
Authentication
Project key and secret key pair used to generate short-lived JWT tokens. Simple two-credential model — project key is public, secret key must be kept private. Token generation is straightforward for agents.
Pricing
Simple, transparent per-task pricing. Free tier sufficient for development and low-volume production. No per-page pricing complexity.
Agent Metadata
Known Gotchas
- ⚠ JWT tokens have a short expiry — agents must refresh before each task or handle 401 errors
- ⚠ Tasks follow a three-step workflow: start task, upload file(s), process — agents must track task IDs across steps
- ⚠ File uploads are multipart/form-data — SDK handles this but raw REST callers need careful implementation
- ⚠ Task results must be downloaded before the task expires from iLovePDF servers
- ⚠ Free tier 250 tasks/month limit resets monthly — track usage to avoid unexpected failures
Alternatives
Full Evaluation Report
Detailed scoring breakdown, competitive positioning, security analysis, and improvement recommendations for iLovePDF API.
Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-03-06.