Licensing and Usage Limits
Adobe PDF Services API licensing is measured per Document Transaction which is based on the initial endpoint request (i.e., API call) and the digital output, with each operation in the table described below. Usage limits apply and are provided along with examples for clarity. These limits do not apply to PDF Embed API.
Paid credentials enable a greater processing quota and require entering into a separate written agreement. To learn more, please see the pricing page for purchase options.
Document Transactions for the Operations below resulting in a Document will be counted with the following page limits:
- Extract Operation: 1 Document Transaction for up to 5 pages
- Accessibility Auto-Tag Operation: 10 Document Transactions per page
- Electronic Seal Operation: 10 Document Transactions per PDF
- All other Operations: 1 Document Transaction for up to 50 pages
Document Transaction Definitions
| OPERATION | CAPABILITY | METRIC |
|---|---|---|
Accessibility Auto-Tag | Tag the content in a PDF to improve accessibility | 10 Document Transactions (per page) |
Electronic Seal | Applies an organizational seal to a PDF using a digital certificate | 10 Document Transactions (per PDF) |
Document Generation | Create PDF and Word documents from your own authored Microsoft Word templates and JSON data | Document Transaction |
Extract | Extracts PDF Elements such as text, images, tables in a structured format from a PDF. | Document Transaction (per 5 pages) |
Create | Create PDF from static/dynamic HTML, HTML(with inline CSS), HTML(specified via URL), MS Office and other supported file types. File types: BMP, DOC, DOCX, GIF, JPEG, JPG, PNG, PPT, PPTX, RTF, TIF, TIFF, TXT, XLS, XLSX, ZIP | Document Transaction |
Export | Convert PDF to MS Office and other supported file types. File types: DOC, DOCX, JPEG, PNG, PPTX, RTF, XLSX | Document Transaction |
Combine | Combine multiple PDFs or pages in PDFs to a single PDF | Document Transaction |
OCR | Convert scanned PDF to editable and searchable PDF | Document Transaction |
Compress | Reduce the size of a PDF | Document Transaction |
Protect | Set user password in a PDF to prevent others from opening and viewing the Document | Document Transaction: the 50-page count does not apply |
Remove Password | Remove password security from a PDF document. This can only be accomplished using the owner password of the document, which must be passed in the operation. | Document Transaction: the 50-page count does not apply |
Linearize | Optimize a PDF for Fast Web View | Document Transaction |
Split | Split a PDF document into multiple smaller PDFs | Document Transaction |
Insert Pages | Insert one or more pages from different PDFs into a PDF | Document Transaction |
Replace Pages | Replace one or more pages in a single PDF from pages in other PDFs | Document Transaction |
Delete Pages | Delete one or more pages in a single PDF | Document Transaction |
Rotate Pages | Rotate one or more pages in a single PDF | Document Transaction |
Reorder Pages | Reorder one or more pages in a single PDF | Document Transaction |
Get PDF Properties | Get XMP metadata properties of a PDF file | Document Transaction: the 50-page count does not apply |
Accessibility Checker | Check accessibility of a PDF and generate an accessibility report | Document Transaction: the 50-page count does not apply |
Watermark | Add a watermark to specified pages in a PDF | Document Transaction |
Examples
| OPERATION | EXAMPLE | CALCULATION |
|---|---|---|
Document Generation | Generating a fifteen-page PDF Document from a two-page Microsoft Word template and 1MB JSON file consumes one Document Transaction. | 1 (Operation: Document Generation) x 1 (Document) = 1 Document Transaction |
Accessibility Auto-Tag | Auto-tagging a five-page PDF consumes 50 Document Transactions. | 1 (Operation: Auto-Tag) X 1 (5-page document) = 50 Document Transactions |
Electronic Seal | Sealing one PDF Document consumes 10 Document Transactions. | 1 (Operation: Electronic Sealing) X 1 (document) = 10 Document Transactions |
Extract PDF | Extracting PDF Elements from an 8-page PDF Document consumes two Document Transactions. | 1 (Operation: Extract PDF) x 2 (5-page document) = 2 Document Transactions |
Create, Export | Converting ten single page Word Documents into ten PDF Documents consumes ten Document Transactions. | 1 (Operation: create) x 10 (documents) = 10 Document Transactions |
Combine | Combining six different PDF Documents into a single 250-page PDF Document consumes five Document Transactions. | 1 (Operation: combine) x 5 (50-page documents) = 5 Document Transactions |
OCR | Running OCR on a single 50-page document consumes one Document Transaction. | 1 (Operation: OCR) x 1 (50-page document) = 1 Document Transaction |
Compress, Protect | Setting password protection for a single PDF document consumes one Document Transaction. | 1 (Operation: protect) x 1 (document) = 1 Document Transaction |
Linearize | Optimizing one PDF document with three pages will consume one Document Transaction. | 1 (Operation: Linearize) x 1 (document) = 1 Document Transaction |
Insert, replace, rotate, reorder, delete pages | Inserting ten pages into a 100-page PDF document consumes three Document Transactions. | 1 (Operation: Insert) x 3 (50-page documents) = 2 Document Transactions |
Create + Reorder | Converting a 10-page Word Document into a single PDF and then reordering five of the pages in the same PDF Document consumes two Document Transactions. | 1 (Operation: create) x 1 (document) + 1 (Operation: reorder) x 1 (document) = 2 Document Transactions |
Combine + Rotate + OCR | Combining three PDF Documents into a single 30-page PDF, then rotating two pages of the PDF, and then running OCR on the PDF consumes three Document Transactions. | 1 (Operation: combine) x 1 (document) + 1 (Operation: rotate) x 1 (document) + 1 (Operation: OCR) x 1 (document) = 3 Document Transactions |
Replace + Delete + Export | Replacing seven pages in a single 45-page PDF document, then deleting three pages on the same PDF document, and finally exporting the PDF document to a PPT document will consume three Document Transactions. | 1 (Operation: replace) x 1 (document) + 1 (Operation: delete) x 1 (document) + 1 (Operation: export) x 1 (document) = 3 Document Transactions |
Create + Combine + Protect | Creating a 10-page PDF document from an HTML page, then combining the PDF into four other 5-page PDF documents, and finally password protecting all four PDF documents will consume nine Document Transactions. | 1 (Operation: create) x 1 (document) + 1 (Operation: combine) x 4 (documents) + 1 (Operation: export) x 4 (documents) = 9 Document Transactions |
Usage Limits
There are several usage limits that apply to PDF Services API and its underlying Operations based on one initial endpoint request. Files submitted for processing that exceed usage limits below will fail and result in an error message.
| USAGE LIMIT | VALUE |
|---|---|
Document limit (Combine, Insert, Replace, Split) | 20 |
File size (for all documents)** | 100MB |
Output images per Document Transaction (Export) | 50 |
Page limit (Extract and Accessibility Auto-Tag)* | 400 |
Page limit (Scanned - Extract and Accessibility Auto-Tag)* | 150 |
JSON file size (Document Generation and HTML to PDF) | 10MB |
Maximum Requests Per Minute | 100 RPM** (Enterprise), 25 RPM (Free Tier) |
*Page limits may be lower for documents with a large number of tables.
**Please contact us on RPM or file size if interested in understanding how it can scale under your ETLA.
Free Tier
The PDF Services API has a Free Tier so that you can take a deep dive into its cool features at zero cost. Free Tier users get free credentials that enable the processing of 500 Document Transactions per month. A Document Transaction is based on the initial endpoint request (i.e., API call) and the digital output. For detailed licensing metrics, please see the tables above.
Processing is calculated on a per Document Transaction basis.
Example 1:
- On March 20, you convert a ten-page Word document into PDF. This consumes 1 Document Transaction of the Free Tier quota, leaving you with 499 Document Transactions available for consumption through March 31.
- 1 (Operation: convert) x 1 (document) = 1 Document Transaction On April 1, your Free Tier quota resets to 500 Document Transactions.
Example 2:
- Combining 20 single-page documents into one PDF and then running OCR on the PDF consumes 2 Document Transactions of the quota.
- 1 (Operation: combine) x 1 (document) + 1 (Operation: OCR) x 1 (document) = 2 Document Transactions
This generous allowance of processing power should allow you to get up and running with the easy-to-use APIs with little investment.
Paid credentials enable a greater processing quota and require entering into a separate written agreement. To learn more, please see our pricing page for purchase options.
