PDF summaries

AI PDF Summarizer

Free, instant PDF summarizer. Upload a PDF or paste a link and get the key points, a clear summary, and ready-to-use study notes in seconds — perfect for students summarizing papers and professionals digesting long reports.

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Free to start · No credit card required

Updated July 2026 — the summarizer, limits, and study tools below reflect the current app.

Used by 170,000+ students, researchers & professionals
170,000+
Students & professionals
30 sec
Average summary
70+
Languages
How it works

How Do I Summarize a PDF?

Upload your PDF, let the AI read the whole document and extract the key points, then get an editable summary you can turn into notes, flashcards, or a podcast. A typical paper or textbook chapter becomes a structured summary in about 30 seconds.

01

Step 1: Upload your PDF

Upload your PDF file or paste a direct link — research papers, textbooks, lecture slides, and reports all work.

02

Step 2: AI reads and extracts key points

The AI reads the whole document and pulls out the main arguments, definitions, and conclusions.

03

Step 3: Get your editable summary

Get a structured summary you can edit, then turn it into notes, flashcards, or a podcast — or chat with the PDF to dig deeper.

Try it now

Summarize your PDF right here

Upload a file or paste a link and get a structured summary in seconds.

Summarize Your PDF Document

Upload a PDF or paste a URL to a PDF document. Select your desired summary language. You will be redirected to register.

OR

Your files are processed securely.

Features

More than a wall of text

Structured summaries you can actually study from — and turn into the rest of your study toolkit.

Instant summaries

Drop in a long PDF and get the key arguments back in about 30 seconds.

Key-point extraction

The AI pulls out main ideas, definitions, and conclusions into a clear structure.

Chat with the PDF

Ask follow-up questions and get answers grounded in your document.

Works on any PDF

Research papers, textbooks, lecture slides, reports — even scanned documents.

Save your summaries

Keep every summary in your workspace and come back to it any time.

Turn it into study material

Generate flashcards, study guides, and quizzes from the same PDF in one click.

Why it helps

Why use an AI PDF summarizer?

An AI PDF summarizer turns a long document into the few ideas that actually matter. A long PDF can hide its key points behind dozens of pages of detail. Scholarly reads the whole document, identifies the main arguments, definitions, and conclusions, and returns a structured summary so you grasp the gist before you commit to a full read.

Summaries are the start, not the end. Once you have the overview, you can chat with the PDF to dig into anything that's unclear, then turn the same document into flashcards, a study guide, or a quiz — so the time you save on reading goes straight into actually learning the material.

It works for research papers, textbooks, lecture slides, and reports, in 70+ languages. Start free with no credit card; upgrade to Premium for higher limits, longer documents, and saved summaries.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How do I summarize a PDF?

To summarize a PDF, upload the file or paste a direct link to it in the tool above. The AI PDF summarizer reads the whole document and returns a structured summary — main arguments, definitions, and conclusions — in about 30 seconds. Create a free account to save it, chat with the PDF, or turn it into flashcards.

Is the AI PDF summarizer free?

Yes, you can summarize PDFs for free with Scholarly — no credit card to try it. Premium adds higher limits, longer documents, saved summaries, and grounded chat with your documents.

Can it summarize a long PDF, like a full research paper or textbook chapter?

Yes. The summarizer reads the entire document, not just the first few pages, so long research papers, textbook chapters, lecture slides, and reports all work. The longer and denser the PDF, the more time a structured summary saves — you get the thesis, the key sections, and the conclusion before deciding what to read in full.

Does the AI PDF summarizer work on scanned PDFs?

In most cases, yes. Scholarly extracts readable text from the PDF, including many scanned documents. If a scan is too low-quality to read, the summary may be incomplete — a text-based or exported PDF always gives the cleanest result.

Can I summarize a PDF by link instead of uploading it?

Yes. Paste a direct link to a publicly accessible PDF and Scholarly fetches and summarizes it — no upload needed. For files behind a login or stored on your device, upload the PDF instead.

What happens to the PDFs I summarize — are they private?

Your document is processed to generate the summary and, if you're signed in, stored in your private workspace where only you can see it. There's no public sharing unless you choose it, and you can delete a document and its summary at any time.

Can I turn the PDF summary into flashcards or a study guide?

Yes. Once Scholarly has read your PDF, the same document can become flashcards, a study guide, or a quiz in one click — so the summary is the starting point for studying, not the end of it.

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Pricing

Unlock Full Potential with Scholarly

Sign up for free to save summaries, chat with documents, and access more AI tools.

Explore PDF tools

Free

See what it does with one of your own sources.

$0

/month

Free forever

No card required.

  • 3 lifetime AI Chat messages

  • 1 free AI creation total

  • 2-minute podcasts and video lectures

  • 1 free file upload total (8MB)

  • 5 lifetime quiz questions

  • 1 completed practice exam total

  • 15 lifetime voice minutes

  • 32-page PDF to flashcards

  • 500 lifetime autocomplete words

Use it to generate flashcards, improve a deck, or create a podcast, video lecture, slides, infographic, mind map, study guide, worksheet, spreadsheet, story book, timeline, SOP, flowchart, lesson plan, or outline — or run Deep Research or turn a recording into AI Meeting Notes.

Premium

Most Popular

Steady weekly output from the material you already have.

$12

/month

Billed yearly at $144 · save $216

  • Everything in Free, plus:

  • 10 AI creations per week

  • Unlimited AI chat & autocomplete

  • Podcasts up to 60 minutes, videos up to 45 minutes

  • Unlimited file uploads (up to 300MB)

  • Unlimited study sessions

  • Unlimited exams & quizzes

  • 1000-page PDF to flashcards

  • Export to Anki

  • Priority support

Laureate

For work where being right matters more than the price.

$99

/month

billed monthly · cancel anytime

For frontier models & 8x more AI Creations

Our most advanced and most expensive tier.

  • Everything in Premium, plus:

  • 80 flexible AI creation credits every week

  • 80 AI creations per week

  • Podcasts up to 60 minutes, videos up to 45 minutes

  • Unlimited uploads up to 1 GB, plus 3,000-page PDFs

  • 12 hours of voice mode per day

  • Priority support and early access to new Frontier models

Pricing shown in USD. Local currency may be available for Premium in app.

Compare plans

AI chat

Premium and Laureate include unlimited AI chat. GPT 5.6 Sol and Claude Opus 5 are reserved for credit-metered AI creations.

Free
3 total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited

AI creations

AI creations share one credit balance across every creation tool. Standard models use 1 credit; Frontier models Sol and Opus use 3.

Free
1 total
Premium
10/week
Laureate
80/week

Podcast length

Free episodes are fixed at 2 minutes. Paid plans can set a target length up to 60 minutes.

Free
2 minutes
Premium
Up to 60 minutes
Laureate
Up to 60 minutes

Video lecture length

Free lectures with a length control are fixed at 2 minutes. Paid plans can set a target up to 45 minutes. Short uses its own short video format.

Free
2 minutes
Premium
Up to 45 minutes
Laureate
Up to 45 minutes

File uploads

Free
1 total (8MB)
Premium
Unlimited (300MB)
Laureate
Unlimited (1 GB each)

PDF to flashcards

Free
32 pages
Premium
1000 pages
Laureate
3000 pages

Practice questions

Free
5 total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited

Practice exams

Free
1 total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited

Voice mode

Free
15 min total
Premium
2 hr/day
Laureate
12 hr/day

Autocomplete

Free
500 words total
Premium
Unlimited
Laureate
Unlimited

Export to Anki

Free
—
Premium
Included
Laureate
Included

Support

Free
Standard
Premium
Priority
Laureate
Priority

What customers say

Scholarly has enhanced the quality of notes and questions I administer to my tutees. Insightful, to the point.

TD Georgas

TD Georgas

Tutor

I have very good experience with Scholarly it summarize me scientific text in hovel academic level with citation. I use this for any therapeutic area . It is great and useful tool.

Diana

Diana

Scholarly user

Scholarly has been a valuable tool for my studies. The AI-generated flashcards and intuitive features make organizing and retaining information much easier.

Briana

Briana

Scholarly user

This app is great for studying for big test. Drop your PDF's in the system and it'll do the trick. You can organize it specifically for your needs.

Kelvin

Kelvin

Scholarly user

Your questions, answered

Is Scholarly free to use?

Yes! The free plan includes core study tools with lifetime allowances: 3 AI Chat messages, 500 autocomplete words, 5 quiz questions, 15 voice minutes, 1 practice exam, one free AI creation total, and 1 file upload. These allowances do not reset. Upgrade to Premium for 10 AI creations per week and unlimited uploads.

What uses my free AI creations?

Generating flashcards, improving a flashcard deck, making a podcast, creating a video lecture or infographic, building slides, a spreadsheet, or a story book, making a mind map, study guide, or worksheet, having an AI Agent create a timeline, SOP, flowchart, lesson plan, or outline, running Deep Research, or processing a recording uses your free AI creation. It is a lifetime free credit and does not reset. AI Chat, autocomplete, quiz practice, voice, exams, and file uploads have separate lifetime allowances.

Can I cancel anytime?

Absolutely. There are no contracts or commitments. You can cancel your subscription at any time from your account settings, and you'll keep access until the end of your billing period.

What payment methods do you accept?

We accept all major credit and debit cards through Stripe. Pricing is displayed in USD by default, but local currency is available in the app.

Can I use Scholarly with a class or school?

Yes. For a school or organization-wide rollout, contact us at hello@scholarly.so and we'll help you find the right setup.

What happens when I hit a free plan limit?

You'll see a prompt to upgrade. Your existing work is never lost — limits only apply to new actions. Free-plan allowances are lifetime credits and do not reset. Premium includes 10 AI creations per week, podcasts up to 60 minutes, video lectures up to 45 minutes, unlimited uploads, chat, autocomplete, quizzes, and exams, plus more daily voice time.