Reglyph is our product, so we can't claim to be neutral. Both tools got the same files, and every result is shown as it came out.
| Page | Languages | Better result | What decided it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1871 book page (scan) | FR → EN | Reglyph | Smallpdf refused the file |
| Dense two-column paper (digital) | EN → FR | Reglyph | Smallpdf returned plain text; ours kept the layout |
| Paper with a parameter table (digital) | EN → KO | Reglyph | Smallpdf returned plain text and flattened the table into one line |
| Score | Reglyph 3 · Smallpdf 0 |
This comparison is over almost before it starts. We uploaded a scanned page from an 1871 edition of Jules Verne, and Smallpdf stopped at the upload. Its own translate page says scanned PDFs are converted with OCR, so we expected at least plain text back. This is all we got:
Here is the same page through Reglyph. The English sits on the original yellowed paper, the engraving is untouched, and the running header is translated too.
Smallpdf did translate the digital paper, and the French reads fine. This is the screen it gave us: the original on the left, the French on the right as one long column of plain text. The two columns and the figure are gone, and the chirp-mass equation is flattened into a single line of characters.
Here is the same page through Reglyph. It comes back as a page, with the columns, the figure and the equation where they were. It isn't spotless: the paragraphs lost their first-line indents. If you only need to read the paper in French, Smallpdf's text does that. If you need a translated PDF that still looks like the paper, this isn't it.
The second paper, a machine-learning page with a parameter table, went the same way in Korean. The translation sits beside the original as plain text, the three attention diagrams are gone, and the parameter table is flattened into one run of text, "dim 4096n_layers 32head_dim 128…", with nothing between one row and the next. Headings run straight into the text after them, as in "2. 아키텍처 세부사항그림 1: …".
Through Reglyph the page stays one page, with the table intact, the diagram labels translated and the configuration keys left as written:
All eight tools we tested, scored on one table: our PDF translator roundup.
More side-by-side tests: Reglyph vs DeepL, which Reglyph won 6–4, Reglyph vs Reflo on the same six pages, and Reglyph vs Google Translate.
Upload a scanned PDF — even one made with your phone's scanner app. Reglyph OCRs it, translates it, and rebuilds the page so tables, stamps, and figures stay exactly where they were.
Translate 5 pages free, every dayNot in our test. Smallpdf rejected our scanned page with the message "Your file is a scan or an image or doesn't have any text. Try another file." Its translate page says scanned PDFs are converted with OCR, but our scan never got that far.
Not in our test. On two research papers it showed the translation as plain text, without the columns, the figures or the equation layout, and it flattened a parameter table into one line. Smallpdf's own translate page says images and special layouts don't carry over.
Reglyph. It translated our scanned page and kept the original paper behind the text, while Smallpdf wouldn't accept the file.
We can't be neutral, so we kept it checkable: the same files, Smallpdf's screens shown as they came out, and our own flaw on the digital paper left in.
Vision models genuinely read scans now. The question isn't whether ChatGPT can translate your PDF — it's whether a chat reply is actually what you need back.
Read guideCamera-translate apps are great for reading a page on the spot, but they don't give you a file — here's how to get an actual translated PDF from your phone.
Read guideRandom symbols, blank pages, or 'PDF tools are temporarily offline' — the cause is almost always the same one thing, and it's fixable.
Read guideSimple, scan-friendly pricing. Pages are pages — no multiplier for scanned files.
Translate a few pages. No commitment.
$0.30 a page, from 10 pages — you pay for exactly 10 pages.
For individuals with scans to translate every month.
For high-volume users with scans to translate every week.