Coda vs. pdfFiller

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Coda
Score 8.9 out of 10
N/A
Coda is a unified workspace platform that transforms documents into interactive applications by combining documentation, spreadsheet functionality, relational databases, and AI-powered automation—enabling teams to consolidate multiple tools and automate complex workflows without writing code. The platform operates as a block-based document system where every page can contain interactive tables, buttons that trigger automations, live formulas, and conditional logic, all rendering from a shared…
$0
pdfFiller
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
pdfFiller is a cloud-based platform with a comprehensive digital toolkit used to handle PDFs, and to edit, sign, store, manage, and collaborate on documents. Documents are stored in the cloud and can be accessed anytime, anywhere, without worrying about losing data.
$8
per month (annual commitment) per user (minimum 20 users)
Pricing
CodapdfFiller
Editions & Modules
Free
$0.00
Pro
$12
per month per Doc Maker
Team
$36
per month per Doc Maker
Enterprise
Custom
Basic for Enterprise
$8
per month (annual commitment) per user (minimum 20 users)
Premium for Enterprise
$10
per month (annual commitment) per user (minimum 10 users)
Basic
$20
per month single user
Plus
$30
per month single user
Premium
$40
per month single user
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CodapdfFiller
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
YesNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeOptional
Additional DetailsDiscount available for annual billing.Up to a 70% discount on individual plans for annual billing.
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
CodapdfFiller
Considered Both Products
Coda
Chose Coda
Coda is a more complete package that is very robust and will meet the needs of almost any organization who wants to track project and meet desired timelines. By implementing project trackers the team can easily collaborate together and get the work done. Coda is much easier to …
Chose Coda
We previously used airtable, and I'm not sure why we switched, but it seems like Coda has more flexibility and is a little more user friendly for generic users and not power users.
Chose Coda
Coda is not as great as ClickUp or Notion in many ways, but it surely has a better user interface and pricing in my view and allows good collaboration. However, integrations work much better with other competitors as compared with Coda, and would prefer others if pricing was …
Chose Coda
Trello seems to be more focused on IT oriented projects where as Coda has wide scale applications across all departments. Coda was selected because of the perception it was more dynamic and I believe it has proven to be more dynamic. Coda is a very easy to use and understand …
Chose Coda
I was not using anything similar to Coda.
Chose Coda
I don't know why leadership choose Coda over Google, but I do see the value in the organization as well as diversity of what you can do with pages designs and integrations
Chose Coda
We used Airtable for a while and looked at Notion briefly. Airtable is good, yet a bit technical and doesn't come with rich text and formatting capabilities--so less suitable for publishing/sharing with the rest of the organization. We haven't used Notion for real; I did look …
Chose Coda
Coda is very aesthetically appealing and fun to create docs. The benefit of Coda is that it makes a lot automated, but what is sacrificed is the flexibility that other tools can offer.
Chose Coda
For general use cases, Google Docs or Airtable are often a better starting place. But if things get complex or you're constantly pairing the two together, consider graduating to Coda to save yourself long-term headaches.

Notion is great for personal use, but the powerful …
Chose Coda
The tables within Coda are similar to lists in SharePoint or Google Tables, but the document portion of Coda is what sets it apart. Having the ability to summarize that table data in a document is unique to Coda.
Chose Coda
Coda is the only tool with the ability to fully customize your views and the behavior within a given data table. They've put a LOT of thought into this and are miles above and beyond Smartsheet, Airtable, and Notion (I've evaluated all three extensively).
Chose Coda
We were looking for many different things to improve our internal processes before we came across Coda. A large part of my work involves marketing, project management, service management and data analytics.
For a company like ours, we find Coda the most cost-effective and …
Chose Coda
I first tried Notion and, although it can be easier to work with for some simple tasks, when it comes to tables and linked data, Coda is more versatile and comprehensive.
Chose Coda
For the use we needed in the company, Coda was a way easier and simpler solution. Jira and the Atlassian suite is more complete and structured, but it is was way too complicated.
Chose Coda
Coda's automation and flexibility makes it much easier and more interactive than other tools like Airtable. With Airtable, we couldn't get as much traction or flexibility, so we stopped using it after a few months. Jira, on the other hand, has proven to be more helpful for task …
Chose Coda
I primarily use Mavenlink for scheduling purposes but with Coda, I'm able to do that, plus have an open way to communicate with the rest of my team when we want to add certain artists to a specific job. Instead of using another software for communicating across all of our …
Chose Coda
They are similar but I like that Coda has more templates that are suited for marketing (GTM timelines, pulse updates, etc). One pain point for us is getting the engineering team on Coda but they seem to prefer Jira and Aha!
Chose Coda
While all of the products listed have great features and platforms, there was always one thing missing from them that I would need to get from another application. Coda was the first one we used that really combined some of the best parts of those products and allowed us to use …
Chose Coda
The price point is most attractive, they have a dedicated team of support agents/doc makers that provide valuable templates, and it really was the best option to fit our current needs as a startup team who will be scaling and the product can scale with us in the long run.
pdfFiller
Chose pdfFiller
I have not used other products - PDFfiller was the first one I tried and have kept my annual subscription active since it was so easy to use.
Chose pdfFiller
Works great. Filling out pdfs used to be a pain in the rear. PDFfiller is a great app and defiantly makes my life a lot easier. Some of the other apps can be a real pain in the rear. It’s just east to use what can I say. I can imagin my phone without it.
Chose pdfFiller
There are SO many options for this category. What I will say is that I am not always in control nor am I always able to suggest going PDF. People have their rhymes and reasons foro why they use what they do.
My next most frequently used option is DocuSign, which by all means is …
Chose pdfFiller
i have never looked for a similar product. i didnt even know similar products existed!
Chose pdfFiller
I have never been sent a legal document via PDFfiller, only Docusign. We only use Docusign for legal and accounting matters because that is what our accountant, solicitor and real estate agent choose to use.
It is my understanding that Docusign is more appropriate for contracts …
Chose pdfFiller
This is my first time using a service like this. I chose this because it was what a previous coworker used to do the job i am doing now. I would not change services as PDFfiller is very easy to use and navigate.
Chose pdfFiller
I've not had to try any others. I was fortunate to stumble on PDFfiller as my first choice and I've never had to use anything else.
Chose pdfFiller
They only other one I looked into (but didn't use) was the editor made by Adobe. The price was prohibitive for a small business like mine.
Chose pdfFiller
I find it much easier to use and more user friendly than Adobe Acrobat
Chose pdfFiller
I have not used many others but in my field there are real estate specific options like Glide or Homelight that offer pdf editing but I don't think they offer as much editing features I need and is not as smooth to operate.
Chose pdfFiller
I googled filling a PDF over 5 years ago, this is the first software that came up. It has been so helpful, easy to use and reasonably priced, we have not looked elsewhere.
Chose pdfFiller
Easier for a small practice and more cost effective
Chose pdfFiller
Docusign is very limited in my opinion. The software itself is also very clunky and skips around too much for my brain to handle. The UI is also confusing and looks sort of pieced together.
Chose pdfFiller
PDFfiller is much less expensive than DocuSign and you will get more for your money. Docusign charges a ton of money for their product. PDFfiller can do basically the same thing.
Chose pdfFiller
I like this better than Adobe but not as much as DocuSign mainly b/c DocuSign is more readily accepted for electronic signature and also DocuSign has better name recognition.
Chose pdfFiller
Adobe isn't user-friendly in my opinion. I can't save a pdf easily when I want to only select certain pages. PDFfiller is much faster and does everything I need and the interface makes more sense to me.
Chose pdfFiller
I have only sued PDFfiller as it met my needs at the time and the price was awesome!
Chose pdfFiller
Honestly, I'm not sure I could assert that PDFfiller is necessarily better than the competition. It's definitely adequate enough for the tasks I need it for that I quit looking for another service to use.
Best Alternatives
CodapdfFiller
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Stackby
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Score 8.8 out of 10
Square 9 Softworks
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Score 9.3 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Troop Messenger
Troop Messenger
Score 9.8 out of 10
MSB Docs
MSB Docs
Score 9.4 out of 10
Enterprises
HCL Connections
HCL Connections
Score 9.0 out of 10
M‑Files
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Score 8.9 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
CodapdfFiller
Likelihood to Recommend
8.0
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.9
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Availability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
7.8
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
8.2
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
Configurability
8.2
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
4.5
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
7.3
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
CodapdfFiller
Likelihood to Recommend
Coda is great to build a place for your users to go to and see information. It is easy to navigate through and the variety of content creation is great. However, it is not always easy to create what you want and there is a lot of playing around and learning. Coda also sometimes misses some functionality which is expected. For example, downloading a list of users that have access to the platform. Being able to send push notifications when a new page has been created etc. Overall it is a good tool to use just be prepared to invest time!
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Honestly, everyone should know about PDF filler. But then again, its my little secret, lol. I love the fact that I can make edits to PDF seamlessly and professionally. I also love the fact that the documents i need to fill out, sign and return look great. Not like i printed them and then tried to use a phone scanner to send them back. PDF filler is what allows me to travel without a printer
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Pros
  • One source of truth: It's incredibly easy to keep everything organized and easy to find.
  • Being able to show different views of the same information throughout your doc makes it really easy to customize the information.
  • In general, I love the "coding" aspect of it, and being able to do advanced functions has helped us create some really interesting automation and streamline our process.
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  • Its user interface makes it a very easy-to-operate app. Without having adequate technical knowledge any user can operate it easily.
  • It works very fine on adding text on any part of a PDF document and It also allows users to delete pre written text from a pdf file.
  • It can also convert PDF files in other office formats with good quality.
Read full review
Cons
  • "Barrier of entry" is a little high for those who do not have any database experience.
  • More out-of-the-box integrations with other applications would be nice.
  • Performance for very heavy loaded/traffic documents could be improved.
  • Scalability for enterprise level customers and doc loads could be improved.
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  • Manually resending the document was a feature that seems to have been taken away.
  • Templates for Send To Sign letters. I basically have to type the same information over and over again each time. I was hoping that it would save it but it doesn't seem to have that function
  • Signer cannot save the document once it has been signed. I have to make sure that there is a note within the email that states that I will send them a copy.
  • Wish it had a way to send me a copy of the email I sent.
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Likelihood to Renew
Coda is definitely something that has been proven to drive positive impact in our organization. We have many divisions that can benefit from this that we have yet to explore. It would definitely be worth renewing.
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I will always be a faithful PDFfiller customer. The product has saved me a lot of time over the years and I find a great deal of value in the platform. If I move on to another company someday, PDFfiller will be going with me wherever I go.
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Usability
There is a little bit of a learning curve on where to point and click to add in different elements and make edits. But it is still very manageable once you get the hang of it. I do still have some issues with some of my connected pages updating each other when I don't want them to sync. So I'll end up editing one page, and it will make the same edits on another page.
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I don't fully understand all the features and I could probably be using it better, especially the templates. The organisation of exisiting files could be better (ie similar to folders on a pc/laptop). I haven't really invested much time into exploring it further than filling out forms; There possibly is an organisation solution I haven't discovered yet
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Reliability and Availability
So far in the past year, we haven't had situations that Coda has gone down for us which is great.
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No answers on this topic
Performance
We haven't done any integrations - the initial part of our experience we found that for docs with complex formulas, the page tends to load slowly but in recent months, Coda has improved and optimized the loading times in general and we generally don't find any problems in terms of speed anymore.
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No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Mainly due to timezone differences. I think Coda's support in general is well implemented and executed. They know their stuff and are helpful. But since I'm not in the same timezone, solution rates are slower for me, and that's not something I prefer. I work in customer service, too, and more often than not, time is important. Shortening the solution time would be a much greater experience.
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If you need help, you can easily search for it and find online tutorials that walk you through how to do specific things step by step. You do not have to read a 20 page manual or sit for a 10 hour training session, it is refreshing that you can take it at your own pace and learn things as you need to
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Implementation Rating
I'm relatively inexperienced but this experience is meaningful. It would have been nice to have some guidance from Coda so that we understood more on Coda's purpose and potential.
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When I was hired on by my current company I was already a paying customer, so I just brought it with me. Once I showed our President/Founder how simple it was to use for our contracts, agreements, and NDAs, it has been a staple in our company ever since. That was almost 3 years ago. We've closed quicker because of the speed at which we can turn signed docs around.
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Alternatives Considered
For general use cases, Google Docs or Airtable are often a better starting place. But if things get complex or you're constantly pairing the two together, consider graduating to Coda to save yourself long-term headaches. Notion is great for personal use, but the powerful automation and collaboration features in Coda make it a better fit for teams in my experience so far.
Read full review
There are SO many options for this category. What I will say is that I am not always in control nor am I always able to suggest going PDF. People have their rhymes and reasons foro why they use what they do. My next most frequently used option is DocuSign, which by all means is a top performer as well. The ease and universal comfort of PDF Filler resonate on a higher level of subconscious use globally so it becomes second nature like using text messages to video conferencing
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Scalability
I think scalability is definitely good here since it's based on number of doc makers. Implementation into each dept becomes simpler. That being said, due to the nature of our work, we find it easier that we have a "super user" and then a team of other doc makers. This would make the doc creation and management more efficient.
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Increased insight for all stakeholders involved--both in terms of overview and details
  • Better grip on issues and escalations--reduced friction, confusion, and higher clarity on status, next actions, and ownership.
  • Reduced time required by those who need to maintain all information. Record (a detail) once and use multiple times.
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  • Achieved significant ROI immediately, by freeing up our sales staff to actually sell (show properties, prospect new clients, list new houses), rather than spending time printing/scanning/manually completing forms, documents, and legal agreements.
  • Huge quality of life improvement immediately felt by our entire team that uses the application
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ScreenShots

Coda Screenshots

Screenshot of One unified surface means ideas aren’t limited to a file type. A project doesn’t have to be split across tabs of documents, spreadsheets, and apps.Screenshot of Packs are a version of integrations or plug-ins. They connect the  doc to the apps in use every day, so as to pull live data in or push updates out automatically.Screenshot of Drag-and-drop templates provide a quick-start shortcut to commonly used templates like Upvote/Downvote, To-Do List, and Team Sentiment Tracker.Screenshot of Slice, dice, and chop data using Views. A View is a mirror of data that can be tailored to unique needs, all while staying connected to the source.Screenshot of When accessing the doc from a mobile device, it should feel like an app. Doc pages become tabs, buttons become swipe actions and doc notifications become push notifications.Screenshot of The Doc Gallery contains docs self-published by the Coda community. These published docs have a webpage-like interface and have varying levels of interactivity like view, play or edit. Find and share tools, templates, tiny apps, interactive handbooks, and anything else that can be built in Coda.

pdfFiller Screenshots

Screenshot of the PDF editorScreenshot of fillable fields in pdfFillerScreenshot of the dashboardScreenshot of where to share documents and request eSignatures