Tabula vs ProperConvert: free PDF table extraction and statement conversion compared

Tabula and ProperConvert

Tabula and ProperConvert both run on your own computer and both get data out of PDF bank statements without uploading them. Tabula is a free, open-source tool that extracts tables from text PDFs into CSV or Excel. ProperConvert is a bank statement converter that produces the file your accounting software imports. This page lists what each one does, and where the free tool stops.

The facts below were checked on the two official websites on September 24, 2026. Prices and plans change; the links go to the current pages.

What Tabula is

Tabula is a free tool created by journalists for anyone with data locked inside PDFs. You run it on Windows, Mac or Linux with Java installed, it opens in your browser at a local address, you draw a box around a table or let it detect one, preview the result, and export CSV or Excel. Everything stays on your machine; there is no hosted version and no account. The code is MIT licensed on GitHub, the current release is 1.2.1, and the README notes that development is volunteer-run and limited.

Tabula reads only text-based PDFs. Scanned statements do not work because it has no OCR. It does not know what a bank statement is, so a column of amounts with DR suffixes, two-line descriptions or a running balance comes out exactly as printed, for you to sort out in a spreadsheet.

Tabula pricing

Tabula is free and open source under the MIT license, with optional donations through OpenCollective. There are no plans, limits or trials.

What ProperConvert is

ProperConvert is one desktop application for Windows and macOS. It opens PDF statements, scanned PDF statements, CSV and Excel files, and QBO, QFX, OFX, QIF and QMTF files, shows the transactions in a table where you can review, edit, exclude and rename payees, and saves QBO, IIF, QFX, QIF, OFX, CSV and Excel files for QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, Quicken, Xero, Sage and other accounting software. The conversion runs on your computer. Statements are never uploaded to a server.

ProperConvert pricing is one subscription for everything: $19.99 per month or $179.99 per year for one user, and a Team plan of three users at $49.98 per month or $449.97 per year. There are no page, statement or transaction limits, all formats are included, updates are free, and there is a 14-day money-back guarantee. A free trial is on the download page.

Tabula and ProperConvert side by side

Which one fits

Tabula fits a one-time job on a clean, text-based PDF where a spreadsheet is the goal and you are willing to fix the columns afterward. For a journalist, a student or a person with one statement and a free afternoon, it is the right answer and it costs nothing.

ProperConvert fits a bookkeeper who has many statements, some of them scanned, and needs them inside QuickBooks, Quicken, Xero or Sage as a bank file with the dates, payees and signs already right. It keeps the same principle as Tabula, nothing leaves your computer, and adds the parts a spreadsheet grid does not give you: OCR, statement layouts, a transaction review table and the accounting formats.

Questions people ask

Can Tabula convert a scanned bank statement?

No. Tabula works on text-based PDFs only and has no OCR. ProperConvert has OCR built in.

Can Tabula make a QBO or CSV for QuickBooks?

It exports CSV and Excel of the table as printed; making the CSV match what QuickBooks wants is manual work. ProperConvert saves QBO, IIF, QFX, QIF and OFX files directly.

Is Tabula still maintained?

The project's own README says development is volunteer-run and limited; the current release is 1.2.1. ProperConvert is updated with every subscription.

When is Tabula enough?

When the PDF is text-based, the statement is short, and the destination is a spreadsheet you will tidy yourself. Past that, a converter saves more time than it costs.