Metallurgy vs Claude’s built-in PDF reading.
Metallurgy is a Mac app that reads documents on device for coding agents; Claude’s built-in PDF reading is part of Claude Code. This page compares cost and features.
| Feature | Metallurgy | Claude’s built-in PDF reading |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Not set yet | Tokens for every page |
| Runs on Windows and Linux | No | Yes |
| Documents stay on your machine | Yes | No |
| No extra API key | Yes | Yes |
| Reads scanned PDFs (OCR) | Yes | Yes |
| Reads audio and video | Yes | No |
| Returns only the part asked for | Yes | Partlypage ranges |
| Ships an agent skill | Yes | –built in |
| Platforms | macOS 27, Apple silicon | macOS, Windows, Linux |
| How you get it | Mac app | Built into Claude Code |
| Records tokens saved | Yes | No |
| Reads Word, Excel and PowerPoint | No | No |
Yes Yes Partly Partly No No
Price
Claude’s PDF support uses standard token pricing with no additional PDF fees; each page typically uses 1,500–3,000 text tokens plus image tokens. The Read tool in Claude Code lists no separate charge, though Claude Code requires a Pro, Max, Ultra, Team, Enterprise or Console account. Metallurgy will cost one fee, paid once, when it is released; the price has not been set, and it buys lifetime access with no subscription.
Where documents go
When a PDF is sent to Claude, each page is converted into an image and the text is extracted, and both go to the model, so every page costs tokens. Anthropic’s guidance puts a page at 1,500 to 3,000 text tokens plus image tokens, and dense PDFs can fill the context window before reaching the page limit. Metallurgy processes files on your Mac with Apple’s on-device frameworks and prints only the passages, fields or failures the agent needs, so nothing is uploaded.
Where Claude’s built-in PDF reading is ahead
- It is built into Claude and Claude Code, so there is nothing extra to buy or install for short PDFs.
- The model sees each page as an image as well as text, so it can answer questions about charts, diagrams and layout, which Metallurgy does not analyse.
- It runs wherever Claude Code runs, including Windows and Linux on x64 or ARM64, while Metallurgy needs Apple silicon and macOS 27 or later.
- The API accepts up to 600 pages per request.
Metallurgy is coming soon.
It will be sold like every Handy Tools app: one fee, lifetime access.
It will need macOS 27 or later, Apple silicon.
More comparisons
Sources
Checked against Claude’s built-in PDF reading’s own website and documentation on 13 November 2026. If something here is out of date, tell us and we’ll correct it.
- PDF support - Claude API docs
- Vision - Claude API docs
- Tools reference - Claude Code docs
- Advanced setup - Claude Code docs
Claude and Claude Code are trademarks of their owner. Metallurgy is not affiliated with it.