PDF to Video: Watch the Pages, or Rebuild Them as Scenes?
PDF to video is either the pages themselves, with a voice, or a new set of scenes built from the document. Recastia keeps the pages. Blog2Video rebuilds them.
PDF to video means a document someone can watch. Recastia keeps the pages and adds motion, music, and an optional voice. Blog2Video reads the document and rebuilds it as narrated scenes. They are not two ways to make the same clip.
Quick answer
| Recastia | Blog2Video | |
|---|---|---|
| The picture | The PDF pages, with transitions. A voice is optional | New scenes. Headings become the cuts. Body text becomes narration. Lists, tables, and figures are laid out again for a screen |
| Who it is for | A catalog, a brochure, a report, or a lesson where the page itself should stay on screen | A whitepaper, lesson notes, or a research summary that should be watchable, rather than a photograph of the page |
| What you start with | A PDF under 100MB and under 200 pages, or images. You can leave pages out | A PDF with a text layer, or a DOCX or PPTX. A scan with no text has nothing to rebuild |
| What you leave with | An MP4 or a hosted link. The ratio can be 16:9 or 9:16 | An MP4, or the same scenes as PowerPoint, PDF, or PNG slides. 16:9 or 9:16, with the layout rebuilt for each |
| What you pay to start | Free is US$0. The free card lists 100+ videos and Recastia branding. The comparison table on the same page lists 5 creations | One video free, with no card. Then US$3.99 a video, or a monthly plan from US$19.99 |
Recastia: the pages stay in the frame
Recastia's video is the document, timed. The upload screen accepts a PDF or images, under 100MB and under 200 pages. Their how-to splits the voice into three modes. Minimal is silent: the pages, transitions, and music. Easy is one narration for the whole video. Advanced is a separate narration for each page you keep. AI can draft the words. They tell you to read that draft against the PDF before you use it. Then you play it through, check the page order, and download an MP4 or share the hosted link.
The same file can also leave as a flipbook, slides, or a web page. Those are other exits. This comparison is the video.
The pricing page opens on yearly billing. Pro shows US$8 a month, US$96 for the year. Enterprise shows US$16 a month, US$192 for the year. The cards also store a monthly price: Pro is US$10, Enterprise is US$19. Free is US$0. The free card prints 100+ videos, uploads up to 200 pages, and Recastia branding. The comparison table under the cards lists creations as 5 on Free, 50 on Pro, and 200 on Enterprise. Both numbers are printed on that page. Branding removal is on selected paid plans. Pro lists white branding and no watermarks. The Recastia page keeps the card and the table side by side.
Blog2Video: the pages are rebuilt
Blog2Video's PDF page says a photographed page is the wrong video. A PDF page is built to be read up close. Dropped into a 16:9 frame, the body text is too small to watch. Their rebuild uses headings as scene boundaries, turns the body into narration, and lays lists, tables, and figures out again so they can be read on a screen. A section that needs 40 seconds gets 40 seconds. The narration is condensed from the document. It is not a word-for-word reading. They say a 10-page whitepaper typically becomes a three to six minute explainer, or about 60 seconds if you ask for a short. You can edit a scene, its line, or the order before you render.
A scanned PDF with no text layer is the exception they name. There is nothing to parse, so they tell you to run OCR first. DOCX and PPTX use the same steps. The same document can render at 16:9 or 9:16, with the layout adjusted for each ratio.
The pricing page gives the first video free, with no card: a script, an ElevenLabs voiceover, a preview, an MP4 download, and one custom template. Free accounts share 6 AI edits. Four documentary voices are on every plan. Premium voices and cloning are on paid plans. Pay per video is US$3.99 for the first nine, US$3.00 from ten to thirty, and US$2.80 from thirty-one. Each purchase adds 20 AI edits to that shared pool. Lite is US$19.99 a month for 10 videos, or US$15.99 a month billed yearly. Standard is US$34.99 for 30 videos, or US$27.99 billed yearly. Pro is US$59.99 for 100 videos, or US$47.99 billed yearly. The page says Pro works out to US$0.60 a video and calls that 10 times cheaper than pay-per-video. US$59.99 divided by 100 is US$0.60. US$3.99 divided by US$0.60 is about 6.7. You can cancel and keep the period you already paid for. The homepage capture above still says two videos free. Today's homepage line, and the pricing page, say one. The Blog2Video page keeps the written-post path beside this PDF path.
Blog2Video also points PDF-heavy work to PDF2Video, which it says runs on the same engine. That site has no Seailife page of its own.
Which one to open
- The page should stay on screen: a catalog, a brochure, a report, a lookbook. Start with Recastia. Use Minimal when the pages already explain themselves. Use Easy or Advanced when they need a voice. Read any drafted script against the PDF. The free card and the creations table do not print the same allowance.
- The document should become a watchable explainer, with scenes sized for a phone or a laptop. Start with Blog2Video. It needs a text layer. A scan goes through OCR first. The first video is free. The pricing page is the list of monthly rates.
- You need both. Use Recastia when the layout is the point, and Blog2Video when the argument has to be re-paced for video. Neither page says one file is handed to the other.
Recastia and Blog2Video are on Seailife if you want the upload limits and the plan cards beside this split.