Normie ModeBest AI for documents, PDFs and notes
Reading PDFs and documents, pulling out information and taking notes.
Get it with Claude Max, $100 a month (for up to half your weekly allowance)
Top of 13 models for this task
Get it with Google AI Pro, $19.99 a month
2nd of 13 models for this task
Keep in mind Covers pulling data out of documents; nothing yet tests summaries or meeting notes.
Based on tests of this task. The picks follow a fixed rule using the charts below and each app's plans.
Norm's guide
What I'd tell a friend who asked.
What AI is good at
- Summarising long documents.
- Pulling figures and names into a table.
- Turning meeting notes into action points.
Where it trips up
- Skipping parts of very long documents.
- Mixing up similar figures or names.
- Scanned documents where the image is poor.
How to get a good result
- Ask it to quote the part of the document it's using.
- Spot-check a few details against the original.
- For long files, ask about one section at a time.
How the models compare
Every model we could score for documents, PDFs and notes, combining the tests below.
Overall for documents, PDFs and notes
Position on a combined score from 2 tests. The longer the bar, the further ahead · Higher is better
On the tests we have, Claude Fable 5.1 comes out on top, followed by Gemini 3.8 Flash and Gemini 3.1 Pro.
The evidence
Pulling information out of documents into tables
Tests this task · Reading documents and filling in a table with the right figures, including cases that need reasoning. · Higher is better
Claude Fable 5.1 leads, followed by GPT-6 Astra and Gemini 3.1 Pro.
People's votes on long, detailed requests
Tests a related skill · People compared two anonymous answers to long requests with lots of detail to take in. · Higher is better
Claude Opus 5.5 and Claude Fable 5.1 are neck and neck at the top, followed by Gemini 3.8 Flash and Kimi K3; Claude Fable 5.1 costs about 3 times as much.
If you build with it
What the makers charge developers who use the models directly. Using an app? The plans above are what you pay.
Cost per 1,000 typical requests
List price, about 1,500 words in and 500 out per request · Lower is better
GPT-6 Luna is cheapest, followed by DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and GPT-5.6 Luna.