> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.pdfnoodle.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# PDF Tools Usage & Plan Limits

> Understand how PDF tool operations are tracked and how they count toward your plan's usage quota.

## Overview

PDF tools — including [Merge PDFs](/api-reference/tools/merge-pdfs), [Split PDF](/api-reference/tools/split-pdf), [Compress PDF](/api-reference/tools/compress-pdf), [Convert Markdown to PDF](/api-reference/tools/convert-markdown-to-pdf), and [Update PDF Metadata](/api-reference/tools/update-pdf-metadata) — are now fully tracked operations.

Every tool operation:

* Creates a record visible in your [dashboard logs](https://app.pdfnoodle.com/logs)
* Stores the output file persistently (no more expiring temporary URLs)
* Can be re-downloaded at any time from the logs table

## Plan-Based Usage

How tool operations count toward your quota depends on your plan:

| Plan         | PDF Generation       | Tool Operations      | Quota Impact                                 |
| ------------ | -------------------- | -------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| **Starter**  | Counts toward volume | Counts toward volume | All operations share the same quota          |
| **Business** | Counts toward volume | **Unlimited**        | Only PDF generation counts toward your quota |
| **Scale**    | Counts toward volume | **Unlimited**        | Only PDF generation counts toward your quota |

### Starter Plan

On the Starter plan, all operations — both PDF generation and tool operations — count toward your `contractedVolume`. For example, if your plan includes 1,000 PDFs per month and you generate 800 PDFs and merge 200 files, your usage is 1,000/1,000.

### Business & Scale Plans

On Business and Scale plans, tool operations are **unlimited** and do **not** count toward your PDF generation quota. Only `pdf_generation` operations count. This means you can merge, split, compress, convert, and update metadata on as many files as you need without impacting your quota.

<Info>
  In the dashboard logs table, tool operations on Business and Scale plans display an info icon indicating they don't count toward your usage quota.
</Info>

## Persistent File Storage

All tool output files are now stored in our persistent storage — the same infrastructure used for PDF generation. This means:

* **No more expiring URLs**: While the URL in the API response still has an expiration (set via the `expiration` parameter), the file itself is stored permanently.
* **Re-download anytime**: Click on any filename in the logs table to generate a fresh download URL.
* **Audit trail**: Every operation is recorded with status, execution time, file size, and the API key used.

## Operation Types

Each tool creates records with a specific operation type:

| Tool                    | Operation Type            | Log Label       |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------- | --------------- |
| Merge PDFs              | `merge_pdf`               | Merge PDF       |
| Split PDF               | `split_pdf`               | Split PDF       |
| Compress PDF            | `compress_pdf`            | Compress PDF    |
| Convert Markdown to PDF | `convert_markdown_to_pdf` | Markdown to PDF |
| Update PDF Metadata     | `update_pdf_metadata`     | Update Metadata |
| PDF Generation          | `pdf_generation`          | PDF Generation  |

## Failed Operations

If a tool operation fails, a record is still created with `ERROR` status. This provides a complete audit trail. Failed operations **do not** count toward your usage quota on any plan.

## Get Signed Upload URL

The [Get Signed Upload URL](/api-reference/tools/get-signed-upload-url) endpoint is a utility for uploading input files to temporary storage. It does **not** create any log records and does **not** count toward usage on any plan.