Anvil PDF Generation API vs Carbone
Anvil PDF Generation API
useanvil.com
Carbone
carbone.ioSide by side
| Figure | Anvil PDF Generation API | Carbone |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $99/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 18 |
| Spec score · PDF Creation Software | 8.6 (#3) | 9.4 (#1) |
| Spec score · Docs Automation | 8.6 (#4) | 9.4 (#2) |
| Spec score · Document Template Management Software | 8.7 (#5) | 9.4 (#1) |
| Integrations | Zapier | Official connectors cover Airtable, Bubble, Glide, Make, n8n, Ninox, Retool, Zapier, HubSpot, Odoo, Pipedrive, Salesforce, DocuSign and Subnoto. |
| SDKs | Anvil lists PDF Generation SDKs for C#/.NET, JavaScript, Python, and TypeScript; Go, Java, PHP, and Ruby are marked coming soon. | Official SDK documentation is provided for Node.js, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Go, Java and Rust. |
| Security | Anvil says it encrypts signed documents with a 2048 RSA private key stored in a secure Hardware Security Module, which its developers cannot access. | Carbone says its cloud infrastructure is hosted in France by OVHcloud and that it conducts annual security audits. |
| Support | Standard support is available by email at [email protected], while the pricing page lists priority support for Enterprise. | The Essential plan includes chat support from 9 AM to 6 PM UTC+2, with asynchronous email responses outside those hours. |
| What it does | The API generates PDFs on demand by converting HTML and CSS or Markdown to PDF. | Carbone merges JSON data with user-designed templates to generate PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, ODS, HTML and other files. |
Plans
Anvil PDF Generation API
- FreeFree
- AI Pack$99 a month
- Product Pack$425 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
- PDF fill / generation over API$0.10, paid once
Carbone
- Cloud FreeFree
- FreeFree
- On-Premise CommunityFree
- On-Premise FreeFree
- Amazon Web Services$0.15, paid once
- Cloud Essential$29 a month
- Essential€29 a month
- Cloud Essential Plus$95 a month
- Essential Plus€95 a month
- Advanced€159 a month
In their own words
Anvil PDF Generation API
Anvil PDF Generation API creates PDFs on demand from HTML and CSS or Markdown. For HTML, it supports full CSS, custom TTF fonts, page dimensions and margins, headers and footers, page numbers, and fillable forms. Markdown conversion applies a default theme, and callers can provide CSS of their own. The API can also generate variable-length documents and merge data into PDFs. Anvil lists SDKs for C#/.NET, JavaScript, Python, and TypeScript; Go, Java, PHP, and Ruby are marked as coming soon. A Zapier integration can automate paperwork workflows, including filling a PDF or starting or pre-filling a Workflow. It is a cloud service with API and web access, email support, and listed SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance. Test mode is free and unlimited on every plan, though test documents are watermarked and use demo signatures. API PDF fill or generation costs $0.10 per use; enabling metered usage with a valid credit card provides 2,500 starter credits. The Free plan is free and UI-only; API key access requires a credit card or upgrade. Custom fonts must be TTF; OTF and WOFF are not supported.
Carbone
Carbone merges JSON data into document templates to generate files such as PDF, DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX. Templates can use formats including DOCX, ODT, ODS, XLSX, XML, Markdown, and HTML. Its conversion API handles more than 100 formats and supports LibreOffice, OnlyOffice, and Chromium. API access and bulk generation are listed, with Cloud, On-Premise, Private Cloud, and AWS deployment options. The pricing page lists free Cloud and On-Premise plans, plus a free 30-day trial for self-hosted On-Premise use. Cloud Essential costs $29.00 per month; documents are counted for each 1 MB of injected JSON and images, and additional documents beyond a plan allowance are invoiced separately. Carbone says Cloud stores templates for reuse but does not retain submitted JSON or generated documents beyond what rendering and delivery require. It says it has no access to customer templates, data, or generated documents in on-premise deployments. The service also offers an MCP server and an open-source Carbone Skill for connecting AI assistants and generating templates. Its listed platform options include API, Linux, macOS, self-hosted, web, and Windows.