Anvil PDF Generation API vs PDF API
Anvil PDF Generation API
useanvil.comPDF API
pdfapi.devSide by side
| Figure | Anvil PDF Generation API | PDF API |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $99/mo | €15/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 8 |
| Spec score · HTML to PDF APIs | 8.7 (#2) | 8.1 (#14) |
| Compliance | Anvil states it is SOC 2 Type II, GDPR/DPA, and HIPAA compliant and maintains Business Associate Agreements. | GDPR |
| Deployment | cloud | cloud |
| Intended users | The product is presented as an API for developers and agents, and the pricing page describes the AI Pack for technical teams working with high PDF volumes. | The site describes the service as built for developers and targets teams generating invoices, reports, contracts, and other documents from applications. |
| Key features | Generate PDFs from HTML and CSS · Generate PDFs from Markdown, including tables and images · Set PDF page dimensions and margins · Add page headers, footers, and page numbers · Use custom TTF fonts · Generate dynamic, variable-length documents · Create PDFs with fillable form fields · Fill reusable PDF templates with supplied data | HTML and CSS to PDF rendering · Raw HTML or saved-template rendering · JSON data injection with Handlebars-style variables · Configurable page size, orientation, margins, headers, and footers · Temporary, time-limited PDF download URLs · Reusable templates stored in the dashboard · Sandbox mode for testing and CI/CD · Webhooks for PDF generation, deletion, and quota events |
| Support | Standard support is available by email at [email protected], while the pricing page lists priority support for Enterprise. | Free includes community support, Starter standard email support, Pro priority email support, and Scale premium SLA and onboarding. |
| Support | email, community, docs |
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
PDF API
- FreeFree
- Starter€15 a month
- Starter€190 a year
- Pro€82 a month
- Pro€990 a year
- Scale€249 a month
- Scale€2,990 a year
- FreeFree
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.
PDF API
PDF API converts HTML templates and JSON data into PDFs through a cloud REST API. Developers can submit raw HTML or reuse dashboard templates with Handlebars-style variables, loops, and conditionals. Page size, orientation, margins, headers, and footers are configurable, while Chromium rendering supports modern CSS including Flexbox, Grid, and custom properties. Listed uses include invoices, receipts, contracts, financial reports, shipping labels, and tickets. The maker says a persistent Chromium pool and Rust backend generate documents in under 300ms. Webhooks report generation, deletion, and approaching quota limits, with authenticity checked through the X-PDF-Signature header. Generated files use temporary URLs and are removed when a URL expires, by default after 24 hours, or when deleted. Sandbox requests do not count toward quota, but sandbox files are watermarked and purged after one hour. The service is EU-hosted and GDPR compliant. Plans include Free at free for 500 PDFs monthly and paid plans from €15/mo.