PDF API vs PDF.co
PDF API
pdfapi.dev
PDF.co
pdf.coSide by side
| Figure | PDF API | PDF.co |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | €15/mo | $8.99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 8 | 11 |
| Spec score · HTML to PDF APIs | 8.1 (#14) | 8.4 (#6) |
| Spec score · PDF API Software | 8.1 (#15) | 8.4 (#9) |
| Compliance | GDPR | The security documentation states SOC 2 Type 2 compliance and AWS-hosted processing in SOC 1, SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certified data centers. |
| Key features | 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 | PDF compression with low, medium, high, and aggressive presets · Advanced image, font, resolution, and quality controls for compression · Asynchronous processing with job-status checking for long-running documents · PDF conversion to and from formats including HTML, Excel, CSV, XML, JSON, and images · Document and PDF data extraction, including OCR and structured parsing · PDF editing, encryption, decryption, and form filling · PDF merging and splitting · Workflow integrations through Zapier, Make, n8n, and other platforms |
| Support | Free includes community support, Starter standard email support, Pro priority email support, and Scale premium SLA and onboarding. | The company says customers can contact engineers who built the product and describes its customer service as developer-friendly. |
Plans
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
PDF.co
- Basic$8.99 a month
- Personal$22.49 a month
- Business 1$44.99 a month
- Business 2$89.99 a month
- Business 3$270 a month
- Basic$8.99 a month
- Personal$22.49 a month
- Business 1$44.99 a month
- Business 2$89.99 a month
- Business 3$270 a month
In their own words
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.