The README suggests using table layouts and writing HTML specifically for this library. In general, Open HTML-to-PDF appears to be well-featured, but has a lot of bugs and difficult edge cases. It does support part of the CSS Paged Media specifications and is actively working on others, such as footnotes. It lacks support for JavaScript, CSS Flexbox, and OpenType fonts. Open HTML-to-PDFĪn open-source library, based on Flying Saucer and the Apache PDFBox project. You’ll need to talk to a sales representative to get exact pricing information. IText pricing varies depending on your usage type and volume. On the plus side, iText does allow you to expand its HTML parsing by defining custom HTML elements. These elements must be created by writing custom Java methods. iText does not support JavaScript iText cannot use CSS to define common document elements such as headers, footers, or footnotes. It’s difficult to compare just the HTML-to-PDF functionality, as iText doesn’t provide a list of supported HTML elements and CSS properties. Overall, iText is an extremely powerful PDF creation and manipulation library with capabilities far beyond HTML-to-PDF conversion. iText sells a number of other add-ons as well. The iText Core library lets you create and modify PDF documents, while the pdfHTML add-on provides support for HTML-to-PDF functionality. IText is the most popular commercial HTML-to-PDF Java library. While the core of Prince is written in Mercury, Prince does offer a Java wrapper. Unlike DocRaptor’s usage-based pricing model, Prince relies on upfront licensing. Additionally, the inventor of CSS and CTO of Opera, Håkon Wium Lie, is chairman of the company. Their team wrote the CSS Paged Media specifications that enable much of DocRaptor and Prince’s unique conversion capabilities.

PrinceXML is a pioneer in HTML-to-PDF conversion.

Paid plans start at just $15/month, and we provide unlimited test documents. You can even try it without an account via our public, testing API key. You can sign up for a free DocRaptor plan and be up and running in minutes with our Java HTML-to-PDF agent. We also support advanced CSS functionality, such as Flexbox, and JavaScript, unlike many alternatives. Prince is the most powerful HTML-to-PDF generator and enables you to easily create PDFs with complex headers, PDF forms, footnotes, mixed layout and sizes, accessible PDF tags, finely-tuned page breaks, printer’s marks, and more. Yes, we’re biased, but DocRaptor is awesome and easy to use! We use the Prince (more on Prince in a minute) engine for PDF generation, combined with some additional JavaScript and support tools. With that in mind, on to the list! DocRaptor HTML-to-PDF API And in our experience, though open-source HTML-to-PDF tools cost nothing, they are typically more difficult to use and scale. Usage-based pricing grows with your business but can add up over time. Upfront licensing provides clear pricing but can be very expensive.

Do you prefer upfront licensing, usage-based pricing, or open-source? There are pros and cons to each model.

If you need to create PDFs at scale or in parallel, you’ll need to set up a robust, multi-server infrastructure or use an API service.

Can you maintain a high-scale infrastructure? Generating PDFs, a raster-based format, is slower and more CPU-intensive than most web server tasks.

Being able to email support can save you a lot of time and trouble digging through decade-old StackOverflow posts.

Do you want help? PDF generation can be tricky with a document-based model.

HTML-based converters will be the fastest for frontend-focused developers, while non-HTML-based libraries may be easier for those unfamiliar with HTML and CSS.

How much time do you have to complete your project? Some generators are faster and easier to implement (though they may cost more).

Test the most complicated elements first.

How complex is your PDF? Does it have to be pixel-perfect? Does it have lots of pages or long tables? Is it a one-page template or variable-length report? Do you need a table of contents or charts? Varying headers or layouts? All of these things can be complicated or even impossible in some libraries.

And if you need JavaScript support, you’ll need DocRaptor, Prince, or a browser-based open-source HTML-to-PDF library.

Do you have an existing HTML document? Do you need JavaScript support? If so, you’ll definitely want an HTML-to-PDF library.

PDFs can be surprisingly complex, and the requirements for each vary massively.īefore you evaluate the various libraries, we’d recommend considering the following dimensions of your project: We still believe it’s the best overall Java HTML-to-PDF option, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best option for every Java project. We built DocRaptor in 2010 because we couldn’t find a good HTML-to-PDF converter.

Itext html to pdf converter