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transformyio/html-to-pdf-libraries

Analysis updated 2026-07-26

★ 1Audience · developerComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

TLDR

A curated guide comparing open-source tools that turn HTML into PDFs. It groups libraries by language and recommends the best option for your needs.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Compares HTML to PDF tools
      Groups libraries by language
      Shows stars and activity
    Tool Categories
      Headless browser
      Own engine
      Wrapper
      Client side screenshot
    Recommendations
      Puppeteer for Chrome rendering
      Playwright for Chrome rendering
      WeasyPrint for print quality
    Use cases
      Choosing a PDF library
      Avoiding deprecated tools
      Comparing licenses

Code map

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What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Find the best open-source library to convert HTML to PDF in your programming language.

USE CASE 2

Compare rendering engines, CSS support, and licenses before committing to a tool.

USE CASE 3

Identify which older tools are deprecated or have security risks so you can avoid them.

What is it built with?

Markdown

How does it compare?

transformyio/html-to-pdf-libraries0xkinno/neuralvault0xlocker/d17-contracts
Stars111
Language—TypeScriptSolidity
Setup difficultyeasyhardhard
Complexity1/54/55/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

No setup required, this is a reference README you read to find the right library for your project.

No license is specified for this repository, as it is a curated list and reference guide rather than software code.

In plain English

This repository is a curated reference guide that helps developers choose an open-source tool for converting HTML content into PDF documents. It is not a software library itself. Instead, it is a maintained list of dozens of open-source projects, organized by programming language, with live star counts and activity badges pulled from GitHub. The README explains that every HTML-to-PDF tool falls into one of four categories. A headless browser tool drives a real browser like Chrome to print the page to PDF, giving pixel-perfect rendering but requiring a large runtime footprint. An own-engine tool builds its own HTML and CSS layout system that writes PDFs directly, which is lighter but may not match browser output exactly. A wrapper tool calls out to an external program or another library. A client-side tool takes a screenshot of the page in the user's browser and embeds that image in a PDF, which costs nothing on the server but produces poor print quality. A large comparison table lists each library with its language, rendering engine, JavaScript support, CSS support, paged-media features, license, and maintenance status. The entries are grouped by language: JavaScript, Python, PHP, Java, C#, Ruby, Go, Rust, and language-agnostic services. The guide offers a short recommendation section for common needs. If you need modern HTML and JavaScript rendered exactly as Chrome shows it, the guide points to Puppeteer or Playwright. If you need print-quality documents with headers, footers, and page numbers, it suggests dedicated paged-media engines like WeasyPrint or Paged.js. If you cannot ship a browser binary, it lists pure-language options like dompdf or mPDF. The guide also warns about licensing pitfalls, security concerns, deployment overhead, and the decline of wkhtmltopdf, which was archived in 2023 with known security vulnerabilities. It notes which projects are deprecated and should not be used for new work. Proprietary tools are excluded by design. The full README is longer than what was shown.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I need to convert HTML to PDF in Python and want print-quality output with headers, footers, and page numbers. Based on the html-to-pdf-libraries guide, which tool should I use and why?
Prompt 2
I cannot ship a browser binary with my PHP app. Using the html-to-pdf-libraries comparison, what pure-PHP options are available for converting HTML to PDF?
Prompt 3
Summarize the differences between headless browser tools and own-engine tools for HTML to PDF conversion as explained in the html-to-pdf-libraries guide.
Prompt 4
Which HTML to PDF tools are deprecated or have known security vulnerabilities according to the html-to-pdf-libraries guide?

Frequently asked questions

What is html-to-pdf-libraries?

A curated guide comparing open-source tools that turn HTML into PDFs. It groups libraries by language and recommends the best option for your needs.

What license does html-to-pdf-libraries use?

No license is specified for this repository, as it is a curated list and reference guide rather than software code.

How hard is html-to-pdf-libraries to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is html-to-pdf-libraries for?

Mainly developer.

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