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Apache PDFBox VS PDF Clown

Compare Apache PDFBox VS PDF Clown and see what are their differences

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  3. » Alternatives

Apache PDFBox logo Apache PDFBox

The Apache PDFBox™ library is an open source Java tool for working with PDF documents.

PDF Clown logo PDF Clown

PDF Clown is an open-source general-purpose library for manipulating PDF documents through multiple abstraction layers, rigorously adhering to PDF 1.7 Specification
  • Apache PDFBox Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-14
  • PDF Clown Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-12-05

Apache PDFBox features and specs

  • Open Source
    Apache PDFBox is a completely open-source library, which means it's free to use and the source code is available for customization.
  • Comprehensive Features
    PDFBox provides a wide range of features, including PDF creation, manipulation, rendering, and extraction of text and images, making it versatile for PDF handling.
  • Java-Based
    Written in Java, it integrates well with Java applications and takes advantage of Java's portability across different platforms.
  • Active Community
    It benefits from an active community and ongoing support from Apache, ensuring regular updates and a wealth of shared knowledge.

Possible disadvantages of Apache PDFBox

  • Performance Limitations
    Handling very large PDF documents can be resource-intensive, potentially affecting performance.
  • Learning Curve
    The library can be complex for new users due to its extensive feature set and lack of detailed beginner-friendly documentation.
  • Java Dependency
    Being Java-based, it might not be suitable for projects using different programming languages unless interoperability bridges are used.
  • Limited GUI Support
    PDFBox focuses primarily on backend processes and provides limited support for GUI operations, potentially requiring additional libraries for visual PDF modifications.

PDF Clown features and specs

  • Open Source
    PDF Clown is open-source, which means it is free to use and allows for extensive customization by accessing its source code.
  • Feature-Rich
    Offers a wide range of features for PDF manipulation, including creation, modification, and extraction of content from PDF documents.
  • Cross-Platform
    Designed to be cross-platform and can be used on different operating systems such as Windows, macOS, and Linux.
  • Java and .NET Support
    Supports both Java and .NET frameworks, catering to a diverse range of development environments.

Possible disadvantages of PDF Clown

  • Limited Documentation
    Documentation can be sparse or lacking detail, which might make it challenging for new users to get started or troubleshoot issues.
  • Performance
    Might suffer from performance issues when handling very large PDF files or complex operations compared to some commercial solutions.
  • Development Activity
    The development activity on PDF Clown has seen periods of inactivity which could be a concern for long-term reliance.
  • User Community
    Has a smaller user community compared to more popular or commercial PDF libraries, which can limit peer support and resource availability.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Apache PDFBox and PDF Clown)

Apache PDFBox

PDF Clown

PDF Tools
63 63%
PDF Tools
37% 37
HTML To PDF
78 78%
HTML To PDF
22% 22
Office & Productivity
57 57%
Office & Productivity
43% 43
PDF Editor
55 55%
PDF Editor
45% 45

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Apache PDFBox and PDF Clown

Apache PDFBox Reviews

Best BFO Java PDF Library Alternatives (2024) for your project
Apache PDFBox is a powerful Java package that enables developers to easily create, edit, and extract content from PDF documents. This is made possible by Apache PDFBox. Because it is open-source and because it has a comprehensive feature set, it is a formidable competitor among PDF libraries. PDFBox is a flexible option for manipulating PDF files due to its support for a...
Source: www.compsmag.com

PDF Clown Reviews

We have no reviews of PDF Clown yet.
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Apache PDFBox and PDF Clown, you can also consider the following products

IronPDF - SDK for creating and editing PDFs.

Aspose.PDF for Java - Aspose.Pdf is a Java PDF component to create PDF documents without using https://alternativeto.

PdfPig - Read and extract text and other content from PDFs in C# (port of PDFBox)

iTextPDF - iText offers flexible tools for PDF creation, editing and inspection.

JSignPdf - JSignPdf is a Java application which adds digital signatures to PDF documents.

PDFCrowd - Pdfcrowd is a Web/HTML to PDF online service. Convert HTML to PDF online in the browser or in your PHP, Python, Ruby, .NET, Java apps via the REST API.

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