Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups
Register | Login

iTextPDF VS Apache PDFBox

Compare iTextPDF VS Apache PDFBox and see what are their differences

DocRaptor
As the only API powered by the Prince HTML-to-PDF engine, DocRaptor provides the best support for complex PDFs with powerful support for headers, page breaks, page numbers, flexbox, watermarks, accessible PDFs, and much more featured
Contents:
  1. » Base Details
  2. » Videos
  3. » Reviews
  4. » Alternatives

iTextPDF logo iTextPDF

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

Apache PDFBox logo Apache PDFBox

The Apache PDFBox™ library is an open source Java tool for working with PDF documents.
  • iTextPDF Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-09
  • Apache PDFBox Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-14

iTextPDF features and specs

  • Comprehensive Features
    iTextPDF offers a wide range of features for creating, manipulating, and processing PDF documents, making it suitable for various applications.
  • High Performance
    The library is known for its high performance and ability to handle large volumes of PDF documents efficiently.
  • Cross-Platform
    iTextPDF is cross-platform and can be used in different environments such as Java and .NET, enhancing its versatility.
  • Extensive Documentation
    iText provides comprehensive documentation and tutorials, which are helpful for developers to understand and effectively use the library.
  • Active Community and Support
    iTextPDF has an active community and provides professional support options, which can be beneficial for troubleshooting and optimizing usage.

Possible disadvantages of iTextPDF

  • Licensing Costs
    iTextPDF is not free for commercial use, and licensing costs can be a significant consideration for businesses.
  • Complexity
    Due to its comprehensive feature set, iTextPDF can be complex to learn and use, especially for newcomers or smaller projects.
  • Resource Intensive
    Processing PDFs at scale may require significant resources, which can be a factor for systems with limited computational capacity.
  • Overhead for Simple Tasks
    For simpler PDF tasks, iTextPDF might introduce unnecessary overhead compared to more lightweight libraries.

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.

Analysis of iTextPDF

Overall verdict

  • iTextPDF is considered a robust and reliable solution for PDF generation and manipulation, particularly suited for enterprise-level projects where extensive PDF functionalities are required.

Why this product is good

  • iTextPDF is a well-regarded library for creating and manipulating PDF documents programmatically. It is known for its comprehensive features, allowing developers to generate PDFs from scratch, or modify existing documents. It handles complex PDF tasks, including encryption, digital signatures, and form filling. The library is highly customizable and integrates well with Java and .NET applications. Its active community and extensive documentation contribute to its usability.

Recommended for

  • Developers who need to generate complex PDF documents programmatically.
  • Businesses seeking a reliable tool for creating, modifying, and distributing PDF reports or forms.
  • Projects that require extensive customization of PDF features, such as digital signatures or embedded multimedia elements.
  • Organizations looking for a solution that supports both Java and .NET platforms.

iTextPDF videos

+ Add

IR project Demo (Java Eclipse + itextpdf)

Apache PDFBox videos

No Apache PDFBox videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to iTextPDF and Apache PDFBox)

iTextPDF

Apache PDFBox

PDF Tools
57 57%
PDF Tools
43% 43
PDF Editor
67 67%
PDF Editor
33% 33
HTML To PDF
0 0%
HTML To PDF
100% 100
Office & Productivity
100 100%
Office & Productivity
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using iTextPDF and Apache PDFBox. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

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

iTextPDF Reviews

We have no reviews of iTextPDF yet.
Be the first one to post

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

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, iTextPDF seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 8 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

iTextPDF mentions (8)

  • Ask HN: What is nowadays (opensource) way of converting HTML to PDF?
    Is this an xy problem? If you have the original document (in Markdown), one possibility would be to use my software, KeenWrite[1], to convert Markdown to XHTML then typeset XHTML to PDF via ConTeXt. See the user manual[2] for an example of a Markdown document typeset in this fashion, along with instructions. If you only have HTML to work with, you can also use Flying Saucer[3], which is what KeenWrite uses to... - Source: Hacker News / 6 days ago
  • Looking for an iText Alternative? Try IronPDF
    IronPDF and iText are two PDF libraries used in applications for creating and editing PDF documents. Although iText is open source and commercially licensed transparently, care should be taken in respecting the terms of the AGPL. Instead, IronPDF provides developer-friendly capabilities such as native .NET support, JavaScript rendering, and HTML to PDF conversion, with minimum setup hassle, along with simple... - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • When Should I Use WebAssembly?
    PDF Manipulation: Render and edit PDF documents using a mature library like iText, running in Wasm. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Adobe’s Monopoly on PDFs: The Innovation Bottleneck and the Need for Open-Source Alternatives
    Some open-source PDF tools, like iText and Ghostscript, have restrictive licenses, making them impractical for commercial use. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • PDF rendering server-side using HTML 5 + CSS 3
    Are you looking for a way to render PDF's or produce them? If you want to produce PDF's, I've used https://pdfbox.apache.org/ successfully as well as https://itextpdf.com/ (potentially costs money). Source: almost 2 years ago
View more

Apache PDFBox mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Apache PDFBox yet. Tracking of Apache PDFBox recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

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

DocuPUB - DocuPUB is an online file converter, file merger, file compressor, and file resizing tool.

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

PDFill - Open, View, Edit, Save and Print PDF Documents without Adobe Acrobat

IronPDF - SDK for creating and editing PDFs.

PDF Joiner - This online tool allows you to join several PDF documents into a single file, free of charge.

DocRaptor - As the only API powered by the Prince HTML-to-PDF engine, DocRaptor provides the best support for complex PDFs with powerful support for headers, page breaks, page numbers, flexbox, watermarks, accessible PDFs, and much more

Loading...