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iTextPDF VS PDFSharp

Compare iTextPDF VS PDFSharp 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.

PDFSharp logo PDFSharp

Office & Productivity and Development
  • iTextPDF Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-09
  • PDFSharp Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-05

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.

PDFSharp features and specs

  • Open Source
    PDFSharp is open source, allowing developers to use, modify, and contribute to the library freely.
  • No External Dependencies
    The library does not require any external dependencies or proprietary software, making it easy to integrate into projects.
  • Cross-Platform
    Supports multiple platforms, allowing it to run on Windows, Linux, and macOS without significant changes.
  • Document Creation
    Provides robust capabilities for creating PDFs from scratch, with support for various content types like text, images, and shapes.
  • Active Community
    Has an engaged user community and a good number of resources available online for learning and troubleshooting.

Possible disadvantages of PDFSharp

  • Limited Editing Capabilities
    PDFSharp excels at creating PDFs but has limited functionality when it comes to editing existing PDF files.
  • Performance Issues
    Some users report performance bottlenecks when dealing with very large PDF files due to its memory usage.
  • Lack of Advanced Features
    Does not support advanced PDF features like interactive forms, digital signatures, or encryption as extensively as some other libraries.
  • Sparse Documentation
    While basic documentation is available, more in-depth examples and advanced use cases might require additional research.

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)

PDFSharp videos

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

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to iTextPDF and PDFSharp)

iTextPDF

PDFSharp

PDF Tools
70 70%
PDF Tools
30% 30
PDF Editor
68 68%
PDF Editor
32% 32
Office & Productivity
70 70%
Office & Productivity
30% 30
PDF Creator
100 100%
PDF Creator
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

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

iTextPDF Reviews

We have no reviews of iTextPDF yet.
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PDFSharp Reviews

2024 Best C#/ .NET PDF Library for Developers
PDFSharp is an open source .NET library that easily processes PDF documents under Windows, Linux, Mac, and all other .NET platforms. It supports most fundamental PDF features, such as creating new PDF documents, and modifying, merging, and splitting existing PDF files. With it, developers can use just one source code for drawing on a PDF page as well as in a window or on the...
Source: www.compdf.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

PDFSharp mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of PDFSharp yet. Tracking of PDFSharp recommendations started around Dec 2022.

What are some alternatives?

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

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

PDFJet - PDFJet is a mobile and cloud PDF Library for Java and .NET to generate PDF documents.

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

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

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

Aspose.Pdf for Cloud - Aspose.Pdf for Cloud is a REST API to create, edit & manipulate PDF files.

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