Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

WeasyPrint VS OpenPDF

Compare WeasyPrint VS OpenPDF and see what are their differences

WeasyPrint logo WeasyPrint

WeasyPrint is a visual rendering engine for HTML and CSS that can export to PDF.

OpenPDF logo OpenPDF

Java library for creating and editing PDF files with a LGPL and MPL open source license
  • WeasyPrint Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-09
Not present

WeasyPrint features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    WeasyPrint is designed to be simple and user-friendly, making it easy for developers to generate PDF documents from HTML and CSS without complex configurations.
  • CSS Support
    It supports modern CSS standards, allowing developers to style their documents in a way that closely mirrors how they would style web pages.
  • Quality Output
    WeasyPrint produces high-quality PDFs with precise layout and text rendering, suitable for professional use.
  • Open Source
    Being an open-source tool, WeasyPrint is free to use and has a community that contributes to its continuous development and improvement.
  • Python Integration
    WeasyPrint is written in Python and integrates seamlessly with Python applications, making it suitable for Python developers.

Possible disadvantages of WeasyPrint

  • Performance
    WeasyPrint can be slower compared to some other PDF generation tools, particularly with large or complex documents.
  • Limited JavaScript Support
    It lacks full JavaScript execution support, meaning dynamic content generation via JavaScript is not possible.
  • Dependencies
    WeasyPrint requires several system dependencies, which might complicate installation and deployment.
  • Feature Gaps
    Certain advanced PDF features, such as forms or annotations, may not be fully supported by WeasyPrint.
  • Community and Support
    While active, the community is smaller compared to some commercial solutions, which may affect the availability of support resources.

OpenPDF features and specs

  • Open Source
    OpenPDF is open-source software, which means it is free to use, modify, and distribute. This encourages community collaboration and transparency in the codebase.
  • Java Library
    Written in Java, OpenPDF easily integrates with Java-based projects and allows developers to work within a familiar ecosystem.
  • Active Development
    The project is under active development, ensuring regular updates, feature enhancements, and quick fixes for any reported bugs.
  • PDF Generation
    OpenPDF provides robust functionalities for generating PDF documents programmatically, supporting a variety of document manipulation tasks.
  • Cross-Platform
    Being a Java-based library, OpenPDF is cross-platform and can be used on any operating system that supports Java.

Possible disadvantages of OpenPDF

  • Limited Advanced Features
    Compared to some paid solutions, OpenPDF might lack some advanced features and functionalities needed for specialized or enterprise-level applications.
  • Community Support
    As with many open-source projects, support primarily comes from the user community, which might not be as extensive or prompt as professional support services.
  • Performance Overhead
    Being a Java library, there might be performance overheads compared to native libraries written in C/C++ for specific PDF processing tasks.
  • Learning Curve
    Developers might experience a learning curve, particularly if they are unfamiliar with Java or transitioning from another PDF library.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to WeasyPrint and OpenPDF)
HTML To PDF
75 75%
25% 25
PDF Tools
70 70%
30% 30
PDF Conversion API
70 70%
30% 30
PDF Creator
64 64%
36% 36

User comments

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

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, WeasyPrint seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 33 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.

WeasyPrint mentions (33)

View more

OpenPDF mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of OpenPDF yet. Tracking of OpenPDF recommendations started around Mar 2024.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing WeasyPrint and OpenPDF, you can also consider the following products

wkhtmltopdf - wkhtmltopdf is an open source (LGPL) command line tools to render HTML into PDF and various image...

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

Prince XML - Convert HTML documents to PDF. Beautiful printing with CSS.

PDFShift - Convert any HTML documents to high-fidelity PDF using a single POST request

HTML2PDF.fr - HTML2PDF is a HTML to PDF converter that allows the conversion of valid HTML 4.

WEB To PDF - *Save your favorite web content to PDF and view it anytime, anywhere*