Comparison

A server-side alternative to jsPDF

jsPDF is a browser-side library that constructs PDFs programmatically from text, shapes, and image calls. It does not render HTML. If you have an HTML template and want a pixel-accurate PDF that respects your CSS (Tailwind, Bootstrap, flexbox, grid), fonts, and layout, jsPDF is the wrong tool. PDFPipe renders HTML exactly as a browser would, from a server-side API call.

jsPDF versus a dedicated PDF API

The HTML rendering problem

jsPDF works well when you are generating a PDF entirely in JavaScript: drawing rectangles, placing text at coordinates, adding images. If your source of truth is an HTML template (an invoice, a report, a contract) you have to manually translate every CSS rule into jsPDF API calls. That means pixel-hunting positions, re-implementing your font stack, and breaking every time the template changes. PDFPipe accepts your HTML directly and renders it as the browser would.

Security: PDF generation belongs on the server

Generating invoices, contracts, or reports in the browser means the document data is fully visible in client-side JavaScript, which exposes it to browser extensions, devtools, and XSS. A server-side API call keeps sensitive data out of the client entirely: your server renders the HTML with real data, posts it to PDFPipe, and returns the PDF binary to the browser. The data never appears in the frontend bundle.

One request, real HTML

// Your HTML template, rendered server-side
const html = renderInvoiceTemplate(order);

const res = await fetch("https://api.pdfpipe.xyz/v1/pdf", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.PDFPIPE_API_KEY}` },
  body: JSON.stringify({ html, options: { format: "A4" } }),
});
const pdf = await res.arrayBuffer();

When to keep jsPDF

jsPDF is the right tool when you genuinely need to generate a simple PDF entirely in the browser without a server roundtrip: export a user-drawn sketch, save a form the user just filled out locally, or generate a certificate in an offline PWA. For anything that starts from an HTML template on the server, a dedicated render API produces far better output with far less code.