PDFPipe is an HTML-to-PDF API. You send a POST request to https://api.pdfpipe.xyz/v1/pdf with a JSON body containing an HTML string or a URL, and receive an application/pdf file in the response. It handles browser rendering in a managed cloud environment, so you do not need to install or maintain any PDF software on your servers.

How do I use the PDFPipe API?

1. Sign up at pdfpipe.xyz to get an API key (format: pp_live_…). 2. POST to https://api.pdfpipe.xyz/v1/pdf with Authorization: Bearer pp_live_your_key and Content-Type: application/json. 3. Set the request body to {"html": " Hello "} or {"url": "https://example.com"} plus an optional "options" object for format, margins, etc. 4. The response body is the raw PDF file. Full reference at https://pdfpipe.xyz/docs.

What programming languages does PDFPipe support?

PDFPipe works with any language that can make an HTTP request. Official SDKs are available for Node.js (npm install pdfpipe-node) and Python (pip install pdfpipe-python). The API also works directly in Go, Java, PHP, Ruby, Rust, C#, Kotlin, Elixir, and others via standard HTTP clients. Framework-specific guides are available at https://pdfpipe.xyz/guides.

What PDF options are available?

Pass an "options" object in the request body. Key options: format (A4, A3, A5, Letter, Legal, Tabloid — default A4), landscape (true/false), margin (CSS length or object with top/bottom/left/right), print_background (true/false), scale (0.1 to 2.0), page_ranges (e.g. "1-3, 5"), header_html, footer_html, inject_css, wait_until (load, domcontentloaded, networkidle0, networkidle2), wait_ms, timeout_ms (1000 to 60000, default 30000), pdf_a (true/false for PDF/A-1b). Full reference at https://pdfpipe.xyz/docs#options.

How much does PDFPipe cost?

Hobby: free, 500 documents per month, no credit card required. Starter: $19/month, 3,000 documents. Growth: $49/month, 15,000 documents. Scale: $149/month, 50,000 documents. Enterprise: custom volume and SLA. Flat pricing: one document counts as one document with no credit conversion.

What is the PDFPipe API endpoint?

The main render endpoint is POST https://api.pdfpipe.xyz/v1/pdf. Additional endpoints: POST /v1/pdf/batch (batch rendering up to 100 items), POST /v1/pdf/merge (merge PDFs), GET /v1/me (check key and usage), GET /v1/documents (list stored PDFs), POST /v1/demo (playground, no key required). Full endpoint list at https://pdfpipe.xyz/docs#endpoints.

Can I not just run Puppeteer or wkhtmltopdf myself?

You can, but running a browser in production means managing memory limits, system font availability, concurrency queues, version pinning, and on-call incidents when it crashes. PDFPipe handles the rendering infrastructure so your team ships product code instead. The API also includes SSRF protection so untrusted HTML cannot reach internal services.

Does PDFPipe support AI agents via MCP?

Yes. Install pdfpipe-mcp-server (npm install pdfpipe-mcp-server), set PDFPIPE_API_KEY, and point any MCP-compatible agent at it. The pdfpipe_generate_pdf tool becomes available for the agent to generate PDFs in a single tool call. Details at https://pdfpipe.xyz/mcp.

Comparison

A Python alternative to ReportLab

ReportLab is the standard Python library for programmatic PDF generation. Its drawing API and PLATYPUS layout engine work, but they require you to describe your document as a sequence of drawing calls rather than as HTML. Every pixel of margin, every font weight, every table cell needs to be expressed in Python. PDFPipe renders your HTML template, including the Tailwind or Bootstrap your team already uses, with a real browser and returns a PDF with one HTTP call.

ReportLab versus a PDF render API

	PDFPipe	ReportLab
Template format	HTML + CSS (Jinja2, etc.)	Python drawing API (PLATYPUS / canvas)
Renders HTML	Yes, full browser engine	No (own layout model)
CSS support	Complete	None
Web fonts	Loaded automatically	Must embed manually as TTF
Images	Any URL or inline	Must encode or load from disk
JavaScript in template	Runs before capture	Not supported
Install size	None (HTTP call)	~10 MB + GTK on some platforms
Designer workflow	Design in HTML, ship as PDF	Rewrite design in Python code

The PLATYPUS problem

PLATYPUS (Page Layout and Typography Using Scripts) is ReportLab's high-level layout engine. It introduces its own box model, paragraph styles, table classes, and flowable primitives. To render an invoice you already have in HTML, you need to rewrite it entirely in PLATYPUS classes. Any time your design changes, you update both the HTML template your users see and the PLATYPUS code that renders the PDF. Two sources of truth diverge over time. PDFPipe has one: your template.

Fonts, images, and modern layouts

ReportLab requires TTF or OTF font files to be registered before use. Every Google Font or brand typeface your design team chose needs to be downloaded, stored with your app, and registered at startup. Flexbox, CSS Grid, and modern spacing utilities are unavailable. PDFPipe loads fonts from any URL, renders CSS Grid natively, and supports modern CSS including custom properties and clamp().

From Jinja2 to PDF in one call

python

import os
import requests

html = """
<html>
<body style="font-family: system-ui; padding: 40px">
  <h1 style="color:#d23a1d">Invoice #4012</h1>
  <p>Acme Corp &middot; 12 June 2026</p>
  <table style="width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;margin-top:24px">
    <tr style="border-bottom:1px solid #ccc">
      <td style="padding:8px">Design retainer</td>
      <td style="padding:8px;text-align:right">$2,400</td>
    </tr>
  </table>
  <h2 style="text-align:right;margin-top:24px">Total: $2,400</h2>
</body>
</html>
"""

res = requests.post(
    "https://api.pdfpipe.xyz/v1/pdf",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['PDFPIPE_API_KEY']}"},
    json={"html": html, "options": {"format": "A4"}},
)
res.raise_for_status()

with open("invoice.pdf", "wb") as f:
    f.write(res.content)

When to keep ReportLab

ReportLab is a good choice for pure Python environments with no external HTTP dependencies, where the document layout is simple and entirely code-driven, and where you need fine-grained control over PDF internals like encryption or custom metadata fields. For HTML-first workflows, web fonts, or modern CSS layouts, a render API produces better output with far less code.

Try it on the live playground with no signup. Full Python examples on the Python guide.

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