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.

Playwright PDF API

Playwright-quality PDF generation, delivered as an API

Playwright is excellent for driving Chromium, but page.pdf() in production means you operate a browser fleet: cold starts, memory growth, crashes under concurrency, and the chromium-only constraint that pdf generation requires. Get the same Chromium rendering over HTTP and skip the operations.

page.pdf() only runs on Chromium, and only well at small scale

Playwright PDF generation is Chromium-only, and scaling it means pooling browsers, recycling them, and bounding concurrency so renders do not time out or crash. That is infrastructure work, not product work.

Call the API instead of launching a browser

JavaScript

// Replace browser.pdf() with one request
const res = await fetch("https://api.pdfpipe.xyz/v1/pdf", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.PDFPIPE_API_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ html, options: { format: "A4" } }),
});
const pdf = Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer());

What moves off your plate

No browser fleet

No launching, pooling, or recycling Chromium instances on the request path.

No crash recovery

Timeouts, tab crashes, and orphaned processes stop being your problem.

Elastic scale

Rendering scales independently of your app and bills per document.

Keep the parts you like

Use Playwright for tests and automation, the API for production PDFs.
Same modern CSS, web fonts, and accurate page breaks.
Send raw HTML, a URL, or a template plus JSON data.
Batch endpoint and webhooks for high-volume jobs.

Frequently asked

Can Playwright generate PDFs?

Yes, with page.pdf() on Chromium. It works well for a few documents, but scaling it in production requires browser pooling, recycling, and concurrency control. A PDF API removes that operational layer.

Why is Playwright PDF generation Chromium only?

PDF output relies on the Chromium print pipeline, so Firefox and WebKit are not supported. A rendering API uses a Chromium engine for you, so you do not manage that constraint.

How do I scale Playwright PDF generation?

Run a managed pool of browsers with strict recycling and concurrency limits, or offload rendering to an API that already does this and bills per document.

Is the output identical to Playwright?

It uses the same browser engine, so fonts, CSS, and pagination match what page.pdf() produces.