HTML to PDF APIs compared: PDFShift, DocRaptor and Shotlane
Three APIs that turn HTML or a URL into a PDF, compared on the numbers from their own pricing pages. The biggest difference isn't price: DocRaptor renders with Prince, a dedicated print engine, while Shotlane renders with Chrome.
Which one to pick
- PDFShift for PDFs only at a steady or very high volume, or conversions that run for minutes.
- DocRaptor for print CSS that browsers don't support (running headers, footnotes, cross-references), SLAs and SOC 2 or HIPAA.
- Shotlane if your HTML already looks right in Chrome and your volume varies. Credits never expire and also cover screenshots and Markdown.
At a glance
| Shotlane | PDFShift | DocRaptor | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | |||
| 1,000 a month | $9once, 2,000 | $24/moBoost, 2,500 | $75/moPremium, 1,250 |
| 5,000 a month | $29once, 10,000 | $39/moGrowth | $149/moMax |
| 25,000 a month | $79once, 40,000 | $99/moBusiness | $1,000/moSilver, 40,000 |
| Free | 100/mo+ free web tool | 50/mo | 5/mo+ test documents |
| Unused PDFs | Never expire | Monthly quota | Monthly quota |
| Large PDFs | Any size | 1 credit per 5 MB | Any size |
| Features | |||
| Rendering engine | Chromium | ? | Prince |
| Longest conversion | 90 s | 15 minpaid plans | ? |
| Headers and footers | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Encryption, watermarks | ✕ | ✓ | — |
| Upload to S3 | ✓ | ✓ | — |
| Screenshots and Markdown | ✓same credits | ✕ | ✕ |
✓ yes · ✕ no · — not listed on their site · ? not stated on their pricing page. Prices in USD without VAT, checked 2026-10-21. /mo is a monthly subscription; "once" is a one-time pack.
- PDFShift's biggest published plan is $999 a month for 1,000,000 conversions; its smallest is $9 a month for 500.
- DocRaptor charges overage per document at your plan's rate (none on the free plan) and hosts documents on paid plans. It offers a 99.99% uptime guarantee and is SOC 2 and HIPAA compliant.
- Shotlane takes header and footer HTML (
header_template,footer_template) and delivers to your own S3 bucket; async renders send a webhook when done.
Try it
Send the HTML in a JSON body; the response is the PDF. All PDF options are in the PDF docs, and the free HTML-to-PDF tool runs the same renderer without a key.
curl "https://shotlane.dev/v1/pdf" -H "X-API-Key: $SHOTLANE_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"html": "<h1>Invoice 42</h1><p>Total: 10 EUR</p>", "paper": "A4"}' -o invoice.pdf
Sources
Checked on 2026-10-21: PDFShift pricing · DocRaptor plans · DocRaptor and Prince. Shotlane's numbers come from our pricing and docs. All names are trademarks of their owners; Shotlane is not affiliated with them, and we sell one of the products compared here.
Other comparisons: Screenshot APIs compared · URL to Markdown APIs compared · Shotlane vs running Playwright yourself
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