Comparison
PDFops vs PDFShift
PDFShift is a hosted HTML-to-PDF API built on Chromium, with credit-based pricing from $0.0040/doc at $99/mo (Business, 25,000 credits) down to $0.0096/doc at $24/mo (Boost, 2,500 credits), plus a 50-doc/mo free tier and $0.03/credit overage. PDFops is a hosted form-fill + merge API for edge runtimes, free during beta (100 requests per IP per month, no signup). PDFShift cannot fill AcroForm fields or merge PDFs — the API renders HTML only, regardless of tier. This page is for the case where template-fill is the actual need and HTML rendering was just how you happened to get there.
The honest framing
If you need to render web pages, marketing emails, or arbitrary HTML+CSS to PDF — PDFShift still fits better. PDFops doesn't render HTML; that's an explicit non-goal (headless Chrome doesn't fit in V8 isolates, and the incumbents do it well enough).
If your usage is template-fill (invoices, receipts, contracts, government forms — anything where the layout is fixed and the variation is the data), the wedge flips. You're paying Chromium-rendering prices to rebuild a layout you already have as a PDF. PDFops fills the existing PDF directly — no rendering pass.
One platform-maturity signal worth knowing. PDFShift's first-party SDK repositories (PHP/Node.js/Python on github.com/pdfshift) have been archived since December 2020 — five years without SDK updates. Their docs migrated to Mintlify in late 2025 but no new endpoints or substrate changes have been announced. Stable, but not actively evolving.
Side-by-side
| PDFops | PDFShift | |
|---|---|---|
| Primitive | AcroForm fill-form + merge (operates on existing PDFs) | HTML → PDF / PNG / JPEG / WEBP only |
| AcroForm fill-form | Yes (core endpoint) | No — confirmed in their FAQ and docs |
| PDF merge | Yes (core endpoint) | No — no PDF manipulation endpoints |
| Pricing model | Per-document only (no subscription) | Credit system, 1 credit = 1 PDF up to 5 MB (larger files consume multiple credits) |
| Per-document price | Free during beta, 100 req/IP/month | $0.0096 (Boost, $24/mo, 2.5k credits) → $0.0040 (Business, $99/mo, 25k credits); overage $0.03/credit |
| Free tier | 100 req/month/IP, no signup | 50 credits/mo, 2 MB file cap, 30s timeout, no overage allowed |
| Auth model | None during beta (anonymous, IP-rate-limited) | API key required |
| Hosting substrate | Vercel Edge (V8 isolates, globally distributed) | Chromium in containers, single-region, AWS S3 for output storage |
| Response latency (typical) | Sub-100ms from any region | ~1.5s avg render time (3rd-party benchmark) |
| Per-request timeout | ~30s edge default | 30s free / 100s paid (gated by tier) |
| Concurrency | Edge-native (no parallel cap published) | 50 parallel conversions/account |
| First-party SDKs | HTTP-native (no SDK needed; curl/fetch) | PHP/Node/Python repos archived Dec 2020 |
| SLA | None during beta; enterprise via waitlist | "99.9% uptime" claimed, no formal SLA published |
| Best for | Template-fill + merge at scale on edge stacks | HTML rendering of arbitrary markup |
Pricing verified at pdfshift.io/pricing and FAQ; SDK status from github.com/pdfshift as of 2026-05-19.
Try the migration in 30 seconds
If you've got a PDF template with AcroForm fields (or want one — grab a sample invoice-template.pdf), the call shape is:
curl -X POST https://pdfops.dev/api/fill-form \
-F "pdf=@invoice-template.pdf" \
-F 'fields={"customer_name":"Acme Co","total":"$1,250.00"}' \
-o filled.pdfYou get a filled PDF back. No API key, no signup. The full reference for the endpoint is in the fill-form docs.
Frequently asked
Is PDFops a drop-in replacement for PDFShift?
Different primitives. PDFShift renders HTML to PDF; PDFops fills AcroForm fields. If your usage is HTML-driven, PDFShift still fits. If you can move to AcroForm templates, PDFops is cheaper and edge-deployed.
How much cheaper is PDFops per document?
PDFShift charges around $0.01–$0.05 per document. PDFops is free during beta. Post-beta pricing is designed to land roughly 10× cheaper per document than the cheaper end of incumbent pricing — possible because PDFops runs on V8-isolate edge runtimes rather than headless-Chromium-in-a-container, and that substrate's economics pass through.
Does PDFops support webhooks and async generation like PDFShift?
PDFops is sub-300ms end-to-end synchronous — no need for async at typical document sizes. Your code can run inside a webhook handler and return the filled PDF inline. For batches larger than what fits in a single HTTP request, run the call inside a cron-triggered worker (the monthly-bundles walkthrough shows the pattern).
Can PDFops handle our PDFShift volume?
The anonymous tier is capped at 100/month/IP during beta. For higher volume, join the waitlist and drop your monthly volume in the message field; keys with 1,000–10,000/month quotas are coming, free during beta with locked-in pricing.
What about HTML rendering — can PDFops do that too?
Not on the roadmap. HTML-to-PDF on edge runtimes is a different problem (headless Chrome doesn't fit in V8 isolates) and the incumbents handle it. PDFops focuses on the template-fill + merge primitive that the incumbents over-price, and uses the edge-runtime substrate to undercut them on that specifically.
Move when ready
If the template-fill primitive matches your usage, join the waitlist to lock in early-tier pricing post-beta. The form's message field is the fastest way to tell me about your volume and migration constraints.
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