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 with a free keyed tier (250 requests/month) and paid tiers from $16/mo — plus 100 keyless requests per IP per month to try it with no signup at all. 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 PDFShift's first-party SDK repositories (PHP/Node.js/Python on github.com/pdfshift) have been archived since December 2020 — five years without SDK updates.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 | Subscription tiers: Indie $16/mo (4,000 req), Pro $79/mo (25,000 req) | Credit system, 1 credit = 1 PDF up to 5 MB (larger files consume multiple credits) |
| Per-document price | ~$0.004 (Indie) → ~$0.003 (Pro) | $0.0096 (Boost, $24/mo, 2.5k credits) → $0.0040 (Business, $99/mo, 25k credits); overage $0.03/credit |
| Free tier | 250/mo with a free key (no card); 100 req/month/IP keyless | 50 credits/mo, 2 MB file cap, 30s timeout, no overage allowed |
| Auth model | X-API-Key (free key, emailed); keyless anonymous calls allowed for trial | 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 yet; enterprise via hello@pdfops.dev | "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 or signup needed for the first 100 calls per IP each month — or run the same call in the browser via the playground. The full reference for the endpoint is in the fill-form docs, with per-language versions of the call in the Python, Node.js, and JavaScript guides.
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 on its lower tiers. PDFops: Indie is $16/mo for 4,000 requests (~$0.004/doc) and Pro is $79/mo for 25,000 (~$0.003/doc) — roughly 10× cheaper than the lower 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. For higher volume, get a free API key (250 req/mo) — then Indie ($16/mo, 4,000 req) and Pro ($79/mo, 25,000 req) are live. Above that, email hello@pdfops.dev.
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, grab a free API key (250 req/mo) at /pricing — email in, key out, no card. Indie ($16/mo, 4,000 req) and Pro ($79/mo, 25,000 req) are live when you outgrow it.
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