Does pdfrender run JavaScript?

No. WeasyPrint runs no JavaScript. Render charts to SVG before you send the HTML. If a page only shows its content after a script runs, use a Chromium-based API such as PDFShift (https://pdfshift.io/, as of Sep 2026).

Can pdfrender make a PDF from a URL?

No. You send the HTML itself. Images, fonts and CSS go into it as data: URIs. Remote URLs are rejected with a 400 error that lists them.

How do the prices compare?

PDFShift charges $39 a month for 5,000 credits and $99 for 25,000, with 1 credit per 5 MB of PDF (https://pdfshift.io/pricing, as of Sep 2026). pdfrender charges 1 credit per render, whatever the page count. €20 a month buys 10,000 credits, and the pricing page has all plans.

pdfrender vs PDFShift

PDFShift renders HTML or a URL with Chromium and can run JavaScript. pdfrender renders the HTML you send with WeasyPrint 70 and runs no JavaScript.

Last updated Sep 24, 2026

PDFShift rendering	Chromium; accepts a URL or HTML; can run JavaScript before the capture (as of Sep 2026)
PDFShift pricing	Free plan with 50 credits a month; $39 a month for 5,000 credits; 1 credit per 5 MB of generated PDF (as of Sep 2026)
pdfrender	WeasyPrint 70; you send HTML, no URLs; no JavaScript; 1 credit per render, whatever the page count; €20 a month for 10,000 credits

Both are hosted APIs that turn HTML into a PDF with one POST request. The difference is the engine. PDFShift renders with Chromium and can run JavaScript before it captures the page (as of Sep 2026). pdfrender renders with WeasyPrint 70, a print engine for HTML and CSS. It runs no JavaScript and loads nothing from the network.

What each one costs

PDFShift has a free plan with 50 credits a month and paid plans from $9 for 500 credits. It counts 1 credit per 5 MB of generated PDF, so a 14 MB PDF costs 3 credits (PDFShift pricing, as of Sep 2026).

pdfrender charges 1 credit per render with an API key, whatever the page count. €20 a month buys 10,000 credits (pricing). Without a key, 10 renders a day are free.

When PDFShift fits

The document needs JavaScript to reach its final state, for example charts drawn in the browser. PDFShift runs a script you pass and can wait up to 30 seconds for a function to return true (API reference, as of Sep 2026).
You want a PDF of a live web page. PDFShift loads a URL passed as source (same page, as of Sep 2026).
You want the PDF to come from a Chromium engine.

pdfrender runs no JavaScript and does not load URLs.

When pdfrender fits

Print documents such as invoices, reports and letters, with headers, footers and page numbers set in CSS (headers and footers).
A cost per render that does not depend on file size or page count.
Agents that render PDFs as a tool call through the MCP server.
HTML that must not trigger network requests. Remote URLs are rejected with an error that lists them.

Paste up to 100 KB of HTML without an account: render it in the free tool.

FAQ

Does pdfrender run JavaScript?: No. WeasyPrint runs no JavaScript. Render charts to SVG before you send the HTML. If a page only shows its content after a script runs, use a Chromium-based API such as PDFShift (https://pdfshift.io/, as of Sep 2026).
Can pdfrender make a PDF from a URL?: No. You send the HTML itself. Images, fonts and CSS go into it as data: URIs. Remote URLs are rejected with a 400 error that lists them.
How do the prices compare?: PDFShift charges $39 a month for 5,000 credits and $99 for 25,000, with 1 credit per 5 MB of PDF (https://pdfshift.io/pricing, as of Sep 2026). pdfrender charges 1 credit per render, whatever the page count. €20 a month buys 10,000 credits, and the pricing page has all plans.