RenderPDFs vs API2PDF
Pay-as-you-go pricing sounds flexible, but there's no free tier and the tooling is bare-bones.
Pricing
Prices as publicly listed at time of writing. Verify on each vendor's pricing page.
Features
| Feature | RenderPDFs | API2PDF |
|---|---|---|
| HTML → PDF | ✓ | ✓ |
| URL → PDF | ✓ | ✓ |
| Markdown → PDF | ✓ | ✗ |
| Image → PDF | ✓ | ✗ |
| Built-in templates (invoice, contract…) | ✓ | ✗ |
| PDF merge | ✓ | ✓ |
| MCP server (Claude, Cursor, Windsurf) | ✓ | ✗ |
| Official Node.js SDK | ✓ | ✓ |
| Free plan — no credit card | ✓ | ✗ |
| Cloud file storage (store: true) | ✓ | ✗ |
Verdict
API2PDF's per-use model is fine at very low volumes, but there's no free tier to start experimenting, no built-in templates, and no MCP support. RenderPDFs gives you 100 free PDFs to integrate against, flat predictable monthly pricing, and a much richer feature set.
Migrating from API2PDF?
Switch the endpoint and auth header. The JSON request body is similar — `html`, `url`, and `options` work the same way.
Common questions
When does API2PDF's pricing beat RenderPDFs?▾
At $1.49/1,000 PDFs, API2PDF is cheaper only below ~6,000 PDFs/month compared to RenderPDFs Starter ($9/mo for 5,000). Above that threshold, RenderPDFs wins on price — and you get templates, Markdown, and MCP on top.
Does RenderPDFs have a free trial?▾
Better: a permanent free plan. 100 real PDFs/month, no credit card, no time limit. Great for integration testing and low-volume production use.
Does API2PDF support Markdown input?▾
No — API2PDF only accepts raw HTML or a URL. RenderPDFs accepts HTML, URL, Markdown, and image URLs, and also exposes 6 built-in templates.
Other comparisons
Try RenderPDFs free
100 PDFs/month, no credit card required. Your first PDF in under 60 seconds.