InkPDF vs DocRaptor: an honest comparison
Pricing and features checked July 2026. If something has changed, trust their pricing page over this one.
DocRaptor is one of the oldest and most respected HTML-to-PDF APIs, built on the PrinceXML engine. InkPDF is the developer-first alternative: Chromium rendering, JSON-driven document templates, and roughly 16× more documents per dollar. Both are good products with different centers of gravity.
Pricing at a glance
| DocRaptor | InkPDF | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 5 docs/month (+ unlimited watermarked test docs) | 50 docs/month (watermarked) |
| Entry plan | $15/mo → 125 docs | $19/mo → 2,000 docs |
| Mid tier | $75/mo → 1,250 docs | $49/mo → 10,000 docs |
| Volume | $149/mo → 5,000 docs | $149/mo → 50,000 docs |
| Cost per doc (entry) | ~$0.12 | ~$0.0095 |
The real difference: rendering engine
DocRaptor licenses PrinceXML — the gold standard for print-grade typography. It supports CSS paged-media features Chromium doesn't: footnotes, advanced hyphenation, page floats, PDF/A archival profiles, and accessibility tagging (PDF/UA). If you're producing books, journals, or regulated archival documents, that engine is genuinely worth paying for, and you should use DocRaptor.
InkPDF renders with Chromium — the same engine your users' browsers use. Flexbox, grid, custom fonts, canvas, SVG: if it looks right in Chrome, it's pixel-identical in the PDF. For the 95% of business documents — invoices, receipts, reports, statements, tickets, certificates — that's exactly what you want, at a fraction of the cost.
What InkPDF has that DocRaptor doesn't
| Feature | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| JSON templates | POST plain data against built-in invoice/receipt/quote/report/certificate designs — no HTML authoring at all. Totals and tax computed for you. |
| Markdown mode | Reports and release notes straight from Markdown with three built-in themes. |
| Live playground | Try the real pipeline before signing up — no account needed. |
| Quota headers | Every response reports used/quota so billing is never a surprise. |
Switching is one field rename
Both APIs are "POST your HTML, get a PDF." A DocRaptor call:
POST https://api.docraptor.com/docs
{ "doc": { "document_content": "<h1>Hi</h1>", "document_type": "pdf", "test": false } }The same render on InkPDF:
POST https://inkpdf.dev/v1/pdf
Authorization: Bearer ink_live_…
{ "html": "<h1>Hi</h1>" }Header/footer, page size, and margin options map one-to-one — see the API reference.
Choose DocRaptor if…
You need PrinceXML's paged-media typography, PDF/A or PDF/UA compliance, or you're an enterprise that wants a vendor with 15 years of uptime history and phone support.
Choose InkPDF if…
You're generating business documents at startup volumes and prices, want templates that eliminate HTML authoring entirely, or you're currently paying DocRaptor's per-doc rate for output Chromium renders identically.
See the output yourself
Preview a rendered invoice or try the playground — then grab a free key (50 PDFs/month, no card).