Browserless alternative for PDF generation

Comparing Browserless for PDF generation? See how a full headless-browser platform differs from a PDF-only API with per-page credits and an MCP server.

Browserless is a hosted headless-browser platform. You connect Puppeteer or Playwright to its browsers, use BrowserQL for stealthy automation, or call REST endpoints such as /pdf, /screenshot and /content. PDF generation is one of many things it does.

html-pdf.com does only one thing. It turns HTML or a public URL into a PDF. If PDFs are all you need, a narrower tool can be simpler, and if you need a browser, Browserless is the stronger product.

Quick answer: one request turns a URL (or HTML) into a PDF.

curl -X POST https://html-pdf.com/v1/pdf \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HTML_PDF_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://example.com"}' -o page.pdf

Browserless vs html-pdf.com at a glance

This table shows the main differences side by side.

Prices checked October 2026

Here is what each service costs today.

These figures come from browserless.io/pricing, shown as monthly prices when billed annually. The page says annual billing saves 30%, so monthly billing costs more.

• Free: $0, 1,000 units per month, 2 concurrent browsers
• Prototyping: $25/month billed annually, 20,000 units, overage $0.0020/unit
• Starter: $140/month billed annually, 180,000 units, overage $0.0017/unit
• Scale: $350/month billed annually, 500,000 units, overage $0.0015/unit
• Enterprise: custom, including private deployments and a commercial self-hosting license

A unit is a block of browser time of up to 30 seconds. Proxies and captcha solving are billed separately.

html-pdf.com gives you 100 free credits once. After that, packs are $10 for 1,000 pages, $25 for 3,000, $50 for 7,000, $100 for 15,000 and $250 for 50,000 ($0.01 down to $0.005 per page). There is no subscription, credits never expire, and failed renders are free. See pricing.

How the billing models compare

The two services measure different things, so test with your own documents.

• Browserless charges for time. A PDF that renders in under 30 seconds uses one unit, whether it is 1 page or 40. At steady volume on an annual plan, the cost per render is lower than ours, especially for long documents.
• html-pdf.com charges for pages. A 1-page invoice costs 1 credit, and a 40-page report costs 40. Slow pages, waits and retries don't cost extra, and failed renders cost nothing.

Browserless is usually cheaper if you have a predictable monthly volume and will use the plan. html-pdf.com tends to fit when volume is low or bursty, documents are short, and you don't want a recurring plan for credits you might not use.

When Browserless is the better choice

Choose Browserless in these cases.

• You need full browser automation. That means logging in, clicking, filling forms, scraping, or running Puppeteer/Playwright scripts against a remote browser.
• You need stealth, proxies or captcha solving for sites that block bots.
• You need screenshots, video or Firefox/WebKit, not only PDFs.
• You want AI agents to drive a browser over MCP, rather than only produce documents.
• You render long documents at high, steady volume, where time-based units beat per-page pricing.

When html-pdf.com is the better choice

html-pdf.com fits better in these cases.

• You only need PDFs. No WebSocket sessions, no browser lifecycle, no concurrency limits to plan around. One HTTP request in, one PDF out.
• You want simple, predictable per-page cost with credits that don't expire.
• Your AI agent writes documents. The PDF MCP server exposes html_to_pdf, url_to_pdf, get_credits, buy_credits, so an agent can create PDFs and check credits on its own.
• You want guardrails. max_pages fails a runaway document without charging, and private network addresses are blocked for url requests.

Migrating a Browserless /pdf call

Moving a Browserless /pdf call over takes a few renamed options. Here is the same request on both.

Before (Browserless REST API):

curl -X POST "https://production-sfo.browserless.io/pdf?token=$BROWSERLESS_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://example.com",
       "options": {"format": "A4", "printBackground": true,
                   "margin": {"top": "15mm", "bottom": "15mm"}}}' \
  -o page.pdf

After (html-pdf.com):

curl -X POST https://html-pdf.com/v1/pdf \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HTML_PDF_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url": "https://example.com", "format": "A4", "print_background": true,
       "margin": {"top": "15mm", "right": "10mm", "bottom": "15mm", "left": "10mm"}}' \
  -o page.pdf

Option names follow the same Chromium print settings in snake_case. printBackground becomes print_background, preferCSSPageSize becomes prefer_css_page_size, pageRanges becomes page_ranges, and headerTemplate/footerTemplate become header_html/footer_html.

For pages that render with JavaScript, replace waitForFunction with wait_for_expression and waitForTimeout with wait_delay (seconds, up to 10). For raw HTML, send "html" instead of "url", plus an optional "css" string.

Pages behind a login can't be fetched by URL. Render the HTML on your side and send it as html.

FAQ

Is there a free Browserless alternative for PDFs?

html-pdf.com gives you 100 free credits once you confirm your email, with no card. One credit is one PDF page.

Is html-pdf.com cheaper than Browserless?

For low or bursty volume and short documents, often yes, because you buy credits once and they never expire. For long documents at high, steady volume, Browserless's time-based units on an annual plan usually cost less.

Can I use my Puppeteer PDF options with html-pdf.com?

Yes. The options are the same Chromium print settings in snake_case, such as print_background, prefer_css_page_size and page_ranges.

Can html-pdf.com render pages behind a login?

No. URL requests only fetch public pages. Render the page's HTML on your side and send it in the html field instead.

Try it free

Create an account and key with one request.

curl -X POST https://html-pdf.com/v1/signup -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"email": "you@example.com"}'

You get an API key right away, and 100 free credits once you open the link we email you to confirm your address. Or sign in at https://html-pdf.com/login. API docs · Puppeteer alternative · URL to PDF API