How to Convert HTML to PDF Using PDFGate in Your Favorite Language
If you’re looking to generate PDFs from HTML using your backend stack — whether it’s Node.js, Python, or PHP — you don’t need to set up your own rendering engine or rely on outdated libraries.
With a cloud-based HTML to PDF API like PDFGate, you can convert dynamic HTML templates into high-quality, secure PDFs in seconds — no server maintenance, no rendering hacks.
This guide walks you through how to call the PDFGate API in Node.js, Python, and PHP, with copy-paste examples and integration tips.
🧠 What You’ll Need
• An API key from PDFGate (sign up free)
• Your server or backend environment (Node.js, Python, or PHP)
• An HTML string or URL you want to convert
📦 Option 1: Node.js (Using Axios)
✅ Install Axios
npm install axios✅ Sample Code
const axios = require('axios');
const fs = require('fs');
const html = `<html><body><h1>Hello PDFGate</h1></body></html>`;
axios.post('https://api.pdfgate.com/v1/generate/pdf', {
html,
pageSizeType: "a4"
}, {
headers: {
'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
'Content-Type': 'application/json'
},
responseType: 'arraybuffer'
})
.then(response => {
fs.writeFileSync('output.pdf', response.data);
console.log('PDF saved!');
})
.catch(error => {
console.error('Error:', error.response?.data || error.message);
});🐍 Option 2: Python (Using Requests)
✅ Install Requests
pip install requests✅ Sample Code
import requests
html = "<html><body><h1>Hello PDFGate</h1></body></html>"
response = requests.post(
"https://api.pdfgate.com/v1/generate/pdf",
headers={
"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY",
"Content-Type": "application/json"
},
json={
"html": html,
"pageSizeType": "a4"
}
)
if response.status_code == 200:
with open("output.pdf", "wb") as f:
f.write(response.content)
print("PDF saved successfully.")
else:
print("Failed to generate PDF:", response.text)🐘 Option 3: PHP (Using cURL)
✅ Sample Code
<?php
$html = "<html><body><h1>Hello PDFGate</h1></body></html>";
$payload = json_encode([
"html" => $html,
"pageSizeType" => "a4"
]);
$ch = curl_init("https://api.pdfgate.com/v1/generate/pdf");
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
"Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY",
"Content-Type: application/json"
]);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $payload);
$response = curl_exec($ch);
if ($response) {
file_put_contents("output.pdf", $response);
echo "PDF saved.";
} else {
echo "Error: " . curl_error($ch);
}
curl_close($ch);
?>📄 Output Options You Can Customize
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| pageSizeType | a0, a1, a2, a3, a4, a5, a6, ledger, tabloid, legal, letter |
| margin | e.g. “1cm”, “0.5cm” |
| landscape | true for horizontal page orientation |
| header | “<div>Header</div>” |
| footer | “<div>Footer</div>” |
💡 Pro Tip: Use Templates with Data Injection
If you’re generating invoices, reports, or contracts, combine PDFGate with a template engine like:
• 🧾 Handlebars / EJS in Node.js
• 🧠 Jinja2 in Python
• 🐘 Blade in Laravel
This lets you pass real-time data into your HTML and render user-specific documents automatically.
✅ Summary
| Feature | PDFGate Advantage |
|---|---|
| 🖨️ HTML → PDF | Convert HTML or URLs into pixel-perfect PDFs |
| 🔐 Secure | Encryption + no default file storage |
| 🚀 Fast | Render in seconds, even at high volume |
| 🧩 API-first | Works in any language or framework |
| 📦 Easy setup | Copy-paste integration across platforms |
Ready to Go?
If you want to generate PDFs from HTML using Node.js, Python, or PHP, PDFGate gives you a fast, secure, and reliable API with no infrastructure headaches.
👉 Start your free trial now at PDFGate.com
You’ll be converting your first HTML to PDF in less than 5 minutes.
