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PDFGate vs PDFCrowd
A full document workflow with longer rendering waits vs a broad conversion toolkit with PDF/A and templating.
Last reviewed: October 3, 2026
More time for dynamic pages
PDFGate can wait up to 30 seconds for an element and up to 20 seconds of fixed delay on every plan. On PDFCrowd's first three plans, the maximum wait is 1 to 2 seconds.
From generation to signature
PDFGate adds compression, flattening, form data extraction, and e-signatures to the same API. PDFCrowd focuses on converting between HTML, PDF, images, and text.
More documents per plan
PDFGate's first three plans include 500 to 10,000 conversions a month, compared with 10 to 1,000 credits on PDFCrowd's first three plans.
Which one should you choose?
PDFGate's HTML to PDF API and PDFCrowd both convert URLs and raw HTML to PDF and offer SDKs for most languages. PDFCrowd is a broad conversion toolkit with options such as PDF/A output and built-in templating. PDFGate gives JavaScript-heavy pages more time to render and adds PDF processing and e-signatures to the same API.
Choose PDFGate if
- Your pages render content with JavaScript and need more than a couple of seconds to finish.
- You want to send documents for e-signature from the same API and account.
- You need to compress, flatten, or extract form data from existing PDFs.
- You convert third-party URLs and need to click through cookie banners or pop-ups.
- You need several conversions in parallel on an entry-level plan.
- You generate thousands of documents a month and want a lower price per document.
Choose PDFCrowd if
- You need PDF/A archival output.
- You want built-in templating that merges JSON or XML data into your HTML.
- You need to set a locale for dates and numbers on the converted page.
- You need to merge or split PDFs, or convert PDFs to HTML, text, or images.
- You prefer that documents are deleted within 30 minutes of conversion.
- You only need a few documents a month and want a very low entry price.
Comparing more options? See our roundup of the Best HTML to PDF APIs in 2026, where we compare more tools side by side.
Waiting for dynamic content
PDFGate renders with Chrome. PDFCrowd does not say which engine its current converter uses, but both run JavaScript before converting the page.
The bigger practical difference is how long each API waits for content. PDFGate can wait for a CSS selector for up to 30 seconds, wait for the network to go idle, or add a fixed delay of up to 20 seconds on every plan.
PDFCrowd also waits for a CSS selector or a fixed delay, but the maximum wait depends on the plan: 1 second on Nano and Micro, 2 seconds on Small, and up to 15 seconds on its largest plans. Pages that load data or draw charts after load may need a larger PDFCrowd plan to render completely.
Feature comparison
"Not listed" means we did not find the feature on PDFCrowd's website when we reviewed it. For everything PDFGate offers, see the HTML to PDF API page.
HTML to PDF rendering
| Feature | PDFGate | PDFCrowd |
|---|---|---|
| Rendering engine | Chrome | Not listed |
| Convert a URL or raw HTML | Both | Both, plus HTML files and ZIP archives with assets |
| Wait for dynamic content | CSS selector up to 30 seconds, network idle, or delay up to 20 seconds | CSS selector or delay, up to 1 to 2 seconds on the first three plans |
| Inject CSS and JavaScript | Yes | Yes |
| Headers, footers, and page numbers | Header and footer templates | Header and footer templates |
| Click through cookie banners and pop-ups | Click selectors and selector chains | Blocks ads and trackers; clicking not listed |
| Pages behind authentication | Basic authentication and custom HTTP headers | HTTP authentication, cookies, and custom headers |
| Fillable PDF form fields | From HTML inputs, including signature fields | From HTML forms |
| Password protection and permissions | Protect PDF endpoint | During conversion |
| Watermarks and backgrounds | Watermark PDF endpoint, text or image | During conversion, from a PDF or image |
| PDF/A and tagged PDFs | Tagged PDFs by default; no PDF/A | Yes |
| Templating with JSON or XML data | Send the final HTML | Yes |
| Locale for dates and numbers | Not offered | Locale parameter |
Beyond generation
| Feature | PDFGate | PDFCrowd |
|---|---|---|
| E-signatures | Envelopes, recipients, and audit trail | Not listed |
| Compress and flatten existing PDFs | Compress and flatten endpoints | Not listed |
| Extract form data from PDFs | Extract form data endpoint | Not listed |
| Merge and split PDFs | Not offered | PDF to PDF API |
| Convert PDFs to HTML, text, or images | Not offered | Dedicated APIs |
Platform and developer experience
| Feature | PDFGate | PDFCrowd |
|---|---|---|
| Request format | JSON | Form fields; JSON is not supported |
| Asynchronous generation with webhooks | Synchronous requests | Not listed |
| Parallel conversions on the first three plans | 3, 5, and 10 | 1 on each plan |
| Document storage | Stored up to 2 years, with pre-signed URLs | Deleted within 30 minutes |
| Free test mode | Sandbox environment and API keys, watermarked output | 100 test credits during a one-month trial |
| SDKs | Node.js, Python, PHP, Java, C# | Node.js, Python, PHP, Java, .NET, Ruby, Go, command line |
| No-code integrations | Zapier, Pabbly Connect, Integrately, viaSocket | Zapier, Make, Integrately, Bubble, WordPress, and others |
| MCP server for AI agents | Yes | Yes |
Trust and compliance
| Feature | PDFGate | PDFCrowd |
|---|---|---|
| Uptime | 99.9% uptime target | Not listed |
| Compliance | GDPR, with a Data Processing Agreement | GDPR, with a Data Processing Agreement |
| Hosting | AWS in the EU (Frankfurt) | EU company; some infrastructure in the United States |
Pricing
Monthly prices for the first three paid plans. Cost per document is the monthly price divided by the included documents, calculated by us.
PDFGate
| Plan | Price / month | Documents / month | Cost per document |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal | $9 | 500 | $0.018 |
| Starter | $20 | 3,000 | $0.0067 |
| Basic | $50 | 10,000 | $0.005 |
PDFCrowd
| Plan | Price / month | Documents / month | Cost per document |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nano | $1 | 10 | $0.10 |
| Micro | $11 | 200 | $0.055 |
| Small | $23 | 1,000 | $0.023 |
- PDFCrowd uses one credit for every 0.5 MB of output, so larger PDFs use more than one credit.
- PDFCrowd does not charge for occasional overages, but asks you to upgrade if you exceed your plan often or by a large amount. PDFGate charges overage at $0.05 per conversion on Personal and $0.02 on Starter and Basic.
- PDFCrowd's first three plans allow 1 conversion at a time and 15 conversions per minute.
- PDFCrowd offers a one-month trial with 100 test credits. PDFGate has no free plan; every plan starts with a 14-day free trial.
- PDFGate counts conversions across all PDF endpoints, including generation, compression, and watermarking. Failed requests and sandbox requests are not counted.
Migrating from PDFCrowd to PDFGate
PDFCrowd takes form fields and PDFGate takes a JSON body, so moving over means building a JSON request with the renamed fields.
| PDFCrowd | PDFGate |
|---|---|
POST https://api.pdfcrowd.com/convert/24.04/ | POST https://api.pdfgate.com/generate/pdf |
Username and API key as Basic auth | Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY |
Form fields | JSON body |
text | html |
url | url |
page_size | pageSizeType |
page_width and page_height | width and height |
orientation | orientation |
margin_top, margin_right, margin_bottom, margin_left | margin.top, margin.right, margin.bottom, margin.left |
print_page_range | pageRanges |
header_html and footer_html | header and footer, with margin.top and margin.bottom |
use_print_media | emulateMediaType: "print" |
custom_css | css |
custom_javascript | javascript |
wait_for_element | waitForSelector |
javascript_delay | delay |
http_auth_user_name and http_auth_password | authentication.username and authentication.password |
cookies and custom_http_header | httpHeaders, with a Cookie header for cookies |
enable_pdf_forms | enableFormFields |
encrypt, user_password, owner_password | Protect PDF endpoint |
page_watermark_url | Watermark PDF endpoint |
- Page numbers use different classes: replace pdfcrowd-page-number and pdfcrowd-page-count with pageNumber and totalPages in your header and footer HTML.
- A successful PDFCrowd request returns 200, while PDFGate returns 201. Update any status checks.
- Watermarks and password protection are separate PDFGate endpoints that you call with the generated PDF. Each call counts as a conversion.
- PDFGate has no templating with JSON or XML data, so render your template to HTML before sending it.
PDFCrowd request
1curl -f -u 'YOUR_USERNAME:YOUR_PDFCROWD_API_KEY' \2 -F url=https://example.com/invoice/42 \3 -F page_size=A4 \4 -F use_print_media=true \5 -o output.pdf \6 https://api.pdfcrowd.com/convert/24.04/PDFGate request
1curl -X POST https://api.pdfgate.com/generate/pdf \2 -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \3 -H "Content-Type: application/json" \4 -d '{5 "url": "https://example.com/invoice/42",6 "pageSizeType": "a4",7 "emulateMediaType": "print"8 }' \9 -o output.pdfInformation about PDFCrowd comes from its public website and was last reviewed on October 3, 2026. Features and prices may have changed since then.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, if your pages need time to render JavaScript content, or if you also need PDF processing and e-signatures. If you depend on PDF/A, built-in templating, or PDF-to-HTML conversion, PDFCrowd is the better fit.
PDFGate waits up to 30 seconds for a CSS selector and up to 20 seconds of fixed delay on every plan. PDFCrowd's maximum wait depends on the plan: 1 second on Nano and Micro, 2 seconds on Small, and up to 15 seconds on its largest plans.
PDFCrowd has a lower entry price, starting at $1 per month for 10 credits. At higher volumes PDFGate costs less per document: its Starter and Basic plans include 3,000 and 10,000 conversions for $20 and $50, while PDFCrowd's Small plan includes 1,000 credits for $23.
No, the approach is different. PDFCrowd deletes generated files within 30 minutes. PDFGate stores generated PDFs according to your retention settings, for up to 2 years, so you can download them again or process them later.
Send a JSON body instead of form fields, rename the parameters as shown in the migration table, and update the page number classes in your headers and footers. Check for a 201 status code instead of 200.
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