PDFMonkey vs DocRaptor: Features and Pricing

Last checked: 26 October 2026. Prices and features change: if you spot something out of date, tell us and we’ll fix it.

We make PDFMonkey, so keep that in mind as you read. Everything we say about DocRaptor comes from DocRaptor’s own pages, listed at the bottom, and there’s a whole section on where they do better than us. Prices come from each company’s public pricing page: ours in euros excluding VAT, DocRaptor’s in US dollars.

TL;DR

These two products solve the problem from opposite ends. DocRaptor turns the HTML you send into a PDF with Prince, a commercial engine built for print-quality paged media. PDFMonkey keeps your templates (HTML/CSS/Liquid code or a visual Builder) and turns JSON data into PDFs or images with Chromium.

Choose PDFMonkey if you want:

• to design and store templates outside your codebase, in code or with a no-code Builder, and send only data;
• image output (WebP, PNG, JPG) next to PDFs;
• official no-code integrations: Zapier, Make, n8n, Workato, Bubble, Glide;
• lower prices at every volume we compared, with pay-as-you-go on every paid plan;
• EU hosting (Paris and Frankfurt), where DocRaptor processes everything in the US;
• to let AI agents like Claude Code or Cursor edit, preview and test your templates through our CLI and MCP server.

Choose DocRaptor if you need:

• the Prince engine for advanced print layouts, such as page floats, footnotes or mixed page sizes in one document;
• accessible PDFs built to meet standards (WCAG 2.0, Section 508, ISO 14289);
• print production options: crop marks, CMYK, bookmarks;
• HIPAA compliance or HTML-to-Excel generation;
• to render HTML you already produce in your own app, with libraries for many languages.

Feature comparison

Pricing at equivalent volumes

Monthly billing. For each volume, we show the plan that covers it on both sides. PDFMonkey’s pay-as-you-go would bring some of these totals down further, but it isn’t needed to come out cheaper. DocRaptor bills overage per document on paid plans, from 12 cents (Basic) down to 2.5 cents (Silver).

What the totals leave out:

• DocRaptor never charges more for large or complex documents, and its test documents are free. PDFMonkey quotas also count documents, not pages.
• Retention and seats follow the PDFMonkey plan: up to 7 days and 2 seats on Pro, unlimited on Pro+ and Premium.
• The rendering engine matters more than the price if your layouts depend on Prince features.

Where DocRaptor is the stronger choice

If your documents go to a print shop and need CMYK or crop marks, if you rely on Prince-only features like footnotes and page floats, if your PDFs must meet accessibility standards, or if you need HIPAA coverage, DocRaptor and Prince are hard to beat. Running headers and page counters alone aren’t a reason to switch, though: PDFMonkey handles those with Paged.js. DocRaptor is also a natural fit when your app already renders the final HTML and you only need a conversion step.

If you’ve read older comparisons

A few comparison pages still describe PDFMonkey as it was years ago. Here’s how things stand on 26 October 2026:

• Synchronous generation is available through /api/v1/documents/sync. (docs)
• There are two official SDKs, Ruby and Node.js.
• The free tier is permanent and has no watermark: 20 documents a month. (plans)
• Image generation is available in WebP, PNG and JPG. (docs)

Moving from DocRaptor to PDFMonkey

• Start with a pass-through template: a Code Template that prints the HTML you send in the payload lets you switch without rewriting anything. (guide)
• Then move logic into the template: send JSON and let Liquid handle loops, conditions and formatting, so your app no longer builds HTML.
• Check Prince-specific CSS. Features such as flow: static() running elements or prince- properties have no Chromium equivalent. Running headers, footers and page counters can move to Paged.js, which PDFMonkey supports.
• Replace hosted documents with PDFMonkey’s download URLs, which are short-lived, or with share links on Pro+ and Premium.
• Test with the 30-day Pro trial: 300 documents, no credit card.

FAQ

What is the main difference between PDFMonkey and DocRaptor?

DocRaptor converts the HTML (or URL) you send in each request, using the commercial Prince engine. PDFMonkey stores your templates, built in HTML/CSS/Liquid or in a visual Builder, and you send only JSON data; rendering uses Chromium.

Can PDFMonkey create accessible (tagged) PDFs like DocRaptor?

Partly. PDFMonkey renders with Chrome, which produces tagged PDFs by default, so a template with real headings, lists and alt text gives screen readers a proper structure. We don’t validate documents against PDF/UA, though. DocRaptor states its tagging features help meet WCAG 2.0, Section 508 and ISO 14289 (PDF/UA), so if certified accessibility is a requirement, DocRaptor is the safer choice.

Is PDFMonkey cheaper than DocRaptor?

At every volume we compared, yes: for example €15 for 3,000 documents on PDFMonkey versus $149 on DocRaptor (Max plan), and €300 versus $1,000 at 40,000 documents. Prices are in euros excluding VAT for PDFMonkey and US dollars for DocRaptor.

Can I send my existing HTML to PDFMonkey as I do with DocRaptor?

Yes, through a minimal pass-through Code Template that prints the HTML you send in the payload. Prince-specific CSS will not carry over, since PDFMonkey renders with Chromium.

Does PDFMonkey support synchronous generation?

Yes. POST /api/v1/documents/sync waits up to 6 minutes and returns the finished document. Async generation with webhooks remains the recommended default for batches. DocRaptor is synchronous by default (1 minute) with an asynchronous mode (10 minutes).

Sources

Checked on 26 October 2026:

• DocRaptor: pricing, overage, home page, API limits, test documents, making documents, security and privacy, document hosting
• PDFMonkey: plans, pricing, engines, documents API, HTML to PDF, compliance and DPA

Looking at other options? See all our comparisons.