HTML to PDF Converters for .NET

Question

I am in search of a FREE HTML to PDF converter for .NET which preferably takes an HTML page and renders it into a PDF document.

The HTML page (when printed) will most often be more than one page. I know of ABCPDF, but from a quick overview, it appears it just wants to convert a single page of HTML and doesn't handle multiple pages well. I could be ignorant of its capabilities as I haven't put very much research into ABCPDF yet. The only other one I have gently used is iText, but that seems like it may become very complicated for the application I need.

Please let me know if you have any recommendations. If you know of one that does cost per license, but does exactly what I need, let me know.

Thanks!

Thank you all for the quick replies! I will review the options and mark the solution I go with as the answer. — BueKoW, Apr 01 '11 at 13:29

Town · Accepted Answer · 2016-10-26T15:14:07.390

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EDIT: ABCPDF no longer offers a free option unless you can satisfy their requirements of either being a Worthy Cause or a Worthy Individual. More details here: http://www.websupergoo.com/free-license.htm

~~ABCPDF will handle multiple pages, as stated in this link - "You can even have HTML flowed between multiple columns over multiple PDF pages."~~

I've used it extensively and found it to be pretty good.

Either that or iTextSharp if you're after open source options.

If you've got some money to spend, then have a look at Aspose.PDF.

edited Oct 26 '16 at 15:14

answered Apr 01 '11 at 13:18

Town

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Please note that iText/iTextSharp are free for open source projects only. There is [probably expensive] commercial license for other cases, though. – Bobrovsky Apr 01 '11 at 15:34
I am using ABCpdf for multiple pages too, and it works well. – Urbycoz Apr 05 '11 at 09:38
@Bobrovsky: Good point, I've updated my answer. – Town Apr 05 '11 at 09:47
Paged HTML Example can be found here: http://www.websupergoo.com/helppdf8net/source/4-examples/13-pagedhtml.htm – AffineMesh May 27 '11 at 03:40
Just a note for others: ABCPDF isn't free - but there is a (laborious?) promotional programme to get a free license. – PeterX May 17 '13 at 00:07
Why suggest ABCPDF when it is clearly not free? Please see: http://www.websupergoo.com/free-license.htm – VBobCat Oct 26 '16 at 13:01
@VBobCat You may have missed the date on the answer... it's from over 5 years ago. It's a while ago now, but IIRC WebSuperGoo used to offer a free option if you provided credit for their library on your page. – Town Oct 26 '16 at 15:06

score 8 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 01 '11 at 13:21

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Just implemented something similar in one of my projects using wkhtmltopdf (webkit based) I'm rendering views or partial views to strings, writing them to temp html file and sending starting the exe in a new System.Diagnostics process..

The pdf's look absolutely awesome, it works with external css sheets and everything.

answered Apr 01 '11 at 13:21

Michiel Cornille

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+1 It will also **execute javascript** with the full HTML DOM supported. wkhtmltopdf is Very Nice. – Mark Storer Apr 01 '11 at 20:14
Not only will it execute javascript, but it allows for javascript delays and ajax calls to complete before taking the snapshot. Awesome, awesome product. And the price is right! – Daniel Szabo Jun 21 '11 at 21:11
Forgot to mention -- it even honors CSS page-breaks! – Daniel Szabo Jun 21 '11 at 21:11

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 01 '11 at 13:20

I don't know of a free one, but we use Aspose.PDF for .Net to generate PDFs from files hosted in SharePoint through a custom document converter. HTML is one of the supported formats.

Note: I have no affiliation with Aspose, I've just been pleased with the component they provide.

score 2 · Answer 4 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:33

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ITextSharp can do this for you. http://itextsharp.com/

This answer has some links to some code.. Convert HTML file to PDF file using ITextSharp

edited May 23 '17 at 12:33

Community

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answered Apr 01 '11 at 13:17

Aim Kai

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Yep. See: http://somewebguy.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/itextsharp-simplify-your-html-to-pdf-creation/ – Jerod Venema Apr 01 '11 at 13:19

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 05 '12 at 13:24

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You can give a try to: https://github.com/pruiz/WkHtmlToXSharp

answered Oct 05 '12 at 13:24

Pablo Ruiz García

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score 1 · Answer 6 · edited Nov 28 '20 at 02:11

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Winnovative HTML to PDF converter is what I've used for years. Great tool, good documentation.

http://www.winnovative-software.com/

edited Nov 28 '20 at 02:11

HasanG

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answered Apr 01 '11 at 13:21

Curtis

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This one is not free. – Josh Mouch Sep 19 '13 at 18:03
@Josh `Please let me know if you have any recommendations. If you know of one that does cost per license, but does exactly what I need, let me know.` – Curtis Sep 20 '13 at 08:02

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Apr 01 '11 at 13:23

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This isn't an exact fit, but this should work for you with a little modification if you have MS Word installed on the machine executing the code. All you should have to do is open the HTML as a Word document (since MS Word can open HTML). It's a free way to do it if it works for you.

answered Apr 01 '11 at 13:23

BrandonZeider

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Thank you - this would be simple, but I am trying to go without having to install Word on the server. – BueKoW Apr 01 '11 at 13:27
No problem - when I was looking, I didn't think there was a library out there that didn't require an installation, and since we had licenses for MS Word already, we opted to just install MS Word. Good luck! – BrandonZeider Apr 01 '11 at 13:46
It fulfills my needs and is surprisingly quick even though I'm generating a dozen PDFs at a time. Thanks @BrandonZeider! – GeoffM Aug 22 '13 at 23:28

HTML to PDF Converters for .NET

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