Full CSS and JavaScript
Managed Chromium renders grid, flexbox, custom properties and print rules the way your browser does, and runs your JavaScript before the shot.
§ Capabilities
HTML to PDF converter, built for production
Everything the render needs, everything the record needs, one API. Items still in the workshop are labelled planned, because they are.
§ 01
Rendering
Web fonts and emoji
Brand fonts load and embed in the PDF. Emoji render as emoji, not as tofu boxes, because the engine is a real browser.
Wait for selector
Charts drawn from async data, lazy images, client-side templates: the render waits for the selector you name before writing a single page.
URL or raw HTML input
Point at a live page, or send the markup your template engine produced. Same endpoint, same options, same output quality.
Page setup
A4, Letter or Legal, portrait or landscape, margin presets or exact values, headers and footers with page numbers.
Page break control
CSS page-break rules are honored, so tables keep their header rows and sections start where your stylesheet says they start.
§ 02
Archiving
Archive on render
Add archive=true and the exact page that produced your PDF is stored as a timestamped snapshot under your account. One call, document plus record.
Retrieve forever
Every snapshot is retrievable by id and listable by URL for the life of your retention window, by API or dashboard.
Retention you control
Windows from 90 days to 3 years by plan, custom retention and legal hold on enterprise, and delete on request that actually deletes.
§ 03
Workflow
Batch rendering
Submit a list of URLs or documents and each returns as its own PDF with its own archive entry. Built for statement runs and site-wide captures.
Webhooks
A callback when each render or batch finishes, so long jobs never hold a connection open.
Image output (PNG, JPEG)
The same render call returning images for thumbnails and previews, alongside the PDF.
Authenticated capture
Custom headers and cookies so pages behind a login can be rendered and archived.
Integrity checksums
Content hashes exposed in the API so an archived snapshot can be independently verified.
Scheduling UI
Recurring captures without writing a cron job. Until it ships, the API works from any scheduler.
§ 04
Sitepdf vs the alternatives
An honest read of the category, from public docs and pricing pages. The line that only Sitepdf fills is render and archive from one call with no infrastructure of your own to run.
| Sitepdf | DocRaptor | PDFShift | Urlbox | Self-host (Puppeteer) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Render | Managed Chromium, full JS | PrinceXML engine | HTML / URL to PDF | Screenshot-first, PDF secondary | DIY headless Chrome |
| Archive / snapshot | Built in, same call | Not included | Not included | Not included | Build it yourself |
| Infra to run | None (managed) | None (managed) | None (managed) | None (managed) | You run the fleet |
| Price at volume | From $99/mo · 50k renders (planned) | Climbs steeply, render-count tiers | Credit-based, mid-range | Per-render, screenshot-priced | "Free" + engineering + on-call |
Competitor details are our summary of their public documentation and pricing as of mid-2026 and can change; check each vendor for the current terms. Sitepdf figures are planned launch pricing, not a live subscription. See pricing.
Try the conversion before you believe any of this
The free in-browser converter shows the category working with zero setup: paste HTML, download a real PDF. The API does the same job server side with the rendering and archiving described above; the how it works page walks the full request and response, and planned pricing shows what it will cost at your volume.
§ 05
For engineering and compliance leaders
Kill the fleet
Self-hosted headless Chrome is an unbounded cost: engineer time, on-call, render drift. A managed API is a line item you can predict and cut when volume drops.
Keep the record
Audit, e-discovery and retention requests get answered from timestamped snapshots with controlled retention, not from whatever screenshots survived in a shared drive.
Procurement-ready
Invoicing and a DPA from day one; SSO, roles, SLA and residency planned for launch and labelled as planned on the security page. Enterprise questions: talk to sales.
§ Early access
Get on the early-access list
The API opens to the list first, in order. Early access locks the planned launch rates for 12 months. No card required, launching soon.