Pros of react-pdf

• More comprehensive and feature-rich for creating complex PDF documents
• Better integration with React applications
• Larger community and more frequent updates

Cons of react-pdf

• Steeper learning curve due to its complexity
• Larger bundle size, which may impact performance in some applications

Code Comparison

react-pdf:

import { Document, Page, Text, View, StyleSheet } from '@react-pdf/renderer';

const MyDocument = () => (
  <Document>
    <Page>
      <View>
        <Text>Hello, World!</Text>
      </View>
    </Page>
  </Document>
);

pdfme:

import { Template, Form } from '@pdfme/generator';

const template = {
  basePdf: { ... },
  schemas: [{ ... }]
};
const form = new Form(template);
form.generate({ ... });

Summary

react-pdf is a more comprehensive solution for creating complex PDF documents, especially in React applications. It offers a wider range of features and has a larger community. However, it comes with a steeper learning curve and larger bundle size. pdfme, on the other hand, provides a simpler API for basic PDF generation tasks, which may be sufficient for less complex use cases. The choice between the two depends on the specific requirements of your project and your familiarity with React.

Pros of PDFKit

• More mature and established project with a larger community
• Extensive documentation and examples available
• Supports a wider range of PDF features and customization options

Cons of PDFKit

• Steeper learning curve for beginners
• Requires more code to create simple PDFs
• Less focus on form filling and template-based PDF generation

Code Comparison

PDFKit:

const PDFDocument = require('pdfkit');
const doc = new PDFDocument();
doc.pipe(fs.createWriteStream('output.pdf'));
doc.text('Hello, world!');
doc.end();

PDFMe:

import { Template } from '@pdfme/generator';
const template = new Template({ schemas: [...], basePdf: [...] });
const inputs = [{ name: 'John Doe', age: '30' }];
const pdf = await template.generate({ inputs });

Key Differences

• PDFKit offers more low-level control over PDF creation
• PDFMe focuses on template-based generation and form filling
• PDFKit has a larger ecosystem and more third-party plugins
• PDFMe provides a simpler API for basic PDF generation tasks

Use Cases

• Choose PDFKit for complex, highly customized PDF documents
• Opt for PDFMe when working with form-based PDFs or simple templates
• PDFKit is better suited for server-side PDF generation
• PDFMe excels in client-side PDF creation and form filling scenarios

Pros of pdfmake

• More mature and established project with a larger community
• Extensive documentation and examples available
• Supports complex layouts and styling options

Cons of pdfmake

• Steeper learning curve due to more complex API
• Larger file size and potentially slower performance for simple documents

Code Comparison

pdfmake:

var docDefinition = {
  content: [
    'First paragraph',
    'Another paragraph, this time a little bit longer to make sure, this line will be divided into at least two lines'
  ]
};
pdfMake.createPdf(docDefinition).download();

pdfme:

import { Template, generate } from '@pdfme/generator';

const template = {
  basePdf: { width: 595, height: 842 },
  schemas: [{ text: { type: 'text', position: { x: 0, y: 0 } } }],
};
const inputs = [{ text: 'Hello World' }];

generate({ template, inputs }).then((pdf) => {
  pdf.download();
});

Summary

pdfmake offers more advanced features and extensive documentation, making it suitable for complex PDF generation tasks. However, it may have a steeper learning curve and larger file size. pdfme provides a simpler API and potentially better performance for basic documents, but may lack some advanced features found in pdfmake. The choice between the two depends on the specific requirements of your project and the complexity of the PDFs you need to generate.

Pros of pdf.js

• Widely adopted and battle-tested in production environments
• Extensive browser compatibility, including older versions
• Robust feature set for rendering and interacting with PDFs

Cons of pdf.js

• Larger file size and potentially higher resource usage
• Steeper learning curve for implementation and customization
• Primarily focused on rendering, less suited for PDF creation or editing

Code Comparison

pdf.js:

pdfjsLib.getDocument('https://example.com/sample.pdf').promise.then(function(pdf) {
  pdf.getPage(1).then(function(page) {
    var scale = 1.5;
    var viewport = page.getViewport({ scale: scale });
    // Render page on canvas
  });
});

pdfme:

import { Template, Form } from '@pdfme/ui';

const template = new Template(templateDefinition);
const form = new Form({ template, inputs });
form.render(document.getElementById('container'));

Key Differences

• pdf.js focuses on rendering and viewing PDFs, while pdfme specializes in PDF form creation and filling
• pdf.js offers more low-level control over PDF rendering, whereas pdfme provides a higher-level API for form-based operations
• pdfme has a smaller footprint and is more suitable for specific PDF form tasks, while pdf.js is a more comprehensive PDF solution

Pros of jsPDF

• More mature and widely adopted project with a larger community
• Supports a broader range of PDF features and functionalities
• Better documentation and examples available

Cons of jsPDF

• Larger file size and potentially slower performance
• Steeper learning curve for complex PDF generation tasks
• Less focus on template-based PDF creation

Code Comparison

pdfme:

import { Template, generate } from '@pdfme/generator';

const template = {
  basePdf: BASE64_PDF_TEMPLATE,
  schemas: [
    {
      name: { type: 'text', position: { x: 20, y: 20 } },
    },
  ],
};

const inputs = [{ name: 'John Doe' }];
const pdf = await generate({ template, inputs });

jsPDF:

import { jsPDF } from "jspdf";

const doc = new jsPDF();
doc.text("Hello world!", 10, 10);
doc.addPage();
doc.text("This is a new page", 10, 10);
doc.save("a4.pdf");

Both libraries offer PDF generation capabilities, but pdfme focuses on template-based creation, while jsPDF provides more low-level control over PDF content. pdfme is easier to use for simple template-based PDFs, while jsPDF offers more flexibility for complex PDF generation tasks.