Free PDF generation API: six free tiers, one free month and what each leaves out

Free PDF generation API tiers at a glance

These six PDF generation APIs, each priced in US dollars, have a standing free tier: CraftMyPDF and APITemplate.io give 50 PDFs or images a month, Doppio up to 400 documents, DocuGenerate 20 documents, PDFShift 50 credits and DocRaptor 5 documents. Api2Pdf gives one free month instead. All figures were read on October 10, 2026.

The units differ, so the numbers do not compare one to one. PDFShift counts one credit per 5 MB of output, CraftMyPDF counts one credit per PDF whatever its page count, and the rest count documents.

Free tiers for templates: CraftMyPDF, APITemplate.io and DocuGenerate

CraftMyPDF's Free plan includes the drag-and-drop editor, the REST API and the Zapier, Make.com and Bubble.io integrations, and no credit card is needed to start. It is a standing tier, not a countdown: the allowance resets each month, and CraftMyPDF has no time-limited trial of a paid plan. The CraftMyPDF free plan page covers it in full.

Teams, own AWS S3 storage and PDF passwords start at Professional, the DPA (a signed data processing agreement) at Lite, and the pricing table lists no support for Free. Pick CraftMyPDF Free when a non-developer will design the layout in an editor, or when the job runs through Zapier, Make.com or Bubble.io.

APITemplate.io, from the same team as CraftMyPDF, has a free plan of 50 images or PDFs a month, and CraftMyPDF points to it for HTML to PDF conversion. DocuGenerate's free plan suits Word templates.

Free tiers for HTML you already have: Doppio, PDFShift and DocRaptor

Doppio's Basic plan is free for up to 400 documents a month with 1 template, and Doppio says there is no time limit. PDFShift's free tier is 50 credits a month, and DocRaptor's Free plan is 5 documents a month with test documents always free. DocRaptor allows no overage on Free.

Pick Doppio for the largest free count in the table. For templates filled with data instead of raw HTML, pick CraftMyPDF, APITemplate.io or DocuGenerate. The free HTML to PDF API page adds the open source tools.

Free tiers and trials the table leaves out

PDFMonkey has a free plan of 20 documents a month and a separate 30-day trial with 300 documents. Carbone lists a free Cloud plan of 100 documents and 100 templates. Neither publishes a US dollar plan price, so the table and the prices below leave them out.

Documint, DocSpring and Docupilot each offer a 14-day trial, and Placid and Templated give trial credits. Anvil's free plan is for its web interface only: an API key needs a card or an upgrade. These are timed trials or limited plans, not standing free tiers.

What it costs when the free tier runs out

The first paid plan of each API with a standing free tier, on monthly billing, as read on October 10, 2026:

• CraftMyPDF Lite, $29, for 1,200 PDFs or images
• APITemplate.io PDF Basic, $24 on its Bill Monthly view, for 3,000 PDFs
• Doppio Premium, $16, for up to 4,000 documents
• DocuGenerate Plus, $19, for 500 documents
• PDFShift Starter, $9, for 500 credits
• DocRaptor Basic, $15, for 125 documents

At the limit, CraftMyPDF emails you at 80% and 100% of your monthly credits and never upgrades a plan on its own; it does not say what the API does once credits are used up. Doppio says renders pause until the next billing cycle below its Pro plan. The cheap PDF generation API page ranks these plans by price, and the best PDF generator API guide compares seven APIs by template style.