July 21, 2025 - pdfplumber (0.10s): Good for tables, text extraction needs configuration · Important caveat: These results reflect basic usage with minimal configuration. Each library has advanced features that could significantly change performance for specific use cases. You can find the link to all results in the references. Context matters more than raw performance. The “best” extractor depends entirely on what you’re building and how you’ll use the extracted text.

December 17, 2025 - borb(opens in a new tab) is a modern, pure-Python library for both creating and manipulating PDFs. It has high-level layout primitives (Paragraph, Table, Chart) and low-level drawing commands. Rich layout engine — Paragraphs, images, tables, barcodes, SVG, pie and bar charts. Interactive elements — Forms, annotations, document outlines. Post-processing — Merge, split, redact, encrypt existing PDFs. Best for: Complex pages (tables, charts, barcodes) and PDF manipulation (merge, split, encrypt) with no external binaries.

July 13, 2025 - If you're just getting started or want to streamline your project using multiple libraries, this guide is for you. Let’s get into it. IronPDF is, hands down, the most comprehensive and capable Python PDF library I’ve worked with. It’s based on the well-known IronPDF engine from .NET and now runs cleanly across every operating system that supports Python.

This ubiquitous package sees 50,000+ downloads per month, and was chosen to harness the print and export features for Wikipedia. To respond to real-world reporting needs, mainly those of large institutions, the ReportLab Toolkit has evolved ...

pypdf is a free and open-source pure-python PDF library capable of splitting, merging, cropping, and transforming the pages of PDF files. It can also add custom data, viewing options, and passwords to PDF files.

February 1, 2026 - IronPDF is a versatile Python library that offers a broad spectrum of PDF operations, facilitating efficient PDF data processing, and seamlessly integrating into GUI-based Python applications.

Below is a concise guide to the top libraries, strengths, typical use cases, and quick selection rules. ... ReportLab (open-source + commercial). Mature, fastest for programmatic creation, direct drawing primitives, Platypus for flowable-based layouts, good PDF/A support. Use when you need full control over pages, fonts, dr ... There is no single "best" Python PDF library—best choice depends on what you need: programmatic generation, templating, forms, editing existing PDFs, high-quality typesetting, or DOM-like composition.

June 23, 2025 - So, if you're looking for a Python PDF library that balances advanced features and ease of use, IronPDF is your best option.

September 16, 2024 - Explore eight powerful Python libraries for PDF generation: FPDF2, ReportLab, Playwright, Pyppeteer, Python-Wkhtmltopdf, PDFKit, WeasyPrint, and Borb. Compare their performance, features, and use cases to choose the best tool for your PDF creation ...

July 17, 2023 - There are some libraries where the users should obviously migrate: Use pypdf: There is no good reason to use PyPDF2, PyPDF3, PyPDF4 anymore · Use pdfminer-six: Why do people still use pdfminer?

December 17, 2024 - In this article, We will talk about how to generate PDF using Python, and we will introduce multiple libraries like FPDF, ReportLab, Pyppeteer, Playwright, XHTML2PDF and Pdfkit and the difference between them.

March 31, 2025 - In this guide, we'll explore the most popular Python libraries for handling PDFs, compare their features, and help you decide which library is best suited for your project.

January 5, 2025 - This article covers top pdf libraries in python to help developers improve pdf generation workflows. It introduces how html to pdf transforms static or dynamic content into portable documents. It also outlines best libraries, from browser-driven conversions to third-party APIs, helping you ...

It takes just minutes to start creating documents with our HTML to PDF Python agent, and you have the option to sign up for a free plan or just use our public API key. Our API-based approach eliminates maintenance time and scalability concerns (which are more severe for PDF conversion jobs than most web server tasks). Our partnership with the Prince commercial PDF library means we have the best support for PDF-specific functionality, such as advanced headers and footers, footnotes, fine-tuned page-break controls, forms, accessible PDFs, printer’s marks, varying page sizes, and much more.

February 23, 2026 - Python has several PDF libraries, each with different strengths. pypdf is pure Python and well-suited for straightforward PDF tasks without compiled dependencies. pypdfium for permissively licensed PDF rendering.

July 29, 2025 - ReportLab has established itself as the de facto standard for PDF generation in Python over the past two decades. It's the engine behind Wikipedia's PDF export functionality and is used by numerous Fortune 500 companies. The library offers two distinct versions: a commercial edition (ReportLab PLUS) and an open-source toolkit. At its core, ReportLab provides a robust page layout engine and a powerful graphics canvas API. The library excels at programmatically generating complex documents, especially those requiring precise control over layout and design.

PyPDF: This is a pure Python PDF library that can be used to read and write PDF files. It can be used to extract text, merge and split PDFs, and encrypt and decrypt PDFs. It is a very popular library and has been around for a long time. pdfplumber: This is a library that allows for extracting tables and text from PDFs, it can also extract images and shapes. PyMuPDF: I have saved the best free python pdf library for last!

December 16, 2025 - By the time you finish this article, you’ll understand the good and bad points of each library and be able to pick the best tool for your particular needs in getting tables out of PDFs. When it comes to getting tables out of PDF files, Python has several strong libraries that can make the ...