PDFLoom vs Api2Pdf: pay-per-use vs flat pricing
Api2Pdf and PDFLoom take opposite approaches to pricing. Api2Pdf bills for the compute time and bandwidth each document uses; PDFLoom sells flat monthly plans with a fixed number of PDFs. Which is cheaper depends on your documents.
The short version
- Pick Api2Pdf if you want the lowest possible cost for many small, quick documents, need engines other than Chrome (wkhtmltopdf, LibreOffice for Office files), or want extras like merging, barcodes or pay-per-request without an account (x402).
- Pick PDFLoom if you prefer a predictable bill that doesn't change with document size or render time, a permanent free tier, or invoices generated directly from JSON.
Pricing
| Api2Pdf | PDFLoom | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | $1/month base + $0.00019551 per second of compute + $0.001 per MB | Flat monthly plans: Free (100), $9 (2,000), $29 (10,000), $79 (50,000) |
| Free | Credit for the first month | 100 PDFs every month |
| Example: 10,000 small PDFs (0.1 MB, 2 s each) | About $6 (their own example) | $29 |
| Heavy documents (large images, slow pages) | Costs grow with size and render time | Same price per PDF |
To be clear: for small, fast documents Api2Pdf is usually cheaper than PDFLoom. The flat plan is worth it if you value knowing the bill in advance, or if your documents are large or slow to render.
Prices and limits checked on 29 October 2026 from each vendor's public pricing page. Plans change; check their site before deciding. Something wrong or outdated? Tell us and we'll fix it.
Features
| Api2Pdf | PDFLoom | |
|---|---|---|
| Engines | Chrome, wkhtmltopdf, LibreOffice | Chrome |
| Office documents to PDF | Yes | No |
| Merge, barcodes | Yes | No |
| Invoices from JSON | No | Yes (invoice API) |
| MCP server for AI agents | Yes | Yes |
| Output storage | Hosted for 24 hours | REST API: not stored, returned in the response. MCP: 30 minutes |
Try both
Both have free options, so the fairest test is rendering one of your real templates on each. Get a free PDFLoom key (100 PDFs a month, no card).