DocSpring vs Gotenberg

A converter, not a document service

Gotenberg exposes routes such as /forms/chromium/convert/html and /forms/libreoffice/convert. You POST files, it returns a PDF. It also merges PDFs, converts to PDF/A, and can call a webhook when an asynchronous conversion finishes. That is a well-designed surface for a conversion engine.

DocSpring is built around templates. You store an HTML/CSS and Liquid template or an uploaded PDF with fields, define a JSON schema, and send data rather than markup. DocSpring also renders with Chromium, so the same HTML renders similarly once you set the font, background, and page margins that DocSpring's default styles and normalize.css would otherwise supply. The difference is where the template lives and who operates the renderer.

Feature comparison

Follow the feature links for details in DocSpring's documentation. Sources for each Gotenberg cell are listed at the end of the page.

Scroll the table sideways to see both products.

"Limited or your responsibility" marks things the library only partly covers or leaves to your own code and infrastructure. Plan requirements and product boundaries are noted in the cells.

The same invoice through Docker and through an API

Suppose your application has a customer name and a list of line items. Both approaches produce a PDF from HTML rendered by Chromium. Compare who renders the template and who runs the browser.

Convert the invoice with Gotenberg

Gotenberg's API is straightforward. The HTML still has to be produced by your application before the call.

set -e

# Gotenberg runs as a Docker container on your infrastructure.
docker run --rm --detach --name gotenberg-comparison \
  -p 127.0.0.1:3000:3000 gotenberg/gotenberg:8

# Stop the example container when the script exits, even if a step fails.
trap 'docker stop gotenberg-comparison > /dev/null' EXIT

# Wait for the service to start before sending a document.
curl --fail --silent --show-error --retry 10 --retry-all-errors \
  --retry-delay 1 --retry-max-time 30 'http://localhost:3000/health' > /dev/null

# Send finished HTML (rendered by your own template engine) to the Chromium route.
curl --fail-with-body \
  --request POST 'http://localhost:3000/forms/chromium/convert/html' \
  --form '[email protected]' \
  --form 'paperWidth=8.27' \
  --form 'paperHeight=11.7' \
  --output invoice.pdf

Generate the invoice with DocSpring

The same invoice as a Liquid template stored in DocSpring. Send the data, not the markup.

<h1>Invoice for {{ customer_name | escape }}</h1>
<table>
  <tr><th>Description</th><th>Amount (USD)</th></tr>
  {% for item in items %}
    <tr>
      <td>{{ item.description | escape }}</td>
      <td>{{ item.amount | currency }}</td>
    </tr>
  {% endfor %}
</table>

curl --fail-with-body \
  "https://sync.api.docspring.com/api/v1/templates/${DOCSPRING_TEMPLATE_ID}/submissions" \
  --user "${DOCSPRING_TEST_TOKEN_ID}:${DOCSPRING_TEST_TOKEN_SECRET}" \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "test": true,
    "data": {
      "customer_name": "Mira Patel",
      "items": [
        { "description": "Annual inspection", "amount": 120 },
        { "description": "Replacement filter", "amount": 35 }
      ]
    }
  }'

Set the environment variables to your template ID and test API credentials. Accounts in our EU region send requests to sync.api-eu.docspring.com instead. The response includes a download URL for a watermarked PDF. See the request and response guide.

Test a burst of 50 conversions at once against a single container, and check memory use during a LibreOffice conversion. Capacity planning is the part of self-hosting that surprises people.

Free software plus a container you own

A small container for a few hundred documents a month is cheap to run and expensive to own. Weigh the on-call time and the missing template management against a fixed monthly plan.

Moving from Gotenberg to DocSpring

Your HTML and CSS move over largely unchanged, because both render with Chromium. DocSpring adds normalize.css and default styles for the font, background, and page margins, so set them explicitly and compare the output. Replace the templating in your application with Liquid in a DocSpring template, and move the data contract into the template schema.

Replace the multipart POST to Gotenberg with a JSON request to DocSpring. Delete the container, or keep it only for Office conversion if you still need DOCX to PDF, which DocSpring does not do.

If you were merging PDFs with Gotenberg, use DocSpring's combine PDFs API. If you were stamping values onto existing PDFs elsewhere, upload them to DocSpring and place fields visually.

Discuss your documents with us.

Questions about Gotenberg and DocSpring

Does Gotenberg support templates or variables?

No. Gotenberg converts the HTML you send. Loops, conditions, and data validation live in your application. DocSpring stores the template with Liquid logic and validates the JSON you send against a schema.

Can Gotenberg fill an existing PDF form?

No. It can merge PDFs, convert documents, and stamp text or images onto pages, but it does not fill form fields from your data. DocSpring's editor lets you place fields on any PDF and fill them from JSON.

Does DocSpring convert Word documents?

No. DocSpring fills PDFs and renders HTML/CSS templates. If you need DOCX to PDF conversion on your own infrastructure, Gotenberg's LibreOffice route is a good fit for that step.