Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to PDF annotation /w screenshot exporter using Chrome Headless and PDF.js
I banged this out over the weekend. It's really rough though. https://github.com/burtonator/pdf-annotation-exporter Basically I have it working with: https://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/web/viewer.html Whereby I can paste the pos.js into the console and it can export PDF annotations with screenshots of the annotation. I intend on using this with Anki to read more complex books and take notes with it. Now I just need to wire it all together with chrome headless and PDF.js
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. PDF annotation /w screenshot exporter using Chrome Headless and PDF.js launched in 2018; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1PJ
Hi HN, Nick here. We're super excited to officially launch PDF.js Express [1]. PDF.js Express wraps a modern React UI around the PDF.js rendering engine to enable PDF annotation, form filling, and signing inside your web app. We've also made some improvements to PDF.js text search, and taken a different approach to how the viewer uses the PDF.js rendering API, resulting in sharp graphics at any zoom magnification [2]. Based on our research, more than 70% of those who try to implement these features on top of PDF.js find it too difficult or time-intensive [3]. For those who are successful,…
2020 · its alternatives →
- 2
Loads a web page in headless Chrome using Puppeteer and prints it to PDF. The input is a JSON object and output is a PDF file.
2017 · apify.com · its alternatives →
- 3
I built EmbedPDF: an MIT-licensed, open-source PDF viewer that aims to match all of Adobe Acrobat’s paid features… for free. Already working: - Annotations (highlight, sticky notes, free text, ink) - True redaction (content actually removed) - Search, text selection, zoom, rotation - Runs fully in the browser, no server needed - Drop-in SDK for React, Vue, Preact, vanilla JS Why? Acrobat is heavy, closed, and pricey. I wanted something lightweight, hackable, and embeddable anywhere. Demo: https://app.embedpdf.com/ Website: https://www.embedpdf.com/ GitHub:…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 4TITetris in a PDF▲1,289
I realized that the PDF engines of modern desktop browsers (PDFium and PDF.js) support JavaScript with enough I/O primitives to make a basic game like Tetris. It was a bit tricky to find a union of features that work in both engines, but in the end it turns out that showing/hiding annotation "fields" works well to make monochrome pixels, and keyboard input can be achieved by typing in a text input box. All in all it's quite janky but a nice reminder of how general purpose PDF scripting can be. The linked PDF is all ASCII so you can just open it in a text editor, or have a look at…
2025 · th0mas.nl · its alternatives →
- 5
🤖 A Node queue API for generating PDFs using headless Chrome. Comes with a CLI, S3 storage and webhooks for notifying subscribers about generated PDFs - esbenp/pdf-bot
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 6
- 7
Capture, annotate and share screenshots from your browser
2020 · chromewebstore.google.com · its alternatives →
- 8
Markup your image or screenshot of your screen
2021 · jpgonline.com · its alternatives →
- 9
Hi HN! I've been working on SimplePDF to solve a problem I encounter weekly: filling out non-editable PDFs [1] --- # About SimplePDF - The documents you load, edit, fill never see the light of my server, everything is processed locally – no remote uploading anything. This includes the PDF generation. - There are no analytics / third party tracking your every move (I do collect usage data, but it's fully anonymous and processed and stored on my server): therefore no annoying cookie banner. You can read more on the Privacy Policy [2] - If someone before you has filled the same document,…
2022 · simplepdf.eu · its alternatives →
- 10
📸💻 Turn your source code into beautiful syntax-highlighted images. - mplewis/src2png
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 11
- 12
Hi HN, creator of EmbedPDF here. I recently posted my open-source PDF viewer here, and one thing I really value is that it runs completely offline. I started wondering if we could push that further: could we do full ML layout analysis (detecting tables, headers, columns) directly in the browser? To my surprise, it actually works. The catch: It is far from production-ready. It crashes on most phones, and on older computers, it can be incredibly slow. The why: I believe the future of document processing is local. Many users work with sensitive documents (bank statements, legal contracts) and…
2025 · embedpdf.com · its alternatives →
- 13
You can export as image, share annotations as URL or have a collaborative annotation session with others. Source code available at: https://github.com/surfly/annotateweb.com
2025 · annotateweb.com · its alternatives →
- 14
Hi HN, I'm a film director by trade, and I prefer writing my stories in plain text rather than using clunky screenplay software. Standard markup like Fountain doesn't work for me because I write in mixed languages, so I use Markdown with a custom syntax I invented to resemble standard screenplay structures. This workflow is great until I need to actually generate an industry-standard screenplay PDF. I got tired of manually copying and pasting my text back into the clunky software just to export it, so I decided to write a script to automate the process. That's when I hit a wall. I tried…
Mar 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 15
Draw on your pdf online
2020 · goodannotations.com · its alternatives →
- 16
Free, open-source Chrome extension: full page screenshot in one click, plus annotate, blur, PNG/JPEG/WebP/PDF export, and a tab recorder. MIT licensed. Nothing leaves your machine.
Jul 2026 · openscreenshot.app · its alternatives →
- 17
- 18
Annotate images and PDFs quickly in your browser
Jul 2026 · freewww.com · its alternatives →
- 19
2014 · chrome.google.com · its alternatives →
- 20PT
Hi everyone, I build some "online" converters as a side project in the last weeks. The difference to existing conversion websites is, that my converters don't upload your files. Everything happens in your browser on your device (with the help of a lot of great Open Source Javascript libraries). I think privacy is an essential feature for a service like this, so my converters also don't use google analytics or any other form of tracking (in fact they use no external resources at all). I started this because I ended up with some .heic files from my iPhone and had to use ImageMagick every time…
2022 · png.to-pdf.net · its alternatives →
- 21
Frame, annotate, and export screenshots that look designed
Sep 2026 · portfolioframe.com · its alternatives →
- 22
Drop-in replacement for wkhtmltopdf using Docker, Electron and Go. Try now for free!
2016 · athenapdf.com · its alternatives →
- 23
- 24
Capture any page, no matter how long — annotations & PDF
Jul 2026 · fullpagescreenshot.pro · its alternatives →
Also compare
- Pdf.js Express – PDF annotation, e-signatures, and form filling alternatives
- Ready-to-use API to convert any web page to PDF using headless Chrome alternatives
- I built a free alternative to Adobe Acrobat PDF viewer alternatives
- Tetris in a PDF alternatives
- Pdf-Bot, an API/CLI for Generating PDFs Using Headless Chrome alternatives
- ClipMyNotes alternatives
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →