Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to PDF.js Express
Out-of-the-box annotation, PDF form fill, and signing.
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. PDF.js Express launched in 2020; 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
PDFShift▲386Convert any HTML to PDF with a single POST request.
2018 · pdfshift.io · 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 →
- 4
Implement scanyourpdf.com in JavaScript. No backend servers needed.
2022 · lookscanned.io · its alternatives →
- 5
open-pdf-sign▲105Open-source tool for digitally signing PDFs
2022 · openpdfsign.org · its alternatives →
- 6
- 7
Enable your website visitors to fill, annotate, merge and edit PDF files without leaving your website. Use the iframe, Javascript script or React component.
2023 · simplepdf.github.io · its alternatives →
- 8
2014 · chrome.google.com · its alternatives →
- 9
Learn to build software products, put them on the internet, find customers, and create an independent business that can make a great living.
2018 · flaviocopes.com · its alternatives →
- 10
- 11
Anvil PDF API▲185Twilio for PDFs: esign, fill, generate PDFs with one API
2021 · useanvil.com · its alternatives →
- 12
Enterprise-Level Document Signing Goes Open-Source
2023 · opensignlabs.com · its alternatives →
- 13
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 →
- 14
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- 17
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 →
- 18
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- 20
Parse PDF to Json with AI and BYO-JSON-Schema
2025 · pdftojson.dev · its alternatives →
- 21
I created this tool to make it quick and easy to sign PDF contracts, without having to deal with installing additional software and without worrying that my PDFs will get uploaded to a third party. It supports the bare minimum for my most common usecases. It is not intended to be a full-featured PDF editor. Features include filling PDF forms, inserting images and text, and rotating PDFs. Check it out by either picking a PDF of your own - https://photown.github.io/private-pdf/, or with a preloaded sample PDF -…
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 22
React-print-pdf is a new open-source library that simplifies PDF creation with React. You can design your PDFs like a website, integrate data from your database to your documents, and reuse community components and templates or build your own. Created by three friends who were frustrated by existing solutions and wanted to make PDF creation easier for everyone. Now it’s yours. What are your thoughts on it ?!
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 23
🚀 A React Framework for building extensible drag and drop page editors - prevwong/craft.js
2020 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 24
A PDF viewer for Vue using Mozilla's PDF.js that supports both Vue2 and Vue3 - arkokoley/pdfvuer
2020 · github.com · its alternatives →
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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 →