Playwright (PDF) vs WeasyPrint(2026)
Playwright (PDF) is better for teams that need better maintained than puppeteer. WeasyPrint is the stronger choice if excellent css support. Playwright (PDF) is open-source (from $0) and WeasyPrint is open-source (from $0).
Full feature breakdown, pricing details, and pros & cons below.
By Bikram Nath
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Playwright (PDF)
Playwright by Microsoft supports PDF generation via page.pdf() in Chromium — with better multi-browser support, more reliable test infra, and active maintenance compared to Puppeteer.
Starting at $0
Visit Playwright (PDF)WeasyPrint
WeasyPrint is a Python library that converts HTML and CSS documents to PDF — using a CSS Paged Media spec implementation for precise control over headers, footers, and page breaks.
Starting at $0
Visit WeasyPrintHow Do Playwright (PDF) and WeasyPrint Compare on Features?
| Feature | Playwright (PDF) | WeasyPrint |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | open-source | open-source |
| Starting price | $0 | $0 |
| PDF export (Chromium) | ✓ | — |
| Cross-browser (Chromium/Firefox/WebKit) | ✓ | — |
| Auto-wait | ✓ | — |
| Network mocking | ✓ | — |
| Page.pdf() API | ✓ | — |
| Headless + headed modes | ✓ | — |
| CI/CD optimized | ✓ | — |
| HTML + CSS to PDF | — | ✓ |
| CSS Paged Media support | — | ✓ |
| Headers/footers | — | ✓ |
| Python library + CLI | — | ✓ |
| Unicode | — | ✓ |
| Image support | — | ✓ |
| Open source (BSD) | — | ✓ |
Playwright (PDF) Pros and Cons vs WeasyPrint
Playwright (PDF)
WeasyPrint
Should You Use Playwright (PDF) or WeasyPrint?
For most teams, Playwright (PDF) is the better default: it offers better maintained than puppeteer and is open-source (from $0). Choose WeasyPrint instead if excellent css support matters more than chrome-only for pdf (chromium). There is no universal winner — the right pick depends on your budget, team size, and whether you value better maintained than puppeteer or excellent css support more.
Choose Playwright (PDF) if…
- •Better maintained than Puppeteer
- •Cross-browser testing bonus
- •Reliable auto-wait
Choose WeasyPrint if…
- •Excellent CSS support
- •Python-native
- •Open source