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WeasyPrint vs Puppeteer(2026)

WeasyPrint is better for teams that need excellent css support. Puppeteer is the stronger choice if free and open source. WeasyPrint is open-source (from $0) and Puppeteer is open-source (from $0).

Full feature breakdown, pricing details, and pros & cons below.

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WeasyPrint logo

WeasyPrint

open-source

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 WeasyPrint
Puppeteer logo

Puppeteer

open-source

Puppeteer is Google's Node.js library to control Chrome/Chromium — widely used to generate pixel-perfect PDFs from HTML by launching a headless browser with page.pdf().

Starting at $0

Visit Puppeteer

How Do WeasyPrint and Puppeteer Compare on Features?

FeatureWeasyPrintPuppeteer
Pricing modelopen-sourceopen-source
Starting price$0$0
HTML + CSS to PDF
CSS Paged Media support
Headers/footers
Python library + CLI
Unicode
Image support
Open source (BSD)
HTML to PDF
Screenshot capture
Full Chrome control
Headless mode
PDF format options (margin, paper size)
Network interception
CDP protocol

WeasyPrint Pros and Cons vs Puppeteer

W

WeasyPrint

+Excellent CSS support
+Python-native
+Open source
+Good typography
Python only
No JavaScript rendering
Slower than Chrome-based tools
Some CSS gaps
P

Puppeteer

+Free and open source
+Pixel-perfect output
+Full Chrome rendering
+Huge community
Requires Node.js server
Heavy (Chrome binary)
No hosted API
Memory-intensive

Should You Use WeasyPrint or Puppeteer?

Choose WeasyPrint if…

  • Excellent CSS support
  • Python-native
  • Open source

Choose Puppeteer if…

  • Free and open source
  • Pixel-perfect output
  • Full Chrome rendering

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