DocuForge vs Gotenberg

Compare DocuForge’s managed API against self-hosted Gotenberg

DocuForge vs Gotenberg

Gotenberg is an open-source, self-hosted document conversion API using Docker. DocuForge is a managed API that eliminates the need to run and scale your own infrastructure.

Feature Comparison

Feature	DocuForge	Gotenberg
Hosting	Managed (cloud)	Self-hosted (Docker)
Setup	5 minutes (API key)	30-60 min (Docker + config)
Rendering engine	Chromium	Chromium + LibreOffice
Office docs → PDF	Not supported	Yes (via LibreOffice)
HTML-to-PDF	Yes	Yes
React-to-PDF	Yes	No
Template engine	Yes (visual editor)	No
SDKs	TS, Python, Go, Ruby	Go client only
Batch generation	Built-in async queue	Manual orchestration
Scaling	Auto-scaled	Manual Docker scaling
Custom fonts	Upload via API	Mount in Docker volume
QR/Barcodes	Built-in	Not included
Cost	Free tier, from $29/mo	Free (+ server costs)
Uptime SLA	99.9%	You manage uptime

Setup Comparison

Gotenberg

# docker-compose.yml
version: "3"
services:
  gotenberg:
    image: gotenberg/gotenberg:8
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - CHROMIUM_DISABLE_ROUTES=false

docker compose up -d
curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/forms/chromium/convert/html \
  -F 'files=@index.html' \
  -o output.pdf

DocuForge

import { DocuForge } from 'docuforge';
const df = new DocuForge('df_live_...');

const pdf = await df.generate({
  html: '<h1>Hello World</h1>',
  options: { format: 'A4' },
});

When to Choose Gotenberg

• You need Office document conversion (DOCX, XLSX → PDF)
• You have strict data residency requirements
• You want a free, self-hosted solution and can manage Docker infrastructure
• You’re already running Kubernetes and can auto-scale Docker containers

When to Choose DocuForge

• You don’t want to manage Docker infrastructure
• You need templates, React support, or batch generation
• You want SDKs for multiple languages
• You need a reliable SLA without managing uptime yourself