Java/.NET library. Mature, AGPL available. No PDF rendering, no FormCalc, no WASM.
C++ SDK with real XFA support. Pricing through sales.
JavaScript library for PDF creation. MIT licensed, browser and Node. Not aimed at reading or manipulation.
Nutrient (formerly PSPDFKit) ships mobile SDKs. Nutrient has no XFA support.
The Python binding to MuPDF. Python only, same AGPL-or-commercial license as PDFluent.
PyMuPDF’s Markdown export package for LLM pipelines. Compared against our preview structured-extraction layer.
Mature C library behind PyMuPDF, MuPDF.js and MuPDF.NET. Four separate products vs one Rust core, six bindings.
MIT-licensed document-AI toolkit, not a general PDF library. In balanced mode with the table model, table structure measured higher than Docling 2.126.0 on 2 of 5 table measures [A37–A40, 2026-10-14], on the tuning split (upper bound); table model training overlap not checked.
PDFluent loads as a native library. A Java SDK such as iText starts a JVM first.
Per organisation or per product, not per developer and not per API call. Published on the website, bought online, and free under the AGPL if copyleft is no obstacle for you.
XFA 3.3 engine written in Rust; executes FormCalc.
The WASM package runs PDF processing in the browser tab, so the file stays on the device. The 1.0.0 package is 3.8 MB brotli over the wire (measured 16-09-2026).
| Feature | PDFluent | Nutrient | Apryse |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDF Parsing & Rendering | |||
| Text Extraction | |||
| XFA Forms Support | Limited | ||
| FormCalc Execution | |||
| PDF/A Validation | |||
| PDF/UA Accessibility | |||
| Digital Signatures (PAdES) | |||
| OCR Text Recognition |
| Feature | PDFluent | Nutrient | Apryse |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pure Rust Implementation | |||
| Cross-platform |
| Feature | PDFluent | Nutrient | Apryse |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free and complete under the AGPL | |||
| Starting Price | €0 AGPL · from €999/yr commercial | See vendor | See vendor |
PDFluent prices per year, excluding VAT, as of 07-09-2026. For Nutrient and Apryse prices, see each vendor's site.
Step-by-step guides for migrating from iText and PDFBox, including API mapping and code examples. PDFluent's open() / save() model maps cleanly from most library-style APIs.
The Priority support add-on answers within one working day, and that includes questions during a migration.
PDFluent has no runtime to initialise, where a Java-based SDK such as iText starts a JVM first.
The commercial licence is per organisation and the OEM licence per product, with no seats. Adding developers does not change the price.
Tell us what you run today and which documents you process.