Supported PDF libraries

Generating PDF files is a common task, but not every library works the same way on shared hosting. The difference is in how the library creates the PDF.

Libraries that start a browser

Libraries such as Puppeteer, Playwright and Selenium create a PDF by starting a full web browser (Chrome or Edge) on the server.

On the Free plan these tools are not allowed. A browser is very demanding on CPU and memory, and in the past such tools were often abused. If a Free website tries to start a browser, the automatic security system suspends the website.

wkhtmltopdf and DinkToPdf

wkhtmltopdf is supported and many customers use it. It converts HTML to PDF without starting a full browser.

• With the DinkToPdf wrapper, upload the required native DLL files to the /wwwroot/bin folder of your website.
• Alternatively download the executables from wkhtmltopdf.org and let your application run wkhtmltopdf directly.

Libraries that create the PDF in code

Libraries that build the document purely in managed .NET code, without any external program, run like any other part of your application and do not need special support from the hosting.

Tested libraries

These libraries were tested on our platform and are confirmed to work:

• SelectPdf
• wkhtmltopdf

If your library is not listed, it does not necessarily mean that it will not work.

Good to know

• PDF generation can need a lot of memory. If your application restarts while generating documents, check its memory limit.
• Any other third-party executable started by your application is subject to the same rules — see Website disabled by the security system.