HTML to PDF in Node.js (2026): Playwright, Puppeteer, PDFKit & SnapAPI

Approaches at a Glance

Approach	CSS support	JS execution	Binary needed	Best for
Playwright	Full	Yes	Chromium (~150 MB)	Pixel-perfect, SPAs
Puppeteer	Full	Yes	Chromium (~150 MB)	Same as Playwright
PDFKit	None	No	None	Programmatic, dynamic
jsPDF	Partial (html2canvas)	Client-side only	None	Browser-side export
SnapAPI	Full	Yes	None	Serverless, production API

Playwright PDF Generation

Playwright's page.pdf() produces PDF from the rendered Chromium output — full CSS, custom fonts, WebGL, everything. This is the gold standard for HTML→PDF fidelity.

npm install playwright
npx playwright install chromium

Basic PDF from URL

import { chromium } from 'playwright';

const browser = await chromium.launch();
const page = await browser.newPage();

await page.goto('https://example.com/invoice', { waitUntil: 'networkidle' });

await page.pdf({
  path: 'invoice.pdf',
  format: 'A4',
  printBackground: true,   // includes background colors and images
  margin: { top: '20mm', right: '15mm', bottom: '20mm', left: '15mm' },
});

await browser.close();

PDF from HTML string

const html = `



  


  Invoice #1042
  Client: Acme Corp
  Date: April 4, 2026
  Total: $1,200.00

`;

await page.setContent(html, { waitUntil: 'networkidle' });
const pdfBuffer = await page.pdf({ format: 'A4', printBackground: true });
// pdfBuffer is a Buffer — write to file or return from HTTP endpoint

Headers and footers

await page.pdf({
  format: 'A4',
  printBackground: true,
  displayHeaderFooter: true,
  headerTemplate: `
    
      ACME CORP — CONFIDENTIAL
    `,
  footerTemplate: `
    
      Generated 
      Page  of 
    `,
  margin: { top: '40px', bottom: '40px' },
});

Header/footer CSS: The header and footer templates run in an isolated scope — external stylesheets don't apply. Inline all your styles. Use .date, .pageNumber, .totalPages, .title class names which Playwright populates automatically.

Puppeteer PDF Generation

import puppeteer from 'puppeteer'; const browser = await puppeteer.launch({ headless: 'new' }); const page = await browser.newPage(); await page.goto('https://example.com/report', { waitUntil: 'networkidle2' }); const pdf = await page.pdf({ format: 'A4', printBackground: true, displayHeaderFooter: true, headerTemplate: '', footerTemplate: 'Page / ', margin: { top: '50px', bottom: '50px', left: '20mm', right: '20mm' }, }); await browser.close(); // pdf is a Buffer

Express PDF download endpoint with browser reuse

import express from 'express'; import puppeteer from 'puppeteer'; const app = express(); let browser; async function getBrowser() { if (!browser || !browser.connected) { browser = await puppeteer.launch({ headless: 'new', args: ['--no-sandbox', '--disable-setuid-sandbox'], }); } return browser; } app.get('/export/pdf', async (req, res) => { const { url, filename = 'export.pdf' } = req.query; if (!url) return res.status(400).json({ error: 'url required' }); const b = await getBrowser(); const page = await b.newPage(); try { await page.goto(url, { waitUntil: 'networkidle2', timeout: 30000 }); const pdf = await page.pdf({ format: 'A4', printBackground: true }); res.set({ 'Content-Type': 'application/pdf', 'Content-Disposition': `attachment; filename="${filename}"`, 'Content-Length': pdf.length, }); res.send(pdf); } finally { await page.close(); } }); app.listen(3000);

CSS Print Styles for Better PDFs

The most important step for good PDF output is controlling page breaks. Chromium respects standard CSS print media queries:

@media print { /* Force page break before major sections */ .section { page-break-before: always; } /* Prevent breaking inside elements */ .invoice-item, .chart, blockquote { page-break-inside: avoid; } /* Avoid orphaned headings */ h1, h2, h3 { page-break-after: avoid; } /* Hide interactive elements */ nav, .sidebar, .chat-widget, button, .no-print { display: none !important; } /* Expand full width (no sidebar) */ .content { width: 100% !important; max-width: none !important; } /* Ensure backgrounds print */ * { -webkit-print-color-adjust: exact !important; print-color-adjust: exact !important; } }

Inject print CSS before generating PDF

await page.goto(url, { waitUntil: 'networkidle' }); // Add print overrides without modifying the source HTML await page.addStyleTag({ content: ` @media print { nav, .sidebar, .cookie-banner { display: none !important; } .content { width: 100% !important; } * { -webkit-print-color-adjust: exact !important; } } ` }); await page.pdf({ format: 'A4', printBackground: true });

SnapAPI: PDF Without Chromium Infrastructure

Self-hosting Chromium for PDF generation means managing memory leaks, zombie processes, and binary compatibility. SnapAPI handles this as a service:

// Generate PDF from URL — 3 lines const res = await fetch('https://api.snapapi.pics/v1/screenshot', { method: 'POST', headers: { 'X-Api-Key': process.env.SNAPAPI_KEY, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }, body: JSON.stringify({ url: 'https://example.com/invoice', format: 'pdf', pdfOptions: { format: 'A4', printBackground: true, displayHeaderFooter: false, margin: { top: '20mm', bottom: '20mm', left: '15mm', right: '15mm' }, }, }), }); const pdfBuffer = Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer());

// Or via the SDK import { SnapAPI } from 'snapapi-js'; const snap = new SnapAPI({ apiKey: process.env.SNAPAPI_KEY }); const { data } = await snap.screenshot({ url: 'https://example.com/report', format: 'pdf', waitUntil: 'networkidle', blockAds: true, blockCookieBanners: true, }); // data is a PDF Buffer

import express from 'express'; const app = express(); app.get('/pdf', async (req, res) => { const { url } = req.query; const snap = await fetch('https://api.snapapi.pics/v1/screenshot', { method: 'POST', headers: { 'X-Api-Key': process.env.SNAPAPI_KEY, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' }, body: JSON.stringify({ url, format: 'pdf' }), }); const pdf = Buffer.from(await snap.arrayBuffer()); res.set({ 'Content-Type': 'application/pdf', 'Content-Disposition': 'attachment; filename="export.pdf"' }); res.send(pdf); }); app.listen(3000);

HTML to PDF in Node.js (2026)