This article introduces the five best JavaScript PDF viewers to meet your needs. We cover popular open-source options like PDF.js and React PDF, as well as three commercial choices: ComPDFKit for Web, PSPDFKit for Web, and PDFTron WebViewer. We’re here to help you pick the right one for your case!
PDF.js
PDF.js, developed by Mozilla, is a popular JavaScript library with 45.1k GitHub stars. Launched in 2011, it allows web developers to render PDF files directly in browsers without external plugins. PDF.js is widely used and has 2.3 million weekly downloads on npm, It’s a valuable tool for enhancing websites by displaying PDFs in the browser, and Firefox uses it to open PDFs natively.
Benefits
• Intuitive Interface: PDF.js features an easy-to-use out-of-the-box reader UI.
• Zoom Functionality: Built-in zoom options enable users to closely examine details.
• Flexible Viewing and Search: Offers multiple view options and efficient search capabilities.
• Customization and Privacy: Users can customize the UI through CSS theming and API. PDF.js prioritizes privacy, collects no user or document information, and supports form filling for both XFA and AcroForms.
Considerations
• Text Reliability: Text search and selection in PDF.js may be less reliable, impacting user experience.
• Limited Content Editing Features: PDF editing options are restricted to ink and text annotations, limiting advanced editing capabilities.
• Browser Compatibility: PDF.js has limited support outside Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, potentially causing compatibility issues for users on other browsers.
Pricing
PDF.js is a freely available open-source JavaScript PDF viewer licensed under the Apache License 2.0.
React PDF
React PDF, developed by Wojciech Maj, is another popular open-source React component with 8.2K GitHub stars and 750K weekly downloads on npm. It is designed for rendering PDF documents in React applications, offering a set of components for displaying, navigating, and interacting with PDF files.
Benefits
• Ease of Use: React-pdf provides ready-to-go React components like Document or Page, making it relatively easy to install and use for displaying PDFs as images.
• Regular Updates: The library is updated regularly, ensuring that it stays current and incorporates the latest improvements.
• Privacy Assurance: React-pdf prioritizes user privacy by not collecting or transmitting any information about users or documents.
Considerations
• Require to build UI by yourself: React-pdf lacks an out-of-the-box UI, requiring users to build their reader interface, which may not be suitable for everyone.
• Dependency on PDF.js: It uses PDF.js under the hood, and any vulnerabilities discovered in PDF.js will impact react-pdf as well.
Pricing
React PDF is a freely available open-source JavaScript PDF viewer licensed under the MIT License.
Commercial JavaScript PDF Viewers
ComPDFKit for Web
ComPDFKit for web is a PDF SDK that allows you to easily and quickly integrate PDF functionality like viewing, annotating, form filling, signing, and document editing into your Web applications. We offer JavaScript, TypeScript, and C/C++ libraries for developers to accelerate the development of your Web application.
With WebAssembly technology, you can use JavaScript to call C++ libraries directly from the frontend and keep the data on the client side. Even without the Internet and server, PDFs can be rendered perfectly on the browser. The rendering performance and reliability are best-in-class.
Benefits
• Reliable Render Performance: ComPDFKit ensures a reliable and professional viewer performance, even when dealing with large and complex PDFs.
• Comprehensive PDF Features: It offers a wide range of PDF features, including annotation, content editing, forms, signatures, and security functionalities.
• Customizable UI Toolkit: Tailor your viewing experience with a fully customizable UI toolkit, giving developers the power to personalize toolbars and UI components for web viewer interfaces.
• Extensive Compatibility: ComPDFKit supports various languages such as JavaScript and TypeScript, along with frameworks like Vue, Nuxt.js, Next.js, React, Svelte, Angular, TypeScript, PHP, Electron, and Ionic Angular, etc. It is also compatible with popular browsers, including Chrome, Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Firefox ESR, and Safari.
• Free 24/7 Technical Support: Provide 24/7 professional and 1-to-1 technical support and services. Onsite service or remote support like telephone and email are all available.
Considerations
• Commercially licensed. But you can contact sales to get a free trial.
Pricing
ComPDFKit is a commercial licensed product with affordable pricing. It offers a Community License plan for individual developers, startups, and non-profit organizations. Currently, there’s a 35% discount for iOS and Android mobile plans, along with a 30-day money-back guarantee policy. And you can also try it for free now!
Conclusion
The best JavaScript PDF viewer for you depends on your project’s requirements. If you just need to view PDFs and don’t need to expand other PDF features, go for the most affordable option. However, if you have or anticipate more complex workflows, then the PDF functionalities and PDF SDK pricing become key factors in selecting the right viewer.
ComPDFKit is a professional PDF SDK provider with decades of expertise. We not only offer comprehensive PDF SDK but also are more budget-friendly compared to other commercial JavaScript PDF viewers. Additionally, we provide free 24/7 technical support during the contract.
If you want to test ComPDFKit’s JavaScript PDF Viewer, you can contact us for a free trial or use our Web Demo.
