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Python vs. Node.js for PDF Generation

Choosing a backend for your document service? We compare the two giants—Python and Node.js—on performance, libraries, and ease of use.

Python and Node.js logos on a scale weighing document generation performance

Python vs. Node.js for PDF Generation

It is the classic backend debate. When building a microservice specifically for generating PDFs, which language wins?

1. The Libraries

  • Python:
    • ReportLab: Extremely powerful, enterprise-grade, but has a steep learning curve.
    • WeasyPrint: Converts HTML/CSS to PDF. Good, but doesn’t support modern JavaScript.
  • Node.js:
    • Puppeteer/Playwright: Uses actual browser engines. Best rendering accuracy for modern web designs.
    • PDFKit: Fast, low-level.

Winner: Node.js for HTML-based layouts (because of Chrome). Python for data-heavy, scientific reports (ReportLab).

2. Performance

  • Python: Often uses blocking I/O. If you are generating reports sequentially, it’s fine. For high concurrency, you need async frameworks (FastAPI) or task queues (Celery).
  • Node.js: Async by default. Handles high concurrency (many requests at once) better out of the box, provided the CPU isn’t maxed out by the rendering itself.

3. Developer Experience

If your frontend team writes the templates, they know HTML/CSS/JS.

  • Node.js: They can use the same tools (NPM, Prettier, React) for the PDF templates.
  • Python: They might have to learn a specific templating language (Jinja2) or a proprietary layout syntax.

Conclusion

If you are building a web-first application where design matters, Node.js is often the smoother path. If you are doing data science and need to output charts, Python is king.

Best of both worlds. MergeCanvas is language-agnostic. Call our API from Python, Node, Go, or Ruby and get the same perfect results.