A Comparison between IronPDF and Bitmiracle.Docotic.Pdf

Adobe designed the Portable Document Format (PDF) to distribute documents containing text and graphic formatting. We need a separate application to open a PDF file. The PDF file is extremely important in today's culture. Portable Document Format files are utilized across a wide range of businesses for tasks such as invoicing and document generation. In order to meet client requirements, developers employ the PDF format to create documents. Creating PDFs has never been easier thanks to today's libraries. In order to identify which library is the best on the market, we must analyze factors such as build, read, and conversion capabilities when using this sort of library in a project.

We will compare the two of the most common PDF libraries for .NET components in this article. These two libraries are:

• IronPDF
• BitMiracle.Docotic.Pdf

IronPDF and BitMiracle.Docotic.Pdf are two libraries that may be used in your Microsoft .NET application to create, read, and alter a PDF document, whether online or on a desktop application. Let's compare the two libraries and figure out which one is best suited to our needs. We'll compare the two libraries' features first, then look at how well they convert and manipulate a PDF document. Both libraries are supported by Microsoft .NET frameworks.

IronPDF Features

IronPDF is a powerful PDF converter that can perform almost any task that a browser can. It is a PDF library for developers that makes it simple to create, read, and manipulate PDF files. IronPDF uses the Chrome engine to convert HTML to a PDF file. Among other web components, IronPDF supports Windows forms, HTML, ASPX, Razer HTML, .NET Core, ASP.NET, Windows Forms, WPF, Xamarin, Blazor, Unity, and HoloLens applications. IronPDF supports the Microsoft .NET and .NET Core applications (both ASP.NET Web applications and traditional Windows applications). We can also use IronPDF to produce attractive PDFs.

IronPDF can be used to create a PDF document from HTML5, JavaScript, CSS, and images. In addition, the files can have a header and footer. It can also make PDFs easy for us to read. Further, IronPDF includes a powerful HTML to PDF converter that can handle PDF. IronPDF is equipped with a robust PDF converting engine. Also, it does not have any external dependencies.

• HTML, HTML5, ASPX, and Razor/MVC View are all examples of sources that can be used to create a PDF document. Not only may HTML files be converted to PDF, but we can also convert image files to PDF.
• Create interactive PDF documents, fill out and submit interactive forms, merge and split PDF documents, extract text and images from PDF documents, search text in PDF documents, rasterize PDF pages to images, and convert PDF documents.
• Create a document using a starting point URL. For login behind HTML login forms, it also allows the use of custom network login credentials, user-agents, proxies, cookies, HTTP headers, and form variables.
• IronPDF helps us to open protected documents by specifying user names and passwords.
• IronPDF is a program that reads existing PDF documents and fills in the blanks.
• It is capable of retrieving photographs from documents.
• It allows us to add headers and footers, text, photos, bookmarks, watermarks, and more to documents.
• It allows us to split and merge pages in a new or current document.
• We can convert documents to PDF objects without using Acrobat reader.
• It is possible to convert a CSS file to a PDF document.
• CSS file media type files can be converted into documents.
• Add new PDF forms and fill existing ones.

BitMiracle.Docotic.Pdf Features

Docotic.Pdf library is a PDF library for .NET (including .NET Core / .NET Standard) that can be used in .NET Core, ASP.NET, Windows Forms, WPF, Xamarin, Blazor, Unity, and HoloLens applications. The library can create, edit, draw, and print PDF files.

The library is a controlled assembly that does not contain any dangerous blocks. There are no external dependencies in this assembly. It is expected to have the same web standards compliance as Google Chrome.

Images, attachments, form data, and metadata can all be extracted from PDFs.

HTML to PDF conversion (with free BitMiracle.Docotic.Pdf.HtmlToPdf add-on).

Create PDF.Drawing.Illustrations (with free BitMiracle.Docotic.Pdf.Gdi add-on).

It allows opening of protected documents, but we need to specify credentials.

Split a PDF file into pages or merge forms data; assemble multiple files into one compound PDF document; encrypt PDF and configure rights; view protected documents; check if a PDF is encrypted, and compare the structures of two PDF documents.

Verify the validity of a PDF signature.

Generate PDFs from the ground up.

Embellish new and current PDFs with photos, text, and vector graphics.

PDFs can be enhanced with annotations, watermarks, attachments, actions, bookmarks, and links.

Fill in existing PDF forms and add new ones.

PDFs can be optimized for web viewing (linearize PDFs).

Creating a New Project in Visual Studio

Open the Visual Studio software and go to the "File Menu". Select "New" project, and then select Console Application. In this article, we are going to use a console application to generate PDF documents.

Enter the project name and select the file path in the appropriate text box. Then, click the "Create" button and select the required .NET Framework, as in the screenshot below:

The Visual Studio project will now generate the structure for the selected application, and if you have selected the console, Windows, and web application, it will now open the Program.cs file where you can enter the code and build/run the application.

Next, we can add the library to test the code.

Install the IronPDF Library

The IronPDF Library can be downloaded and installed in four ways.

These are:

• Using Visual Studio
• Using the Visual Studio Command-Line.
• Direct download from the NuGet Website.
• Direct download from the IronPDF website.

Using Visual Studio

The Visual Studio software provides the NuGet Package Manager option to install the package directly to the solution. The screenshot below shows how to open the NuGet Package Manager.

It provides a search box to display the list of packages on the NuGet website. In the package manager, we need to search for the keyword "IronPDF", as in the screenshot below:

From the above image, we get a list of the related search results. We need to select the required option to install the package to the solution.

Using the Visual Studio Command-Line

In Visual Studio, go to Tools -> NuGet Package Manager -> Package Manager Console

Enter the following line in the package manager console tab:

Install-Package IronPdf

The package will now download/install the latest version to the current project and be ready to use.

Direct Download from the NuGet Website

The third way is to download the NuGet package directly from the website.

• Navigate to the IronPDF on NuGet.
• Select the download package option from the menu on the right-hand side.
• Double-click the downloaded package. It will be installed automatically.
• Next, reload the solution and start using it in the project.

Direct Download from the IronPDF Website

Download the latest package directly from the IronPDF Downloads page. Once downloaded, follow the steps below to add the package to the project:

• Right-click the project from the solution window.
• Next, select the option reference and then browse the location of the downloaded reference.
• Then, click OK to add the reference.

Install the Docotic.Pdf Library

The Docotic.Pdf library can be downloaded and installed in four ways.

These are:

• Using Visual Studio
• Using the Visual Studio Command-Line.
• Direct download from the NuGet website.
• Direct download from the Docotic.Pdf website.

Using Visual Studio

As above, just go to the NuGet package manager and search for the keyword "BitMiracle.Docotic.Pdf". It will provide all the related search results, as in the screenshot below:

We need to install all relevant search results to utilize all the features of the Docotic.Pdf library.

Using the Visual Studio Command-Line

In Visual Studio, go to Tools -> NuGet Package Manager -> Package Manager Console

Enter the following line in the package manager console tab:

Install-Package BitMiracle.Docotic.Pdf

Install-Package BitMiracle.Docotic.Pdf.HtmlToPdf

The package will now download/install in the current project and be ready to use.

Direct Download from the NuGet Website

The third way is to download the NuGet package directly from the website.

• Navigate to BitMiracle.Docotic.Pdf on NuGet. To download the HTML to PDF library, visit BitMiracle.Docotic.Pdf.HtmlToPdf.
• Select the download package option from the menu on the right-hand side.
• Double-click the downloaded package. It will be installed automatically.
• Next, reload the solution and begin using it in the project.

Direct Download from the Docotic.Pdf Website

Download the latest package directly from the Docotic.Pdf Downloads page. For different .NET framework environments, you can select the required package to download. Once downloaded, follow the steps below to add the package to the project:

• Right-click the project from the solution window.
• Then, select option reference and browse the location of the downloaded reference.
• Next, click OK to add the reference.

Create PDF Documents from URLs

Both the PDF libraries help us to convert HTML pages into stylish PDFs. Let's take a look at how we can make a PDF document.

Using IronPDF

We can easily create a PDF document with IronPDF — it will generate an HTML file from a URL and convert it to a PDF document. IronPDF has a built-in chromium-browser that will help us to download the HTML string.

The following steps make it easy to create PDF documents with IronPDF:

// Create a new instance of ChromePdfRenderer for rendering PDFs
IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer renderer = new IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer();

// Render a PDF from a URL and save it
var pdf = renderer.RenderUrlAsPdf("https://www.google.co.in/");
pdf.SaveAs("result.pdf");

// Create a new instance of ChromePdfRenderer for rendering PDFs
IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer renderer = new IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer();

// Render a PDF from a URL and save it
var pdf = renderer.RenderUrlAsPdf("https://www.google.co.in/");
pdf.SaveAs("result.pdf");

' Create a new instance of ChromePdfRenderer for rendering PDFs
Dim renderer As New IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer()

' Render a PDF from a URL and save it
Dim pdf = renderer.RenderUrlAsPdf("https://www.google.co.in/")
pdf.SaveAs("result.pdf")

// Alternative method of rendering and saving in a single line
new IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer()
    .RenderUrlAsPdf("https://www.google.co.in/")
    .SaveAs("result.pdf");

// Alternative method of rendering and saving in a single line
new IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer()
    .RenderUrlAsPdf("https://www.google.co.in/")
    .SaveAs("result.pdf");

' Alternative method of rendering and saving in a single line
Call (New IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer()).RenderUrlAsPdf("https://www.google.co.in/").SaveAs("result.pdf")

In the example above, we show two approaches to convert the URL into a document. One technique is to create a document by constructing an IronPdf object, and the other method is to chain the rendering and saving operations.

The above indicates that we can use RenderUrlAsPdf to convert it into a document. Only the URL and the save location must be supplied. The PDF conversion takes approximately 4.28 seconds to complete.

Using Docotic.Pdf

We can convert a PDF document with the help of the Docotic.Pdf library. The Docotic.Pdf library has a built-in browser that will help us to download the HTML from the URL and then convert it into a PDF.

Below is the code to download and convert the HTML string into a PDF file:

// Asynchronous usage of the HtmlConverter for Docotic
using (var converter = await HtmlConverter.CreateAsync())
{
    // Create PDF from the URL asynchronously
    using (var pdf = await converter.CreatePdfAsync(new Uri("https://www.google.co.in/")))
        pdf.Save("result_Docotic.pdf");
}

// Asynchronous usage of the HtmlConverter for Docotic
using (var converter = await HtmlConverter.CreateAsync())
{
    // Create PDF from the URL asynchronously
    using (var pdf = await converter.CreatePdfAsync(new Uri("https://www.google.co.in/")))
        pdf.Save("result_Docotic.pdf");
}

' Asynchronous usage of the HtmlConverter for Docotic
Using converter = Await HtmlConverter.CreateAsync()
	' Create PDF from the URL asynchronously
	Using pdf = Await converter.CreatePdfAsync(New Uri("https://www.google.co.in/"))
		pdf.Save("result_Docotic.pdf")
	End Using
End Using

The above code shows that they are first creating an object for the HTML converter using the CreateAsync method, which is available in the HTML converter class. With the help of the created object, we use the method CreatePdfAsync, which allows us to download from the given URL and create a PDF file for the downloaded HTML string.

The image below is the comparison between IronPDF and Docotic.Pdf.

Create a PDF from HTML Strings

Both the IronPDF and Docotic.Pdf libraries provide a method to convert existing HTML pages or HTML code into PDFs. They also help us create high-quality PDF documents.

Using IronPDF

With the help of IronPDF, we can convert HTML strings into a PDF document. Below is the sample code for converting an HTML string into documents. It also allows for the conversion of any HTML tag into PDF documents:

// Render HTML string as PDF and save it
var renderer = new IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer()
    .RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>Hello world!!</h1>")
    .SaveAs("result.pdf");

// Render HTML string as PDF and save it
var renderer = new IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer()
    .RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>Hello world!!</h1>")
    .SaveAs("result.pdf");

' Render HTML string as PDF and save it
Dim renderer = (New IronPdf.ChromePdfRenderer()).RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>Hello world!!</h1>").SaveAs("result.pdf")

The preceding example demonstrates how to use RenderHtmlAsPdf to transform an HTML string. In addition, we can supply any number of HTML codes to the function that converts HTML to a string. We can then save the document after retrieving the string using the "save as" function. It takes only two seconds to complete the process.

Using Docotic.Pdf

The Docotic.Pdf library helps us to convert the HTML string into a PDF document. It is easy and straightforward to use.

Below is the sample code to create a PDF from the HTML string:

// Asynchronous usage of HtmlConverter for converting HTML strings to PDFs
using (var converter = await HtmlConverter.CreateAsync())
{
    // Create PDF from HTML string asynchronously
    using (var pdf = await converter.CreatePdfFromStringAsync("<h1>Hello world!!</h1>"))
        pdf.Save("result_Docotic.pdf");
}

// Asynchronous usage of HtmlConverter for converting HTML strings to PDFs
using (var converter = await HtmlConverter.CreateAsync())
{
    // Create PDF from HTML string asynchronously
    using (var pdf = await converter.CreatePdfFromStringAsync("<h1>Hello world!!</h1>"))
        pdf.Save("result_Docotic.pdf");
}

' Asynchronous usage of HtmlConverter for converting HTML strings to PDFs
Using converter = Await HtmlConverter.CreateAsync()
	' Create PDF from HTML string asynchronously
	Using pdf = Await converter.CreatePdfFromStringAsync("<h1>Hello world!!</h1>")
		pdf.Save("result_Docotic.pdf")
	End Using
End Using

The above code shows that first, they are creating an object for the HTML converter using the CreateAsync method available on the HTML converter class. With the help of the created object, we use the method CreatePdfFromStringAsync, which allows us to convert from the given HTML string and create a PDF file for the HTML string.

Reading PDF Documents

We can also read PDF files with the help of the IronPDF and Docotic.Pdf libraries. We can easily convert a document into a text string. There are two types of methods we can use to extract the text. The first method is to get all the page data as a single string. The second method is to get the data page-by-page. Both libraries support each of the two methods.

Using IronPDF

IronPDF helps us to read the existing PDF file. Below is the sample code to read existing PDFs using IronPDF.

The code below is the first method to get all the data as a string:

// Read and extract text from an existing PDF file
var pdfDocument = IronPdf.PdfDocument.FromFile("result.pdf");
string allText = pdfDocument.ExtractAllText();

// Read and extract text from an existing PDF file
var pdfDocument = IronPdf.PdfDocument.FromFile("result.pdf");
string allText = pdfDocument.ExtractAllText();

' Read and extract text from an existing PDF file
Dim pdfDocument = IronPdf.PdfDocument.FromFile("result.pdf")
Dim allText As String = pdfDocument.ExtractAllText()

The above code is the sample code — the FromFile method is used to read the PDF from the existing file and convert it into a PdfDocument object. With this object, we are able to read the text and image available on the PDF pages. The object provides a method called ExtractAllText that will extract all the PDF document's text into a string.

Using Docotic.Pdf

Docotic.Pdf also helps us to read existing PDF files. It also supports the two methods mentioned earlier.

Below is the sample code for the first method to get all the PDF data into a single string:

// Use the Docotic PDF library to read text from a PDF
using (var pdf = new BitMiracle.Docotic.Pdf.PdfDocument("result.pdf"))
{
    string documentText = pdf.GetText();
}

// Use the Docotic PDF library to read text from a PDF
using (var pdf = new BitMiracle.Docotic.Pdf.PdfDocument("result.pdf"))
{
    string documentText = pdf.GetText();
}

' Use the Docotic PDF library to read text from a PDF
Using pdf = New BitMiracle.Docotic.Pdf.PdfDocument("result.pdf")
	Dim documentText As String = pdf.GetText()
End Using

The above code shows that firstly we are getting the document as a PdfDocument object provided by BitMiracle.Docotic.Pdf. After the object is created, we use a method called GetText() that allows us to extract all the text available in the PDF.

Below is the comparison of the performance results:

Licensing

IronPDF is a library that comes with a free license for development. If using IronPDF in the production environment, there is a choice of different licenses for purchase available depending on the developer's needs. The Lite package starts at a specific price with no ongoing costs. This includes an option for SaaS and OEM redistribution. All licenses include a 30-day money-back guarantee, one year of product support and updates, validity for dev/staging/production, and also a permanent license (one-time purchase). There are also a number of free time-limited licenses. Check the full price structure and licensing for IronPDF. IronPDF also provides royalty-free licenses redistribution coverage.

Docotic.Pdf comes with both free and paid licenses. You can request an evaluation license on the library Docotic.Pdf page. Free time-limited licenses are available via request form for eligible projects on the Docotic.Pdf site. The lowest price starts at $995 for a single license for one year, so we can use this to test it out. Check out the price structure for Docotic.Pdf. It also provides free time-limited licenses on request for specific people and some applications.

Conclusion

We have compared IronPDF with Docotic.Pdf in this article. A number of the same features are available in both the library and on the website. IronPDF takes the user's browser settings into account while rendering HTML, whereas, with Docotic.Pdf, HTML is rendered by a separate engine that ignores current user preferences. When compared to Docotic, IronPDF is able to produce HTML faster.

In terms of performance, IronPDF was faster than Docotic.Pdf as per the above test results, and it is also more code-friendly than Docotic.Pdf, which has only limited documentation. Royalty-free redistribution coverage comes with both IronPDF and Docotic.Pdf. However, IronPDF has substantially more features compared to Docotic.Pdf.

In conclusion, we prefer IronPDF due to its high-performance levels and the wide variety of features available to developers working with the Portable Document Format. IronPDF also provides good support and documentation to ensure users can make use of all the impressive features available.