How to Convert HTML and CSS Grid Layouts to PDF With PHP

If your HTML layout depends on CSS Grid, use PHP to call a browser-based renderer such as headless Chrome or Chromium. PHP-native PDF libraries do not automatically behave like a browser: the cited tc-lib-pdf documentation says it does not implement Grid or flexbox, and Dompdf lists Grid as unsupported. If you must use a PHP-native renderer, build a PDF-specific layout around that library’s supported CSS and inspect the output.

Why the rendering engine matters more than PHP

PHP can prepare HTML, choose a URL or file, and start a conversion. The rendering engine decides how CSS is interpreted. A library that parses HTML and writes a PDF is not necessarily a full browser, so CSS that works in Chrome on screen may not carry over to that library.

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Check whether your page uses display: grid, grid-template-columns, grid-template-areas, or placement rules such as grid-column. If the document’s structure or alignment depends on these rules, treat Grid support as a requirement rather than assuming a PHP PDF library will reproduce the page.

• Keep the existing Grid design: use browser-based PDF rendering and verify the actual document.
• Keep rendering entirely in PHP: choose a library whose supported CSS fits the document, and be prepared to create a simplified PDF layout.
• Either way: test page breaks, fonts, images, and long-content cases; feature support alone does not guarantee that a particular document paginates as intended.

Choose a rendering approach

For a browser-based service rather than a browser installed beside your PHP app, the TCPDF comparison describes Gotenberg as an HTTP service running Chromium and LibreOffice. Treat that as an option to investigate in its own documentation; the cited comparison does not establish a specific PHP integration or deployment configuration. TCPDF’s comparison also helps distinguish browser renderers from libraries that write PDFs from PHP.

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Convert a page with headless Chromium from PHP

This example assumes Chromium is installed on the same machine as PHP and the PHP process can execute it. It converts a URL, which is useful when the HTML and its CSS, fonts, and images are already served by your application. Set CHROME_BIN to the browser executable if it is not on the default path.

1. Install Chromium using the package manager or deployment process for your operating system. Confirm the binary path and that it can start under the same user that runs PHP.
2. Make the page reachable from that machine. For a private page, arrange appropriate access rather than exposing it publicly.
3. Save the following as render.php, update the URL and output path, and run it with the PHP CLI.
4. Open the generated PDF and inspect representative short and long pages before relying on the output in production.

<?php
// render.php — requires PHP CLI and an installed Chromium/Chrome executable.
$url = 'https://example.com/report';
$output = __DIR__ . '/report.pdf';
$chrome = getenv('CHROME_BIN') ?: 'chromium';

if (!filter_var($url, FILTER_VALIDATE_URL) || !in_array(parse_url($url, PHP_URL_SCHEME), ['http', 'https'], true)) {
    fwrite(STDERR, "URL must be a valid http or https URL.n");
    exit(1);
}

$command = escapeshellarg($chrome)
    . ' --headless --disable-gpu --no-sandbox'
    . ' --no-pdf-header-footer'
    . ' --print-to-pdf=' . escapeshellarg($output)
    . ' ' . escapeshellarg($url);

exec($command . ' 2>&1', $lines, $status);
if ($status !== 0 || !is_file($output) || filesize($output) === 0) {
    fwrite(STDERR, "Chromium failed to create the PDF:n" . implode("n", $lines) . "n");
    exit(1);
}
echo "Created {$output}n";
?>

Run it with php render.php. The script quotes arguments to avoid shell parsing of the URL and file path, but it is not a general-purpose job runner: do not accept arbitrary user-supplied URLs or output paths without validation and controls. A renderer that can fetch attacker-chosen URLs may reach internal services or local resources. Also, --no-sandbox disables Chromium’s sandbox; use an appropriately isolated runtime and follow the security guidance for your browser deployment rather than treating that flag as a universal production default.

If your HTML is local, save it to a file and pass its file:// URL instead of an HTTP URL. Be aware that relative CSS, font, and image paths must resolve from that file and remain accessible to the browser process. For repeatable deployments, prefer a controlled application URL or use absolute asset paths. The command-line approach shown here depends on your installed Chromium build and system environment; it is not a guarantee that every browser flag behaves identically across distributions.

Prepare HTML and CSS for print

A browser renderer understands Grid, but a web page is not automatically a well-paginated document. Add print-specific rules for page size, margins, and content that should not split. For example:

@media print {
  @page { size: A4; margin: 14mm; }
  .screen-only, nav, .toolbar { display: none !important; }
  .report-grid { display: grid; grid-template-columns: 2fr 1fr; gap: 12px; }
  .card, figure, table { break-inside: avoid; }
  h1, h2 { break-after: avoid; }
}

These declarations are an example starting point, not a promise that a given browser version will place every element as you expect. Try realistic content lengths: a short card may fit on one page while a longer one cannot. Inspect whether columns remain legible at print width, whether background colors are needed, and whether a heading is stranded at the bottom of a page.

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For reliable output, the browser must be able to load the page’s stylesheets, fonts, images, and data. A page that depends on login state, client-side rendering, or slow network requests may be captured before it is ready unless your conversion setup explicitly handles those conditions. Make the print view deterministic where possible and verify the generated PDF rather than judging only the on-screen page.

Use a PHP-native renderer when its CSS subset fits

If a PHP-only dependency is important, assess the library’s current CSS documentation before committing the template. The tc-lib-pdf documentation states that Grid and flexbox are not implemented. Dompdf’s published feature description is mostly CSS 2.1, and its README says Grid is unsupported. Those documented limits make either a poor assumption-free drop-in for a page whose layout is built around Grid.

mPDF remains a PHP option for HTML-to-PDF work, installed through Composer according to its project documentation. Its own project guidance describes it as dated and recommends headless Chrome when state-of-the-art CSS support and close rendering of existing HTML pages are required. If choosing mPDF, design against its supported CSS guidance and consider a separate HTML template for PDF output instead of trying to force a browser-first Grid design through it.

A PDF-specific template need not duplicate the entire application. It can use simpler block or table-based structure for the renderer, omit interactive controls, and define explicit widths and page-break behavior. Keep the browser page and PDF view driven by the same underlying content where practical, but validate each output path independently.

Test the PDF and diagnose common failures

Run tests using the actual deployment environment and representative pages. The documentation establishes different renderer support profiles; it does not establish that any particular page will render or paginate identically across engines.

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For each release, check at least a typical page, a page with the most complex Grid arrangement, a long page, and a page with images or custom fonts. Review text selection and page boundaries in the resulting PDF as well as the visual layout. This validation is implementation guidance, not a claim that a particular library has been tested here.

Or skip the browser setup

If your page is publicly reachable at a URL and you need a screenshot or PDF without installing Chromium beside PHP, ScreenshotNeo provides a website screenshot API. It accepts one URL per GET request and can return PNG, JPEG, WebP, or PDF. For a web page, a one-call cURL request looks like this:

curl -G "https://api.screenshotneo.com/v1/shot" -d access_key=YOUR_API_KEY --data-urlencode url=https://example.com/report -o report.pdf

See the ScreenshotNeo API documentation for request parameters and response details. ScreenshotNeo accepts cookie or consent banners before capture and removes more than 60 known consent platforms, newsletter popups, and chat widgets; each of those steps can be turned off. Bot checks, blank pages, timeouts, failed loads, and cache hits cost nothing, and response headers identify the page verdict and whether the request was billed. Its MCP server provides take_screenshot, get_page_info, and capture_pdf tools for AI agents and MCP clients. It is for capturing a reachable web page, not a replacement for rendering an arbitrary local HTML file that is not hosted at a URL.

Create a free ScreenshotNeo account: the free plan includes 1,000 screenshots a month with no card required; paid plans start at $5 for 3,000.

Sources and support profiles

• tc-lib-pdf: HTML and CSS
• mPDF project repository and guidance
• mPDF supported CSS manual
• Dompdf features and Dompdf README
• TCPDF project comparison of PHP PDF libraries

Frequently Asked Questions

Does PHP itself render CSS Grid into a PDF?

No. PHP is the integration language; the PDF renderer determines how HTML and CSS are interpreted.

Can I use a local HTML file with ScreenshotNeo?

The ScreenshotNeo example captures a URL. A local file that is not hosted at a reachable URL is outside that workflow.

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