For a one-off webpage, use headless Chrome or Chromium: chromium --headless --print-to-pdf=page.pdf --no-pdf-header-footer 'https://example.com/'. For repeatable conversions in an application, use Puppeteer or Playwright; for authored HTML/CSS documents that do not depend on browser JavaScript, consider WeasyPrint. Prince is a commercial option for specialized publishing. The right choice depends on whether the page needs JavaScript, how closely it must match browser rendering, and how much control you need over print layout.
Choose a Linux HTML-to-PDF tool by the page you need to render
| Need | Good starting point | Important qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Save one live webpage from a shell | Headless Chrome or Chromium | Check timing and whether the page’s JavaScript-populated content has appeared. |
| Render URLs as part of Node.js automation | Puppeteer or Playwright | Handle authentication, app readiness, lazy content and assets explicitly where needed. |
| Generate a controlled report or document from HTML/CSS | WeasyPrint | It is a print-focused HTML/CSS renderer, not a full browser JavaScript engine. |
| Specialized paged publishing | Prince | Commercial software; evaluate licensing and output against your documents. |
| Maintain an existing wkhtmltopdf workflow | Assess the existing deployment | The project describes a Qt WebKit-based command-line renderer; current lifecycle and suitability are not established here. |
For any engine, confirm it can resolve the document’s fonts, images, stylesheets and other assets. Validate page breaks, print colors, headers and footers, links, and JavaScript-generated content in a representative PDF before relying on it.
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How to save a webpage as a PDF from the Linux command line
Use headless Chrome or Chromium for a one-off URL
Chrome for Developers documents --print-to-pdf as saving the target to output.pdf in the current directory by default. Set a filename by adding it after an equals sign:
chromium --headless --print-to-pdf=page.pdf --no-pdf-header-footer 'https://example.com/'Omit --no-pdf-header-footer if you want the browser’s URL, date or page-number furniture. The executable may be named chrome, chromium or chromium-browser, depending on the Linux package and distribution. Use the name provided by your installation rather than assuming one alias.
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Allow time-dependent pages to render
Chrome’s headless CLI offers timing controls such as --timeout=5000 and --virtual-time-budget=42000. The first allows capture after up to five seconds; the second can fast-forward time-dependent code. They control capture timing but do not prove that all network requests finished or that an application reached the state you want. A page that loads data after a user action may need a browser-automation script instead.
Convert local HTML
Use a local file path when the source is a file, and a URL for a live page. Before converting local HTML, check that relative image, font and stylesheet paths resolve from the document’s location. For a live page, confirm network access and any required authentication. These Chrome flags and behaviors are documented in the Chrome headless command-line reference.
Automate conversion with Puppeteer or Playwright
Puppeteer: a Node.js PDF workflow
Puppeteer is useful when PDF creation is one step in a Node.js browser-automation process. Its API prints using print CSS by default and waits for fonts by default. This example follows the documented pattern; choose a readiness condition that fits the page rather than assuming one wait strategy works everywhere.
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const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');
(async () => {
const browser = await puppeteer.launch();
try {
const page = await browser.newPage();
await page.goto('https://example.com/', { waitUntil: 'networkidle2' });
await page.pdf({ path: 'page.pdf' });
} finally {
await browser.close();
}
})();If the page should use screen styles rather than print styles, call await page.emulateMediaType('screen') before page.pdf(). The networkidle2 navigation condition is only a starting point: authentication, blocked assets, lazy-loaded sections or application-specific readiness may require additional code. See Puppeteer’s PDF generation guide and Page.pdf() API.
Playwright: reuse a browser automation stack
Choose Playwright when it already fits your application’s browser automation needs. On Linux, account for its browser installation model: Playwright documents regular Chromium builds and a separate headless shell, and supports installing only the headless shell when that is sufficient for a CI job. Match the installed browser to the Playwright package and deployment environment. Its current browser guidance is at Playwright browsers.
Use WeasyPrint for authored HTML and CSS documents
WeasyPrint provides a command-line interface and a Python API for HTML/CSS-to-PDF rendering. Its CLI accepts a local filename or URL:
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weasyprint report.html report.pdfWeasyPrint is designed for print rendering; do not choose it on the assumption that it will run page JavaScript like a full browser. Its documentation says unsupported CSS properties may produce warnings, so inspect output and logs for documents that rely on particular styling.
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Package names and dependency handling vary. WeasyPrint’s documentation says recent Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch Linux and Gentoo releases package it. The surfaced stable documentation is version 70.0, which lists Python 3.10 or later and Pango 1.44 or later among its requirements; package-manager installations may handle dependencies for supported distributions. Check the requirements for your target Linux release before choosing a package or pip installation. If installing through pip, use a virtual environment and verify system dependencies first. See WeasyPrint 70.0 First Steps.
Set page size and margins with CSS
WeasyPrint uses CSS @page for page geometry rather than command-line page-size switches. Put the rule in the document’s stylesheet or pass a stylesheet with -s:
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/* print.css */
@page {
size: A4 portrait;
margin: 15mm;
}weasyprint -s print.css report.html report.pdfChoose the paper size, orientation and margins that match the document’s intended output, then check actual page breaks and content clipping. See the WeasyPrint documentation for CLI and API details.
When Prince or wkhtmltopdf makes sense
Prince for specialized publishing
Prince documents HTML/XML conversion with CSS and JavaScript support, a command-line workflow and advanced paged-output capabilities. It is commercial software. Check current Linux licensing and evaluate it with representative documents before adopting it; the available product documentation does not establish a current price. Its user guide and version 12 command-line reference describe capabilities, but the latter is version-specific.
wkhtmltopdf for an existing deployment
The official project site describes wkhtmltopdf as an open-source command-line renderer based on Qt WebKit. That description alone does not establish whether it is maintained today or appropriate for a current web application. Before using it for a new system, check current releases, your distribution’s package status and security maintenance, then test its output against the actual pages you need to convert. The project description is at wkhtmltopdf.org.
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Protect the system when rendering untrusted HTML
HTML-to-PDF conversion can cross a security boundary. WeasyPrint documents risks including local-file access, excessive resource use, long renderings and network fetching when markup or styles are untrusted. Treat user-controlled HTML and CSS as potentially hostile, regardless of the engine chosen.
- Run the renderer with restricted filesystem and network access.
- Restrict or filter resource fetching so user content cannot freely read local files or access network resources.
- Set execution-time and memory limits to contain long or resource-intensive renders.
- Consult the selected engine’s current security guidance before exposing a conversion service.
See WeasyPrint’s security guidance for its documented risks and precautions.
Troubleshoot missing or incorrect PDF content
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Images, fonts or styles are missing | The renderer cannot resolve a relative path, fetch a remote asset, or access a protected resource. | Check the HTML’s base location, asset URLs, filesystem permissions, network access and authentication. |
| Content populated by JavaScript is absent | The selected renderer does not execute the page’s JavaScript, or capture occurs before the page is ready. | Use a browser engine for JavaScript-dependent pages; add an application-specific readiness condition where needed. |
| Print layout differs from the browser window | The PDF uses print media styles, or the document’s print CSS changes visibility and layout. | Review print styles; with Puppeteer, use page.emulateMediaType('screen') before printing if screen media is intended. |
| WeasyPrint emits CSS warnings or output misses a style | The property may not be supported by the renderer. | Check the warning and WeasyPrint’s CSS support for the installed version; adjust the stylesheet or use a browser engine if the page depends on that behavior. |
| PDF has unwanted URL, date or page-number text | Chrome’s header and footer display is enabled. | Add --no-pdf-header-footer to the headless Chrome command. |
| Page is blank or incomplete despite a delay | A timeout or virtual-time budget does not guarantee application readiness, successful network activity or completed user-triggered work. | Check browser access, authentication, failed assets and the page’s actual readiness state; use automation when the capture needs explicit interaction. |
Or skip the browser setup
If the task is to capture a website as an image or PDF rather than build a local HTML-to-PDF pipeline, ScreenshotNeo is a website screenshot API and MCP server. Its API returns PNG, JPEG or WebP screenshots or a PDF. A simple URL capture uses one GET request:
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Frequently asked questions
Can I convert a webpage to PDF without writing a script?
Yes. A headless Chrome or Chromium command can print a URL directly to a PDF from the shell.
Does WeasyPrint execute JavaScript?
Do not treat it as a full browser JavaScript engine. Use a browser-based renderer when the page’s content depends on JavaScript execution.
Is wkhtmltopdf maintained?
The project description identifies its Qt WebKit basis and command-line purpose, but does not establish its current maintenance status. Check current releases and security support before adopting it.
Quick Recap
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