Generating PDFs in Laravel: Comparing Two Popular Packages

Source: Dev.to

Spatie Laravel PDF – Modern PDF Generation with Browser Accuracy

Spatie Laravel PDF is a modern Laravel package developed by the Spatie team, known for high‑quality tools in the Laravel ecosystem. It generates PDFs by rendering Blade views in a headless Chromium browser using the Browsershot library.

Because it relies on a real browser engine, the rendered PDF closely matches how the page appears in a web browser, making it an excellent choice for applications that use modern frontend technologies and require high design accuracy.

Key Features

• Full support for modern CSS, including Tailwind CSS, Flexbox, and Grid
• High‑quality, pixel‑perfect PDF rendering
• Direct Blade view integration
• Browser‑based rendering for layout accuracy
• Suitable for complex and branded document designs

Installation

composer require spatie/laravel-pdf

Since the package depends on browser‑based rendering, Node.js and Chromium (or Puppeteer) must be available on the server. These dependencies are commonly supported on VPS, Docker‑based setups, and modern hosting platforms.

Basic Usage

use Spatie\LaravelPdf\Facades\Pdf;

return Pdf::view('pdfs.invoice', ['invoice' => $invoice])
    ->format('a4')
    ->download('invoice.pdf');

Beyond basic downloads, the package allows you to:

• Save PDFs to storage
• Stream PDFs in the browser
• Configure margins and orientation
• Add headers and footers
• Execute JavaScript during rendering

Spatie Laravel PDF is best suited for projects where visual quality, branding consistency, and modern UI support are important.

Laravel DomPDF – Simple and Lightweight PDF Generation

Laravel DomPDF is a long‑established wrapper around the DomPDF library, widely used in Laravel projects for its simplicity and reliability. The package is written entirely in PHP and does not depend on external tools or browser engines.

It parses HTML or Blade output and converts it directly into a PDF using PHP. Because no browser is involved, setup is minimal and performance is predictable, especially for simple documents.

Key Features

• Simple and fast installation
• No Node.js or Chromium dependency
• Lightweight, PHP‑only solution
• Works well for basic layouts and text‑heavy documents
• Stable and widely adopted in Laravel projects

Installation

composer require barryvdh/laravel-dompdf

No additional system‑level dependencies are required, making it suitable for shared hosting environments and restricted servers.

Basic Usage

use Barryvdh\DomPDF\Facade\Pdf as DomPdf;

$pdf = DomPdf::loadView('pdfs.invoice', ['invoice' => $invoice]);

return $pdf->download('invoice.pdf');

Laravel DomPDF supports streaming PDFs in the browser, saving them to storage, and configuring paper size and orientation. It integrates smoothly with Blade templates and is easy to learn for beginners.

However, it supports only limited CSS standards; complex layouts and modern frontend frameworks may not render as expected. Advanced styling features such as Flexbox, Grid, and Tailwind CSS are not fully supported.

Conclusion

Both Spatie Laravel PDF and Laravel DomPDF are excellent Laravel packages for generating PDF files, but they target different use cases.

• Spatie Laravel PDF – Ideal for modern applications that require accurate layouts, advanced CSS support, and professional document design. Best when PDFs must closely match the website’s appearance.
• Laravel DomPDF – Better suited for straightforward PDF generation, especially with simple layouts or limited hosting environments. Its ease of use and dependency‑free setup make it a reliable option for many applications.