PoDoFo
The facts below are what the maker publishes about PoDoFo, checked and dated. Our editors have not written about it yet.
Plans and prices
From PoDoFo's own pricing page, checked 7 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| PoDoFo | Free | Free portable C++ PDF library · No rendering support · Text writing lacks proper shaping/kerning |
The facts
Each one read from PoDoFo's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Integrations
- The project documents builds through APT, Homebrew, vcpkg, Conan, and CMake package integration.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- The project describes PoDoFo as a C++17 PDF manipulation library and documents its use as a library in CMake applications.checked 7 Oct 2026
- License
- The library is offered under LGPL 2.0 or later or, at the user's option, MPL 2.0; the tools use GPL 2.0 or later.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Limitations
- PoDoFo does not support rendering PDF content, and text writing does not yet perform proper text shaping or kerning.checked 7 Oct 2026
- PDF features
- Its C++17 API supports PDF parsing, entity inspection, writing, and incremental updates.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- PoDoFo is a free portable C++ library for parsing, modifying, and creating PDF files.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Requirements
- Building the library requires a C++17 compiler, CMake 3.23, and dependencies including FreeType, OpenSSL, LibXml2, and zlib.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Signing
- It supports PAdES-B compliant PDF signing, RSA/ECDSA, and asynchronous or deferred signing.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Standards
- It can preserve PDF/A and PDF/UA compliance in supported operations such as adding annotations or form fields.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Text and fonts
- It supports Unicode text extraction, CJK text handling, text drawing, CID encoding generation, and font subsetting.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Thread safety
- The library is generally not thread-safe; its documentation advises using objects on their creation thread or guarding document access with a mutex.checked 7 Oct 2026
- Tools and support
- The separate PoDoFo tools are unsupported, untested, and unmaintained, and their compilation is disabled by default; the project directs technical support inquiries to GitHub issues.checked 7 Oct 2026
Where it runs
- Platforms
- Its public CI builds and tests on Ubuntu Linux, macOS, and Windows; Android and iOS cross-compilation may work but may not be supported.checked 7 Oct 2026
Alternatives to PoDoFo
- 1

MuPDF
Free planAndroidiOSWebLinux7.7From $299 a month - 2
ComPDFKit PDF SDK
Free planAndroidiOSWebAPI7.4From $240 a year - 3
Spire.PDF
Free planAndroidiOSWebAPI7.3$999 one-time - 4

Aspose.PDF
AndroidWebAPILinux6.9$1,199 one-time - 5
WeasyPrint
Free planAPILinuxmacOSSelf-hosted6.9From €150 a year - 6
PDFsharp
Free planLinuxmacOSSelf-hostedWindows6.8$499 one-time
