Gotenberg
Self-hosted Docker API for document-to-PDF conversion and PDF manipulation.
Opens the vendor's own site.
Jobs covered
Open a task to see exactly what the vendor documentation supports.
Convert
Browse all convert toolsconverting content to PDF over HTTP with Gotenberg, where the official routes overview states that every route accepts a multipart form data POST request and returns a file, and lists the conversion routes as converting a web page by URL at /forms/chromium/convert/url, an HTML file at /forms/chromium/convert/html, Markdown files at /forms/chromium/convert/markdown, and office documents such as docx, xlsx and pptx at /forms/libreoffice/convert
Merge
Browse all merge toolsmerging multiple PDF files into a single PDF with Gotenberg at the /forms/pdfengines/merge route, where the official page states that files are combined in alphanumeric order, numbers first then alphabetical, and that since version 8.37.0 files sharing a filename are all kept and merge in upload order, the route taking a required list of PDF files and returning the merged PDF, with an optional output filename header that defaults to a randomly generated UUID name
Edit
Browse all edit toolsmodifying existing PDFs through documented manipulation routes: writing metadata and bookmarks, flattening form fields and annotations, and stamping or rotating pages; not editing page text or page content
Protect
Browse all protect toolsencrypting PDF files with Gotenberg at the /forms/pdfengines/encrypt route, where the page documents a user password required to open the PDF and an owner password that grants full access and lifts the permission restrictions and defaults to the user password, an owner password alone producing an owner-only PDF since version 8.34.0, allow flags for printing, copying, modifying, annotating, filling forms and assembling pages, and a response that is the encrypted PDF or a ZIP archive when several input files are given, with the page stating that permission restrictions are advisory and not cryptographically enforced once the document opens, and that encryption strength such as AES-256 and permission handling depend on the active PDF engine, with QPDF honouring each permission individually, pdfcpu restricting all permissions if any one is denied, and PDFtk supporting neither owner-only encryption nor permission restrictions
Where your files are processed
Your own instance
This runs on a server you operate rather than on your own device: The container, on Linux, A self-hosted instance, The HTTP API it exposes. Documents do not reach a server the vendor runs, and they do not stay in your browser either.
Files are sent to the Gotenberg instance the operator runs. That instance may be on the same machine or on remote infrastructure, and the software itself is not a hosted service, so the honest statement is about the deployment rather than about the product.
It is also not a zero-outbound component: the documentation covers converting a URL, downloading remote resources, filtering outbound requests, webhooks and file downloads, so what leaves depends on how the instance is configured.
What it does
Gotenberg is a Docker container that exposes an HTTP API for turning URLs, HTML, Markdown and Office documents into PDFs, using bundled headless Chromium and LibreOffice so you do not have to run those yourself. The same API post-processes PDFs: merge, split, rotate, watermark, stamp, flatten forms, read and write metadata and bookmarks, embed attachments, convert to PDF/A or PDF/UA, and encrypt with passwords.
It can also pull inputs from, and push results to, your own S3-compatible storage, and official SDKs exist for several languages.
Best for
Backend and platform teams that need dependable PDF generation and manipulation inside their own network without paying a hosted conversion service.
Worth knowing
It is an API with no user interface at all, so you must run, scale and secure the container yourself. The image is large because it bundles Chromium and LibreOffice.
The clients listed on the documentation site are maintained by different people, so they should be checked individually rather than described as official SDKs.
Details, and where each comes from
Vendor statements, our own reading of their pages, and the things nobody has established yet, each answered separately. Where we have not confirmed something it says so rather than guessing, and a row nobody has established is greyed out.
- Versions covered
- Linux · API · Self-hosted
- Website
- gotenberg.dev
- Requires an account
- No
- Watermark on the free tier
- Not verified
- Maximum file size
- Not verified
- Batch processing
- Not verified
- Data residency
- Self-hosted
- Open source
- Yes
- Self-hostable
- Yes
- Licence
- MIT
- Redaction
- No redaction feature
- Programmatic access
- HTTP API
- Last availability check
- Responded in 250 ms 21 October 2026
Checked automatically by our own runner, not reported by the vendor. 100% of our last 30 checks got a response.
What the redaction verdict rests on
From the vendor's own documentation, read 22 September 2026. Not tested by us.
What that does not establish
The vendor’s own site was read on 22 September 2026 and contains no mention of redaction, sanitisation, blackout or whiteout. Absence from a vendor’s own material is not proof that a feature does not exist - it may be undocumented, or on a page the reading did not reach - but for a NEGATIVE claim it is the strongest evidence available, and it is weaker than a positive quote.
Recorded as such rather than presented as certainty.
Sponsorship is distribution, not an endorsement or a promise of search rankings, AI citations, traffic, or sales. This listing is a free entry, compiled from published sources.
Related reading
- Open source PDF tools, and what their licences require - what open source does and does not tell you.