Frequently Asked Questions

Getting started is easy! Simply sign up for a free account at PDFRise. No credit card required. Once registered, you'll get instant access to your API key from your dashboard. You can start making API calls immediately with your 50 free monthly credits. Check out our API documentation for code examples and integration guides.

Your API key is available in your dashboard under the "API Keys" section. After logging in, navigate to Settings → API Keys. You can create multiple API keys for different environments (development, staging, production) and revoke them anytime for security purposes.

No installation required! PDFRise is a cloud-based API that you can use from any programming language that supports HTTP requests. Simply make POST requests to our API endpoint with your API key. No need to manage Puppeteer, Chrome, or any complex dependencies on your servers.

Our REST API works with any programming language that can make HTTP requests. We provide examples in our documentation for popular languages including Python, JavaScript/Node.js, PHP, Ruby, Go, Java, and C#. If you're using cURL, it works from any command line or terminal.

Most developers integrate PDFRise in under 15 minutes. Our API has a simple, intuitive design with just a single endpoint for PDF generation. Copy one of our code examples, replace the API key with yours, and you're ready to generate PDFs. For advanced features like watermarks and webhooks, integration typically takes 30-60 minutes.

Yes! Our free tier includes 50 credits per month with monthly expiration. Perfect for testing, small projects, or personal use. No credit card required to get started. The free plan includes all core features except watermarks and webhooks, with a 10MB file size limit.

Each PDF conversion consumes credits based on file size. 1 credit equals 5MB of PDF output. For example, a 12MB PDF would use 3 credits. Credits are automatically calculated and deducted from your monthly allowance. Unused credits do not roll over to the next month. This ensures fair pricing where you only pay for what you generate.

When you exceed your monthly credit limit, overage charges apply at the rate specified in your plan. Overage is calculated per credit and billed at the end of the month. You'll receive email notifications at 80% and 100% of your credit limit. You can also set up custom alerts in your dashboard to manage usage proactively.

Yes! You can upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time from your dashboard. Upgrades take effect immediately and you'll be prorated for the remaining billing period. Downgrades take effect at the start of your next billing cycle to ensure you get the full value of your current plan. No penalties or fees for changing plans.

We offer a 14-day money-back guarantee for all paid plans. If you're not satisfied within the first 14 days, contact our support team for a full refund. After 14 days, refunds are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. See our refund policy for complete details.

We accept all major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover) and debit cards through our secure payment processor Stripe. Enterprise customers can also arrange ACH bank transfers or wire transfers. All transactions are encrypted and PCI-compliant.

Yes! Invoices are automatically generated and emailed to you at the end of each billing period. You can also download all past invoices from your account dashboard. Invoices include itemized breakdowns of subscription fees, overage charges, and applicable taxes. Perfect for accounting and expense reporting.

Our API typically generates PDFs in under 2-10 seconds for most web pages. Simple pages convert in under 2 seconds. Complex pages with lots of images or JavaScript may take 5-10 seconds, but our average response time is well below 5 seconds globally. We use edge servers in 150+ countries to ensure low latency worldwide.

We support PDF output in various page sizes (A4, Letter, Legal, custom dimensions), orientations (portrait/landscape), and quality settings. We also support image outputs: PNG, JPG, and WEBP. Input can be URLs, HTML strings, or HTML with CSS and JavaScript. Choose the format that best fits your use case.

Yes! We fully support JavaScript execution including modern frameworks like React, Vue, and Angular. You can configure custom wait times, wait for network idle, or wait for specific elements to load. This ensures dynamic content is fully rendered before PDF generation. Perfect for SPAs and JavaScript-heavy applications.

Yes! You can use any web fonts including Google Fonts, Adobe Fonts, or self-hosted fonts. Just include the font CSS in your HTML or use the custom CSS parameter. We support @font-face declarations and all modern font formats (WOFF, WOFF2, TTF, OTF). Fonts are rendered accurately in the final PDF.

File size limits depend on your plan: Free (10MB), Starter (25MB), Boost (100MB), and Enterprise (unlimited). If you need to generate larger PDFs, upgrade to a higher tier plan. For very large documents, consider splitting them into multiple PDFs or optimizing images to reduce file size.

Yes! Webhooks are available on Starter plans and above. When you provide a webhook URL, we'll generate the PDF asynchronously and POST the result to your webhook endpoint when complete. Perfect for long-running conversions or integrating PDF generation into background job queues. Includes automatic retry logic for failed webhook deliveries.

Our API uses standard HTTP status codes. 200 means success, 4xx means client errors (invalid parameters, authentication), and 5xx means server errors. All error responses include a JSON body with an error message and error code. Check our API docs for a complete list of error codes and how to handle them.

Rate limits are designed to be generous and scale with your plan. Free tier: 10 requests/minute, Starter: 30 requests/minute, Boost: 60 requests/minute, Enterprise: Custom limits. If you hit the rate limit, you'll receive a 429 status code with a Retry-After header. Contact us if you need higher limits.

We are SOC 2 compliant and use end-to-end encryption. All data is encrypted both in transit (TLS 1.3) and at rest (AES-256). PDFs are only stored when using webhooks or filename-based requests, and even then, they're automatically deleted within 72 hours. For direct binary streams, nothing is stored on our servers. We never log, cache, or permanently store your content.

Yes! We are fully GDPR compliant. We process data only as necessary to provide our service, maintain strict data retention policies (72 hours max for temporary files), and provide data export and deletion capabilities. We have Data Processing Agreements (DPA) available for Enterprise customers. See our privacy policy for details.

Yes, PDFRise is SOC 2 Type II certified. This means we undergo regular third-party audits to verify our security controls, data handling practices, and operational procedures. SOC 2 certification demonstrates our commitment to data security, availability, and confidentiality. Enterprise customers can request our SOC 2 report.

API keys are encrypted in our database and transmitted only over HTTPS. We recommend creating separate API keys for each environment (dev, staging, production) and rotating them regularly. You can revoke API keys instantly from your dashboard if they're compromised. Never commit API keys to version control or expose them client-side.

Yes! We take security seriously and welcome responsible disclosure of security vulnerabilities. If you discover a security issue, please email us at security@pdfrise.com with details. We'll respond within 24 hours and work with you to resolve the issue. We may offer bounties for significant vulnerabilities.

Your data is stored in secure, encrypted data centers primarily located in the United States. We use redundant storage across multiple availability zones for reliability. Temporary PDFs (webhook/filename requests) are stored for max 72 hours then permanently deleted. Account and billing data is stored securely and encrypted at rest.

We offer email support for all plans at support@pdfrise.com. Boost and Enterprise customers get priority support with faster response times. Enterprise customers also get dedicated account managers and phone support. Check our contact page for more ways to reach us.

Our support team is available 24/7 for critical issues. Standard support response times: Free and Starter (within 48 hours), Boost (within 12 hours), Enterprise (within 4 hours). For emergencies affecting production systems, Enterprise customers can escalate issues for immediate response.

Start by viewing the source HTML in a browser to ensure it renders correctly. Check that all CSS and fonts are loaded properly. If using JavaScript, increase the delay or use waitFor parameters. Review our troubleshooting guide in the docs. Still stuck? Send us the API request details and we'll help debug.

Yes! Visit status.pdfrise.com to view real-time API status, historical uptime, and any ongoing incidents. You can subscribe to status updates via email, SMS, or Slack. We maintain a 99.9% uptime SLA and proactively communicate any issues affecting service availability.

Our API documentation includes code examples in multiple languages, integration guides, and best practices. We also publish tutorials on our blog covering common use cases and advanced techniques. Join our developer community for tips and discussions.