Apryse vs. Alternatives: Why Developers Switch to Apryse

Apryse addresses common enterprise challenges other SDKs can’t.

Choosing the right document processing SDK is a challenge for enterprises. Whether you’re building an internal application to advance digital transformation goals, building a SaaS application that meets niche-specific needs, or looking to build secure document functionality into your app for security and compliance, Apryse brings faster, smarter, and more scalable document workflows across web, mobile and server applications.

In this brief article, we’ll take a look at some of the challenges developers, engineers and product managers across industries face when evaluating document processing SDKs, and why they choose Apryse.

When evaluating different SDK solutions, it can be useful to consider the origin of the engine and technology at the core of each vendor. For example, some SDKs are based on forked open-source software, while others are built and maintained by in-house engineers.

PDFium is an open-source PDF rendering engine created by Google that powers the PDF viewer in Chrome and many other applications. As an open-source engine, many solutions, including some PDF developer tools vendors, are free to fork the project and base their technology on a modified version of PDFium.

While forking an open-source project like PDFium has advantages, including total control, proven functionality, lower costs and features tailored by the vendor, it also has drawbacks: Forking can create technical debt as innovation and maintenance of both projects diverge, potentially leading to bugs and dependency and compatibility issues.

In addition, forks can be vulnerable to security issues. For example, the codebase is under the sole control of the vendor, while the original project is separately continually patched by the open-source community.

In comparison, vendors like Apryse own their codebase, and have developed and maintained it from scratch. For example, Apryse (formerly PDFtron) started as a small company offering a PDF SDK 20 years ago, when the PDF standard was first being developed, and has been supported with quarterly releases ever since.

Customers switch to Apryse because it offers a more powerful, flexible, and future-proof document processing platform.  Apryse provides broad file support, including viewing, editing and reviewing for PDF, DOCX, and XLSX, as well as client-side rendering, superior performance, and a fully customizable UI, enabling faster workflows and accurate processing of complex files.

WebViewer Advantage: Apryse’s client-side linearization enables instant loading, even with slow or unreliable internet connections. Conversion Accuracy & Speed: Customers frequently report better accuracy and faster conversions with Apryse than with their previous SDK.

Apryse’s Fully Modular UI can be tailored to your workflow and UI design. Apryse’s flexible code samples are meant to be customized, while other SDKs require full rebuilds for any custom behavior. Faster implementation, lower dev costs, and easier scaling.

Apryse ensures complete data control with true client-side processing, configurable on-prem deployment, and no hidden server dependencies, keeping sensitive documents secure, compliant, and fully within your environment.

Unlike competitors, Apryse delivers the most feature-rich document processing SDK suite on the market going beyond PDFs with native DOCX and Spreadsheet editors while providing a single, unified platform for all workflows, including viewing, editing, signing, generating, and collaborating, ensuring a scalable, long-term solution for any document need.

Take a look at our homepage, and you’ll see that we’re building a full suite of document processing tools, serving a wide range of needs with our Web, Server and Mobile SDKs. But some developers are just looking to fill a simple need, and our comprehensive, feature-rich SDKs can seem like overkill. These customers often seek out more basic solutions.

When software leaders compare SDK vendors purely on price, these basic vendors may appear cheaper for simple use cases. But for organizations that value performance, scalability, security, and long-term reliability, Apryse’s total cost of ownership proves lower fewer maintenance issues, faster time to market, and reduced risk of disruption from unsupported or deprecated products.

Basic PDF SDKs may handle the document processing essentials, but Apryse’s engines (including iText) deliver superior performance for large-scale, complex PDF workflows — from high-volume generation and digital signing to precise control over headers, footers, and layout. Customers moving from bare bones tools often report faster rendering, better memory handling, and higher throughput once on Apryse.

Beware of pricing models that don't scale well and vendors who have poor reputations at renewal. Apryse offers flexible licensing that is predictable, reducing maintenance risk and administrative overhead. Customers appreciate that they can deploy freely across teams, servers, and environments without surprise costs.

When vendors are based outside North America or Europe, support hours are often cited as an issue for North American or European companies, including extra charges for responsive support. Apryse includes enterprise-grade support in every agreement, with direct access to engineering teams for faster resolutions. Customers switching to Apryse often cite slow or delayed responses on complex issues with their previous vendor, which Apryse addresses through a dedicated technical support team and faster SLAs.

Apryse solutions are trusted globally across regulated industries, including financial, legal, and government for their security, compliance (SOC 2, WCAG, PDF/A, etc.), and proven scalability. Organizations outgrowing entry-level models often choose Apryse for its enterprise readiness and commitment to standards.

If you’re ready to see how Apryse can power the next leap forward for your software, check out our documentation to get started, including our free trial. You can also check out our YouTube playlist with guides for getting started in various frameworks and languages.

Lastly, contact sales to get solutions and advice tailored to your specific needs and goals.