\compare{vs-weasyprint}
WeasyPrint turns HTML into PDF. FormaTeX turns LaTeX into PDF — with TeX-quality math, precise page layout, and a REST API your backend can call directly.
WeasyPrint is an open-source Python library that renders HTML and CSS into PDF. It is excellent for generating styled reports from web templates — invoices, receipts, or any document you already author in HTML. Its strength is that designers familiar with CSS can produce PDFs without learning a new markup language.
Its limitations surface quickly when documents require publication-quality math, complex cross-references, or the precise page-float model that TeX has refined over 40 years.
FormaTeX is a LaTeX compilation API and browser editor built for developers. You send a POST request with your .tex source and receive a PDF back — no TeX Live installation, no container to maintain, no file-system management.
It supports all four LaTeX engines (pdflatex, xelatex, lualatex, latexmk), webhooks, an AI assistant, and an MCP server for AI agents.
\section{Feature Comparison}
A feature-by-feature breakdown to help you pick the right tool for your document pipeline.
| Feature | FormaTeX | WeasyPrint |
|---|---|---|
| Math support | Yes | Limited (MathML only) |
| Layout control | Full TeX page model | CSS box model |
| Output quality | Yes | Good for HTML docs |
| Source format | LaTeX (.tex) | HTML + CSS |
| REST API | Yes | No |
| Serverless friendly | Yes | Heavy binary deps |
| Page floats & cross-refs | Yes | No |
| Tables with rules | Yes | CSS only |
\section{Decision Guide}
Use FormaTeX when…
Use WeasyPrint when…
\section{Technical Docs}
WeasyPrint relies on MathML, which has spotty browser-parity and no TeX semantic model. FormaTeX uses the same TeX engine that journals and textbooks have trusted for decades.
CSS's page model was not designed for multi-page print documents. TeX's box-and-glue algorithm produces consistent, predictable pagination without manual tweaks.
WeasyPrint is a Python library — you have to spin up a server yourself to call it from Node, Go, or Ruby. FormaTeX is a REST API, so any HTTP client works out of the box.
\end{vs-weasyprint}
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