Nutrient vs. IronPDF: Complete comparison for .NET developers

Key differences at a glance

Direct feature comparison

Nutrient vs. IronPDF: Code example comparisons

Compare how IronPDF and Nutrient handle four common PDF workflows: HTML conversion, text extraction, OCR processing, and merging documents.

Example 1 — Generate a PDF from HTML

IronPDF approach

using IronPdf;

// Create a PDF from an HTML string.
var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();
var pdf = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf("<h1>Hello World</h1><p>This is a PDF document.</p>");

// Save the PDF to a file.
pdf.SaveAs("output.pdf");

// Or render from a URL.
var urlPdf = renderer.RenderUrlAsPdf("https://example.com");
urlPdf.SaveAs("webpage.pdf");

IronPDF renders HTML to PDF using its Chrome-based engine. The renderer handles CSS, JavaScript, and responsive layouts.

Nutrient .NET SDK approach (HTML-to-PDF)

using GdPictureDocumentConverter gdpictureDocumentConverter = new GdPictureDocumentConverter();

// Option 1: Convert from HTML file.
gdpictureDocumentConverter.LoadFromFile(@"C:\temp\source.html", GdPicture14.DocumentFormat.DocumentFormatHTML);
gdpictureDocumentConverter.SaveAsPDF(@"C:\temp\output.pdf");

// Option 2: Convert from URL with Chrome rendering.
GdPictureDocumentUtilities.SetWebBrowserPath(@"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe");
gdpictureDocumentConverter.LoadFromHttp(new Uri("https://www.nutrient.io/"), GdPicture14.DocumentFormat.DocumentFormatHTML);
gdpictureDocumentConverter.SaveAsPDF(@"C:\temp\webpage.pdf");

Nutrient’s GdPictureDocumentConverter loads HTML from files or URLs, and then converts to PDF using Chrome-based rendering (configured via SetWebBrowserPath). The same SDK also provides OCR, format conversion, and compliance features.

Example 2 — Extract text from an existing PDF

IronPDF approach

using IronPdf;

// Load an existing PDF document.
var pdf = PdfDocument.FromFile("document.pdf");

// Extract all text from the PDF.
string text = pdf.ExtractAllText();

// Save the extracted text to a file.
File.WriteAllText("extracted.txt", text);

// Extract text from a specific page.
string pageText = pdf.ExtractTextFromPage(0); // First page (0-indexed)

IronPDF loads the PDF and uses ExtractAllText() for all text or ExtractTextFromPage() for specific pages.

Nutrient .NET SDK approach

using GdPicturePDF gdpicturePDF = new GdPicturePDF();

// Load the source document.
gdpicturePDF.LoadFromFile("input.pdf");

// Select the first page.
gdpicturePDF.SelectPage(1);

// Extract the text from the page.
string extractedText= gdpicturePDF.GetPageText();

// Save the extracted text to a file.
File.WriteAllText("ExtractedText.txt", extractedText);

Nutrient loads the PDF with LoadFromFile(), and then loops through each page to extract text using GetPageText(). The optional SetTextExtractionOptions() improves word boundary detection in structured documents.

Example 3 — Perform OCR on a scanned PDF

Nutrient includes built-in OCR with advanced pre- and post-processing. IronPDF requires a separate product (IronOCR) for OCR.

IronPDF approach

using IronPdf;
using IronOcr;

// Note: IronOCR is a separate product from Iron Software.
// Load the scanned PDF.
var pdf = PdfDocument.FromFile("scanned.pdf");

// Create an OCR object.
var ocr = new IronTesseract();

// Use IronOCR to read the first page.
using var input = new OcrInput();
input.LoadPdf("scanned.pdf", 0); // First page
var result = ocr.Read(input);

// Get the text.
string extractedText = result.Text;

The code loads a PDF and then uses IronOCR (a separate product) to perform OCR on the first page. IronOCR supports 125+ languages with basic image preprocessing. You need both IronPDF and IronOCR licenses for this workflow.

Nutrient .NET SDK approach

using GdPicturePDF gdpicturePDF = new GdPicturePDF();

// Load the source document.
gdpicturePDF.LoadFromFile("input.pdf");

// Run the OCR process on all pages with maximum multithreading support.
gdpicturePDF.OcrPages("*", 0, "eng", "", "", 300);

// Save the result in a PDF document.
gdpicturePDF.SaveToFile(@"C:\temp\output.pdf");

Nutrient loads the PDF and runs OCR on all pages to make them searchable. The OcrPages() method recognizes text at 300 DPI using Nutrient’s built-in OCR engine (125+ languages) with advanced pre- and post-processing. No extra products are needed.

Example 4 — Merge multiple PDFs

IronPDF approach

using IronPdf;

var html_a = @"<p> [PDF_A] </p>
        <p> [PDF_A] 1st Page </p>
        <div style = 'page-break-after: always;' ></div>
        <p> [PDF_A] 2nd Page</p>";

var html_b = @"<p> [PDF_B] </p>
        <p> [PDF_B] 1st Page </p>
        <div style = 'page-break-after: always;' ></div>
        <p> [PDF_B] 2nd Page</p>";

var renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

var pdfdoc_a = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(html_a);
var pdfdoc_b = renderer.RenderHtmlAsPdf(html_b);
var merged = PdfDocument.Merge(pdfdoc_a, pdfdoc_b);

merged.SaveAs("Merged.pdf");

IronPDF generates PDFs from HTML strings and then combines them using the Merge() method.

Nutrient .NET SDK approach

using GdPictureDocumentConverter gdpictureConverter = new GdPictureDocumentConverter();
IEnumerable<string> source = new List<string>(new string[] { @"C:\temp\source1.jpg", @"C:\temp\source2.xlsx" });
gdpictureConverter.CombineToPDF(source, @"C:\temp\output.pdf", PdfConformance.PDF1_5);

Nutrient’s CombineToPDF() accepts mixed file types (here, a JPG and Excel file) and converts them to PDF while merging. The method handles 100+ file formats — Office documents, images, and CAD files. IronPDF only merges existing PDFs.

PDF/A conversion benchmark

In an independent benchmark (November 2025) converting 3,157 files per vendor to PDF/A, Nutrient significantly outperformed IronPDF on conformance and reliability, while IronPDF was faster on raw throughput.

PDF/A conformance

IronPDF’s high raw success rate (99.3 percent) masks the fact that most converted files do not meet strict PDF/A conformance. Nutrient produces valid, standards-compliant output at more than double the rate.

Reliability

IronPDF had 11 critical failures (unrecoverable errors like stack overflows or memory corruption) across 3,157 files. Nutrient had zero.

Performance and efficiency

IronPDF is faster and uses less memory. Nutrient produces files nearly half the size. The slower processing results from additional validation and repair steps that raise conformance rates.

PDF/UA conversion benchmark

In a separate benchmark (November 2025) converting 3,157 files per vendor to PDF/UA, Nutrient was the only vendor that completed an unassisted end-to-end run over all files. Other SDKs required manual intervention to skip problematic files.

PDF/UA conformance

Nutrient produces accessible, standards-compliant PDF/UA output at nearly double the rate, with full structural tagging, semantic role inference, and reading order detection.

Reliability

IronPDF had 27 critical failures across 3,157 files. Nutrient had zero.

Performance and efficiency

IronPDF is faster for PDF/UA conversion. Nutrient’s slower throughput results from full structural tagging, contrast checks, and table and list heading analysis, which produce smaller, higher-conformance output.

Pricing comparison

Compare licensing costs, bundled features, and when each library offers better value for your team.

IronPDF pricing

Commercial licensing

• Commercial licenses typically range from approximately $750 to $2,000 or more depending on team size and project scope
• Perpetual licenses available (one-time purchase) or annual subscriptions
• Redistribution requires additional fees for SaaS and OEM deployment
• Updates and support included with subscription plans

Bundle pricing

IronPDF is part of Iron Software Suite. If you need multiple capabilities (OCR, barcode processing, and more), you’ll need additional Iron Software products, which can be purchased as a bundle.

Nutrient .NET SDK pricing

Commercial licensing

• Contact Sales for a custom quote
• Enterprise support included
• No per-developer or per-project restrictions
• Flexible licensing models available
• All features included in base license (OCR, ML-powered extraction, 100+ formats)
• Optional AI Document Processing SDK available

Nutrient’s price covers OCR, format conversion, ML-powered data extraction, and compliance. With Iron Software, these capabilities require buying multiple products.

Total cost of ownership comparison

When IronPDF costs less

• Your primary need is HTML-to-PDF conversion
• You have a small team (one or two developers)
• You don’t require OCR or multi-format processing
• Your documents are primarily web-based content

When Nutrient provides better value

• You need OCR or document extraction
• You process multiple document formats
• ML-powered data extraction saves development time
• Compliance requirements are critical
• Enterprise support reduces risk

Migration guide — IronPDF to Nutrient

Migrating from IronPDF to Nutrient takes a few steps, whether you replace HTML conversion entirely or adopt a hybrid approach.

Step 1 — Install Nutrient .NET SDK

Install via NuGet and configure licensing:

# Add the package (.NET 8.0 or higher).
dotnet add package GdPicture.API

# For .NET Framework 4.6.2:
dotnet add package GdPicture

using GdPicture14;

LicenseManager licenseManager = new LicenseManager();
licenseManager.RegisterKEY(""); // Empty string for trial mode

Step 2 — Choose your migration approach

Direct replacement — Replace IronPDF’s ChromePdfRenderer with Nutrient’s GdPictureDocumentConverter (see example 1)

Hybrid approach — Keep IronPDF for HTML generation, and use Nutrient for OCR, extraction, and compliance

Programmatic generation — Use Nutrient’s PDF creation API for simple documents

Step 3 — Add document processing features

After migrating HTML-to-PDF conversion, add these Nutrient capabilities:

• OCR — Example 3 shows built-in OCR for searchable PDF creation
• Data extraction — ML-powered extraction for forms, tables, and key-value pairs
• Multi-format — Convert 100+ formats to PDF
• Compliance — Full PDF/A support for archival standards

Migration effort estimate

Use case recommendations

Hybrid approach — Some teams use IronPDF for HTML-to-PDF generation, and then load PDFs into Nutrient for OCR, extraction, and compliance. Both use Chrome-based rendering, so the main reason for a hybrid setup is preserving existing IronPDF code while adding Nutrient’s processing capabilities. This requires managing two SDKs.

Conclusion

IronPDF handles HTML-to-PDF conversion and basic PDF manipulation. Nutrient provides HTML-to-PDF conversion and full document processing — OCR, data extraction, multi-format support, and compliance — in a single SDK.

Try Nutrient free or contact Sales for pricing.

FAQ