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13ft vs pdf2htmlEX

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted e-books & media library options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
13 13ft Bypass paywall by acting as GoogleBot VS PD pdf2htmlEX Converts PDF documents to HTML while preserving layout
Feature13ftpdf2htmlEX
CategoryE-books & Media LibraryE-books & Media Library
LicenseMITGPL-3.0
LanguagePythonHTML
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM50 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metaldocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 4,250★ 5,578
First released20232013
Replaces12ftCommercial PDF converters

Why pick each one

Choose 13ft if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
  • Active community (4.2k GitHub stars)
  • Written in Python
13ft details

Choose pdf2htmlEX if…

  • Excellent layout accuracy
  • Good for archiving
pdf2htmlEX details

Frequently asked questions

Is 13ft or pdf2htmlEX better?

Neither is universally better. pdf2htmlEX has the larger community, while 13ft is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are 13ft and pdf2htmlEX free and open-source?

Yes. 13ft is licensed under MIT and pdf2htmlEX under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run 13ft and pdf2htmlEX with Docker?

13ft: check the project docs for container support. pdf2htmlEX: yes.

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