Operational Modes
PSPDFKit for Web can be operated in two possible modes:
-
Standalone — A JavaScript library where document rendering and processing happens in the browser
-
Server-Backed — Document rendering and processing happens in Document Engine
Regardless of the operational mode being used, your frontend code will be identical, with some exceptions (such as initialization and opening files).
Comparing Operational Modes
| Deployment | Standalone | Server-Backed |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment options | On your infrastructure | On your infrastructure or managed by PSPDFKit |
| Backend | Static | Document Engine |
| Deployment method | Any | Container |
| Framework | Standalone | Server-Backed |
|---|---|---|
| Angular | ✓ | ✓ |
| ASP.NET | ✓ | ✓ |
| Blazor | ✓ | ✓ |
| Electron | ✓ | |
| HTML5 | ✓ | ✓ |
| jQuery | ✓ | ✓ |
| Next.js | ✓ | ✓ |
| Nuxt.js | ✓ | ✓ |
| Progressive Web Apps | ✓ | ✓ |
| React | ✓ | ✓ |
| Ruby on Rails | ✓ | ✓ |
| Svelte | ✓ | ✓ |
| TypeScript | ✓ | ✓ |
| Vue | ✓ | ✓ |
| Integrations | Standalone | Server-Backed |
|---|---|---|
| SharePoint Online | ✓ | Coming soon |
| SharePoint On-Premises | ✓ | Coming soon |
| Microsoft Teams | ✓ | Coming soon |
| Microsoft OneDrive | ✓ | Coming soon |
| Salesforce | ✓ | Coming soon |
| PDF Support | Standalone | Server-Backed |
|---|---|---|
| ✓ | ✓ | |
| PDF/A 1, 2, 3, 4 | ✓ | ✓ |
| XFDF | ✓ | ✓ |
| Instant JSON | ✓ | ✓ |
| Office Document Support | Standalone | Server-Backed |
|---|---|---|
| DOCX, DOC, DOTX, DOCM | ✓ | ✓ |
| PPTX, PPT, PPTM, PPSX | ✓ | ✓ |
| XLSX, XLS, XLSM | ✓ | ✓ |
| RTF | ✓ | |
| ODT | ✓ |
| HTML Support | Standalone | Server-Backed |
|---|---|---|
| HTML | ✓ |
| Image Support | Standalone | Server-Backed |
|---|---|---|
| PNG | ✓ | ✓ |
| JPEG, JPG | ✓ | ✓ |
| TIFF, TIF | ✓ | ✓ |
| HEIC | ✓ | |
| GIF | ✓ | |
| WEBP | ✓ | |
| SVG | ✓ | |
| TGA | ✓ | |
| EPS | ✓ |
| Performance | Standalone | Server-Backed |
|---|---|---|
| Initial load time | Fast | Fastest |
| Document rendering | Client-side | Server-side |
| Document processing | Client-side | Server-side |
| Document streaming | ✓ |
| Functionality | Standalone | Server-Backed |
|---|---|---|
| Viewer | ✓ | ✓ |
| Annotations | ✓ | ✓ |
| Forms | ✓ | ✓ |
| Signatures | ✓ | ✓ |
| Editor | ✓ | ✓ |
| PDF generation | ✓ | ✓✓ |
| Conversion | ✓ | ✓ |
| Extraction | ✓ | ✓ |
| Redaction | ✓ | ✓ |
| OCR | ✓ | |
| Document security | ✓ | ✓✓ |
| Search | ✓ | ✓ |
| Bookmarks | ✓ | ✓ |
| Events and notifications | ✓ | ✓ |
| ✓ | ✓ | |
| User authentication | Not built-in | Built-in |
| Annotation and Form Synchronization | Standalone | Server-Backed |
|---|---|---|
| Sync annotations and form data to a server | Not built-in | Built-in |
| Conflict resolution for concurrent editing | Not built-in | Built-in* |
| Customizable permissions | Not built-in | Built-in |
| Incremental sync (annotation diff) | Not built-in | Built-in |
* Via PSPDFKit Instant (a component for Document Engine)
Standalone
PSPDFKit for Web Standalone uses our JavaScript library for rendering and editing documents directly in the browser. It’s powered by WebAssembly technology, and it doesn’t require a server, plugins, or internet access.
Client-only has the following advantages:
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Get up and running faster — No servers need to be deployed or maintained.
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Lower infrastructure costs — Rendering and processing are offloaded to the client.
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Security and privacy — Documents don’t need to be transferred across a network.
Server-Backed
PSPDFKit for Web Server-Backed uses Document Engine as a backend for PSPDFKit for Web. Document Engine is delivered as a Docker container.
Server-Backed has the following advantages:
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Faster performance — Rendering is done on the server, with pages streamed on demand.
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Out-of-the-box sync — Synchronize annotations and form field values to the server and across sessions.
Learn more about Document Engine.