Rivoli PDF / Syncfusion PDF alternative

The Syncfusion PDF alternative without the platform subscription

Syncfusion's PDF library is one corner of a suite that costs about $2,495 per developer, per year. If PDFs are what you need, Rivoli PDF does that one job with a modern document model, for $299, once.

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Install and generate

No system libraries, no headless browser, no per-platform setup. Rivoli.Pdf 0.1.0 targets .NET 8 and .NET 10.

Terminal
dotnet add package Rivoli.Pdf
Program.cs 
using Rivoli.Pdf;
using Rivoli.Pdf.Builders;

var doc = Document.Create("Quarterly Report", "Acme Corp");
doc.AddSection()
    .H1("Quarterly Report")
    .AddParagraph("Revenue grew 18% over the prior quarter.")
    .AddTable(t => t
        .Header("Quarter", "Revenue")
        .Row("Q1", "$1.2M")
        .Row("Q2", "$1.5M"));
doc.SavePdf("report.pdf");

No PdfGraphics, no coordinates: describe the structure and the layout engine handles pagination, headers, and page sizes.

The output

Real output from the runnable samples in the Rivoli PDF repository.

Report PDF generated by Rivoli PDF: bar chart of revenue versus expenses with a quarterly summary table
A page from the charts report sample: vector bar charts and styled tables drawn by the layout engine, no browser involved.

How we compare

Syncfusion is a capable suite. The comparison is about focus, determinism, and the cost model.

Capability Rivoli PDF Syncfusion
Free for small companies Conditional
Entry price (per developer) $299 ~$2,495/yr
Royalty-free redistribution included
Fully managed (no native deps)
Deterministic output
PDF/A-first
JSON document model + change tracking
Round-trip fidelity harness
Cross-language roadmap 5 planned Multi

Competitor prices are researched approximations (June 2026); several vendors are now quote-gated, so some figures are historical or third-party. Rivoli PDF is pre-1.0: document creation is feature-complete, while full parsing of arbitrary PDFs and rasterized rendering are partial and on the near-term roadmap.

Pricing

Free for individuals and for organisations under US$1M in annual gross revenue. One perpetual per-developer license for everyone else.

Free
$0 forever

Full library, no watermark, no page limits. For individuals and organisations under US$1M in annual gross revenue.

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Founder license
$299 per developer · perpetual

Buy once, use forever. Royalty-free redistribution included, and the early-access rate locks in for life.

Buy Founder license →

Syncfusion's Essential Studio runs about $2,495 per developer per year. Rivoli PDF is $299 perpetual, and free under $1M revenue.

Full details on the product page and in the license terms.

Migrating from Syncfusion PDF

Syncfusion code tends to mix a document object with imperative drawing (graphics.DrawString at coordinates). Rivoli PDF removes the drawing layer.

  1. 01 Map PdfDocument and PdfPage to Document and Section; content flows, so most page management code disappears.
  2. 02 Replace PdfGraphics.DrawString calls with Paragraph and Run model types; replace PdfGrid with Table and its fluent Header/Row helpers.
  3. 03 Move encryption, PDF/A, and tagging into PdfSaveOptions on PdfDocumentRenderer.
  4. 04 Audit your dependency list: you can drop the suite packages and keep a single focused engine.
  5. 05 Before migrating reading-heavy workflows (filling existing forms, rendering pages to images), check current support in the docs gallery: Rivoli PDF is pre-1.0 and strongest at authoring.

The full migration guide, with concept mappings and before/after code, lives in the documentation.

Start free. Pay only when you're big.

Install the package today. When your company crosses the US$1M line, the Founder rate locks in for life.

Start free → Buy Founder license