Everything you need to know about Blink PDF, answered in one place. If your question isn’t here, email us at hello@blinkpdf.io and we’ll get back to you promptly.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.blinkpdf.io/llms.txt
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General
What is Blink PDF?
What is Blink PDF?
Blink PDF is a high-performance REST API that converts Markdown documents into professional PDFs in approximately 100 milliseconds. You send a Markdown payload, and you get back a production-ready PDF — no HTML wrangling, no LaTeX, no headless browser to manage.Every render includes PDF/UA-1 accessibility, color emoji, copy-pasteable text (ToUnicode mapping), and font subsetting — built in, no configuration required.
Who is Blink PDF for?
Who is Blink PDF for?
Blink PDF is useful for a wide range of users:
- Developers and engineers building document generation into web apps, APIs, or backend pipelines
- Operations and product leaders who need reliable, fast PDF output without maintaining rendering infrastructure
- Markdown tool users — if you work in Obsidian, Notion, or any Markdown-first environment and want a polished PDF output, Blink PDF fits naturally
- AI agent builders — Blink PDF is a clean, side-effect-free tool that agents can call to produce shareable, archiveable documents from generated Markdown content
Why is Blink PDF so fast?
Why is Blink PDF so fast?
Most PDF generation tools lean on a headless browser (like Chromium) to render HTML before converting it to PDF. That approach adds hundreds of milliseconds — or seconds — of overhead.Blink PDF uses a custom rendering engine built specifically for Markdown-to-PDF conversion. There is no browser involved, no CSS layout pass, and no JavaScript execution. The result is consistent ~100ms render times even under sustained load.
Do I need to know CSS or LaTeX?
Do I need to know CSS or LaTeX?
No. Blink PDF takes Markdown as input and produces a PDF as output. You configure headers, footers, page size, margins, and branding through simple API parameters — there is no stylesheet to write and no LaTeX to learn.If you can write a README, you can use Blink PDF.
Integration & Compatibility
Can I use Blink PDF with automation tools like n8n, Make, or Zapier?
Can I use Blink PDF with automation tools like n8n, Make, or Zapier?
Yes. Blink PDF is a standard REST API, so it works with any tool that can make an HTTP request. You can call it from n8n workflows, Make (formerly Integromat) scenarios, Zapier actions, or any other automation platform that supports custom HTTP / webhook steps.No special plugin or SDK is required — just your API key and a POST request.
Can I use custom fonts?
Can I use custom fonts?
Yes. You can reference custom fonts in your API request. Blink PDF supports web-standard font formats and will subset and embed the fonts you use so the PDF renders consistently on any device or viewer.For details on specifying fonts in your request, see the API Reference.
What file size can I render?
What file size can I render?
The maximum input size depends on your plan:
If your payload exceeds the limit for your plan, the API returns
| Plan | Max Input Size |
|---|---|
| Free | 256 KB |
| Starter | 1 MB |
| Pro | 2 MB |
| Business | 5 MB |
| Scale | 10 MB |
| Enterprise | Custom |
413 Payload Too Large. Upgrading your plan increases the limit.Privacy & Security
How do you handle data privacy?
How do you handle data privacy?
Blink PDF operates a zero-retention architecture. Your Markdown content is loaded into memory for rendering, the PDF is returned to you, and the content is immediately purged. Nothing is written to disk, logged in plaintext, or stored in a database.Enterprise customers can additionally specify a data residency region to control which jurisdiction the in-memory processing occurs in.
Is my API key secure?
Is my API key secure?
API keys are hashed before storage — we cannot retrieve your key in plaintext. If you believe a key has been compromised, rotate it immediately from your account dashboard. Rotating a key invalidates the old one instantly.On Business and Enterprise plans you can scope keys to specific endpoints or IP ranges for additional defense in depth.
Billing & Plans
Is there a free trial?
Is there a free trial?
Yes — the Free plan is available with no credit card required. You get 500 PDFs per month (up to 50 per day) to explore the API, test your integration, and evaluate output quality.When you’re ready to remove the watermark and increase your volume, you can upgrade to a paid plan at any time from your account dashboard.
What happens if I exceed my plan quota?
What happens if I exceed my plan quota?
It depends on your plan and settings:
- Free — rendering stops once you hit 500 PDFs/month or 50 PDFs/day. The API returns a
403error until the quota resets. - Starter / Pro — additional PDFs are billed at the per-PDF overage rate (0.003 respectively). If you’ve set a spending cap, rendering stops when the cap is reached instead of incurring overage.
- Business — overage is billed at $0.002 per PDF beyond 200,000.
- Scale — unlimited under fair-use policy; no overage charge.
- Enterprise — governed by your contract terms.
How do I cancel or change my plan?
How do I cancel or change my plan?
You can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel your plan at any time from the billing section of your account dashboard.
- Upgrades take effect immediately.
- Downgrades take effect at the start of your next billing cycle.
- Cancellations — your plan remains active until the end of the current paid period. After that, your account reverts to the Free tier rather than being deleted, so you keep access to your API keys and usage history.
How does annual billing work?
How does annual billing work?
When you choose annual billing, the full year’s base subscription is charged upfront as a single payment. You save approximately 17% compared to monthly billing — roughly two months free.Any overage PDFs you generate beyond your included quota are still billed monthly at the end of each calendar month, at the same per-PDF overage rate as the monthly plan.
Do health checks or font listing calls count toward my quota?
Do health checks or font listing calls count toward my quota?
No. Health-check endpoints, font listing calls, and account/admin API calls are always free and never count toward your monthly quota or rate limits. Only successful PDF renders consume quota.