---
# System prepended metadata

title: Swap WickedPDF to an alternative

---

# Swap WickedPDF to an alternative 

The gem that we're using for generating the PDFs, WickedPDF, has a problem with the main dependency that they have, wkhtmltopdf. The main thing is that currently this dependency isn't maintained, so in the future this will bring problems (i.e. security vulnerabilities that will not be solved or may take too long to solve, incompatiblities with modern systems, etc).

The [main repository for wkhtmltopdf](https://github.com/wkhtmltopdf/wkhtmltopdf) was archived in June 2023.

This leads us to search alternatives that doesn't have this dependency. 

## Where this is used

- Export answers to PDF in forms
- Survey confirmation mailer in surveys
- Export signatures to PDF in initiatives
- Send conferences' diplomas

## Requirements
 

- To be open source and with a compatible license 

## Wishlist

- That it works as a HTML to PDF converter, so we don't need to reimplement the current features


## Alternatives

### 1. Grover 

It's a Ruby gem that uses pupeeteer (chromium) to generate the PDF. 

Pros:

- It's HTML to PDF 
- It's the more similar to wkhtmltopdf (almost a drop-in replacement)

Cons:

- It's yet another system dependency to take into account (document, add in releases notes, etc)

### 2. Prawn

It's a Ruby gem that has a DSL to generate the PDF. 

Pros:

- Has a big community

Cons:

- It's a DSL, so it does not have the HTML to PDF functionality
- It could be expensive to implement (as we need to migrate our current features to this new system)

### 3. HexaPDF

It's a Ruby gem that has a DSL to generate the PDF. 

Pros:

- We already have it as dependency for the Initiatives' signature

Cons:

- It's a DSL, so it does not have the HTML to PDF functionality
- It could be expensive to implement (as we need to migrate our current features to this new system)
