ApiForm vs Anvil: fill PDFs without the per-document tax.
Anvil is a capable document platform — and it charges like one: $0.10 per PDF, $1.00 per submission, $1.50 per e-sign packet, packs on top. ApiForm does the fill-and-generate part with flat plans and a $0.02–$0.01 meter.
lower per-PDF cost at volume: $0.02–$0.01 vs $0.10 per document.
free PDFs through the real API — Anvil’s free tier has no API access.
for signing and archival PDF/A output — no per-packet or per-pack fees.
The numbers, side by side
Anvil figures come from their public pricing page as of July 2026 — check it before you decide; pricing changes.
| Anvil | ApiForm | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Metered: $0.10 per PDF via API, plus product packs (AI Pack $99/mo, Product Pack $425/mo) | Flat plans: $0, $29, $99 per month with included volume, then $0.02–$0.01 per PDF |
| API on the free tier | No — the free tier is UI-only; API access requires a paid pack | Yes — 100 PDFs a month through the same production API, no credit card |
| Cost per filled PDF at volume | $0.10 flat, every document | $0.02 on Pro, $0.01 on Scale — and only past your included volume |
| Hosted webforms | Yes — a real product, at $1.00 per submission | No — you own the form UI and send us JSON; we never charge per submission |
| E-signatures | Full e-sign workflow product, $1.50 per packet | Tamper-evident digital signing of the document itself, included in every plan — not an envelope/e-sign routing product |
| How you buy | Packs and per-product fees that stack per document | One meter, priced in public — the pricing page is the whole story |
What it costs at your volume
Drag the slider. We always show the cheapest ApiForm plan for that volume — at 10,000 PDFs a month the gap is roughly $1,000 vs $99.
Monthly volume
10,000 PDFs / month
Anvil, metered API
$1,000
10,000 × $0.10 per PDF
ApiForm, Scale plan
$99
$99 base — inside the 15,000 included
Anvil rate is their published pay-as-you-go API price ($0.10 per PDF, July 2026); their AI Pack ($99/mo), Product Pack ($425/mo), webform submission ($1.00) and e-sign packet ($1.50) fees are not included above. ApiForm figures are our public pricing. Always check both pricing pages before you commit.
If you need hosted webforms your users fill out in a browser, or a full e-signature routing workflow with envelopes and reminders, Anvil sells those as real products and they work. ApiForm is for teams that already have the data as JSON and want filing-grade PDFs out of an API — generation, filling, line items that paginate, signing, and PDF/A — without paying per document for the privilege.
Ship documents you can stand behind
Free for your first 100 PDFs a month. No credit card, and no sales call to start.
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