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Best Laravel Package for Generating Complex PDF Reports (Alternative to DOMPDF & SnappyPDF)

Updated: Feb 24, 2025

Best Laravel Package for Generating Complex PDF Reports (Alternative to DOMPDF & SnappyPDF)

When it comes to generating complex PDF reports in Laravel, DOMPDF and SnappyPDF are two popular packages that come to mind. However, both of these packages have their limitations, especially when dealing with complex reports that involve tables, charts, and other advanced formatting. In such cases, you might want to consider using a more powerful PDF generation package. Here are some of the best Laravel packages for generating complex PDF reports as alternatives to DOMPDF and SnappyPDF:

  1. Maatwebsite/Laravel-Excel: This package is primarily used for exporting data to Excel files, but it also has built-in support for generating PDF reports using the PhpSpreadsheet library. With Laravel-Excel, you can create complex PDF reports with tables, charts, images, and other advanced formatting. It also supports various PDF drivers, including FPDF, Dompdf, and TCPDF.

To use Laravel-Excel for PDF generation, you need to install the package using Composer and then create a new controller or command to handle the PDF generation. Here's an example of how to generate a PDF report using Laravel-Excel:

use Maatwebsite\Excel\Facades\Excel;
use App\Exports\SalesReportExport;

public function generateSalesReportPdf()
{
    return Excel::download(new SalesReportExport, 'sales_report.pdf');
}

In this example, we're using a custom export class SalesReportExport to define the structure and content of the PDF report.

  1. Mpdf: Mpdf is a PHP library for generating PDF files on-the-fly and programmatically. It provides advanced features for creating complex PDF reports with tables, charts, images, and other advanced formatting. Mpdf also supports various fonts, colors, and styles, making it a powerful alternative to DOMPDF and SnappyPDF.

To use Mpdf in Laravel, you need to install the package using Composer and then create a new controller or command to handle the PDF generation. Here's an example of how to generate a PDF report using Mpdf:

use Mpdf\Mpdf;

public function generateInvoicePdf($orderId)
{
    $order = App\Order::find($orderId);

    $mpdf = new Mpdf();
    $mpdf->SetTitle('Invoice');
    $mpdf->AddPage();

    // Add content to the PDF report
    $mpdf->WriteHTML('<h1>Invoice #' . $order->id . '</h1>');
    $mpdf->WriteHTML('<p>Customer Name: ' . $order->customer->name . '</p>');
    $mpdf->WriteHTML('<p>Order Total: $' . number_format($order->total, 2) . '</p>');

    // Save the PDF to a file or return it as a response
    $mpdf->Output('invoice_' . $order->id . '.pdf', 'D');
}

In this example, we're using the Mpdf library to generate a simple invoice PDF report with the order details.

  1. TCPDF: TCPDF is another PHP library for generating PDF files programmatically. It provides advanced features for creating complex PDF reports with tables, charts, images, and other advanced formatting. TCPDF also supports various fonts, colors, and styles, making it a powerful alternative to DOMPDF and SnappyPDF.

To use TCPDF in Laravel, you need to install the package using Composer and then create a new controller or command to handle the PDF generation. Here's an example of how to generate a PDF report using TCPDF:

use Setasign\Tcpdf\Tcpdf;

public function generateReportPdf()
{
    $pdf = new Tcpdf(PDF_PAGE_ORIENTATION, PDF_UNIT, PDF_PAGE_FORMAT, true, 'UTF-8', false);

    $pdf->AddPage();
    $pdf->SetTitle('Sales Report');

    // Add content to the PDF report
    $pdf->SetFont('helvetica', '', 12);
    $pdf->Cell(0, 10, 'Sales Report', 0, 1, 'C');
    $pdf->SetFont('helvetica', 'B', 12);
    $pdf->Cell(0, 6, 'Date Range:', 0, 0, 'L');
    $pdf->Cell(0, 6, 'From: 01-Jan-2022 To: 31-Jan-2022', 0, 1, 'L');

    // Add a table to the PDF report
    $pdf->AddPage();
    $pdf->SetFont('helvetica', '', 10);
    $pdf->Table($this->getSalesData(), array(0.2, 0.2, 0.3, 0.3), 'T', false);

    // Save the PDF to a file or return it as a response
    $pdf->Output('sales_report.pdf', 'D');
}

private function getSalesData()
{
    // Return an array of sales data for the PDF report
}

In this example, we're using the TCPDF library to generate a sales report PDF with a table of sales data.

Overall, these packages provide more advanced features and better performance than DOMPDF and SnappyPDF for generating complex PDF reports in Laravel. Depending on your specific requirements, you can choose the one that best fits your needs.

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