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Ghostscript vs Xpdf: catalog facts
Ghostscript	Xpdf
Free Free and open source under the AGPL. Commercial licensing is sold separately.	Free Free to download, with most tools available as open source.
Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
Handles PostScript, PDF, PCL and XPS in one interpreter The de facto engine for PDF conversion and compression in print workflows	Command-line tools for text, image and HTML extraction Easy to use in scripts and batch jobs
Command line with a famously cryptic option set Commercial redistribution requires a paid Artifex licence	Not every component is open source No PDF editing or signing
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: AGPL-3.0	License not stated
Not stated if an account is needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 22, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.