shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Pdfium (Pdfium.Net SDK by Patagames)?

Professional Solutions are Made Simple - pdfium.patagames.com

Depends. A fit if you're a .NET team shipping PDF viewing or manipulation in a commercial product and want a managed SDK. Skip it for casual rendering or text extraction — free PDFium wrappers and built-in viewers already do that.

Confidence

Medium. Based on ~40 public sources; the engine is well documented, SDK-specific reviews are scarce.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of useNo SDK usability evidence in sources
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo support evidence in sources
  • Security posture

Pricing

Not disclosed

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed

Best for

  • .NET teams embedding PDF viewing
  • Commercial apps needing Chrome-grade rendering
  • Document-heavy C# products
  • Teams wanting a managed wrapper

Not for

  • Non-developers wanting a PDF viewer app
  • Casual extraction — free pypdfium2 suffices
  • stacks; this SDK is .NET-only
  • Teams unable to track engine security patches

Gotchas - check before you buy

high

You inherit engine CVEs; pin the bundled PDFium and track Chromium security fixes.

medium

Public sources show no SDK pricing numbers — confirm seat, redistribution, and update terms before purchase.

medium

.NET-only lock-in — switching stacks means reintegrating from scratch.

medium

Free wrappers (pypdfium2, go-pdfium, pdfium-binaries) may cover your need at $0.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Same PDF engine Chrome uses — battle-tested rendering
  • Built on Foxit technology Google adopted in 2014
  • Open-source core, actively maintained by Google
  • Ships .NET docs and security guidance
  • Embedded by Tresorit and Palo Alto's Prisma Browser

Cons

  • Engine carries recurring high-severity overflows and use-after-free CVEs
  • Commercial wrapper around a free engine — paying for convenience
  • No substantial user reviews found for Patagames SDK itself
  • PDF parsing is historically bug-rich across the ecosystem

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/27/2026 - 10 sources - Active CVE stream in the underlying PDFium engine (buffer overflows, use-after-free); Google patches upstream — you must track updates.

official x3review x3security x3news x1
  • CVE-2026-11306 — use-after-free in Chrome PDFium, Critical memory-safety flaw in the engine this SDK wraps; patched upstream in Chrome.
  • CVE-2026-6305 / CVE-2026-6306 — PDFium buffer overflows, Buffer overflows in Chrome's PDFium engine (April 2026); the SDK embeds this parsing code.
  • Cryptographic flaw in PDFium (GHSA-mp5w-52hw-836r), Advisory against the engine; verify the SDK bundles a patched PDFium build.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 4/5

    Rating

  • Not disclosed

    Starting price

  • 10

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 4/5. Free engine underneath; you pay for .NET convenience
  • Ease of use. No SDK usability evidence in sources
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Chrome-grade rendering and manipulation
  • Support quality. No support evidence in sources
  • Security posture: 2/5. Frequent engine CVEs, actively patched upstream
  • Open source Engine license Same engine used inside Chrome
  • 2014 Open-sourced Foxit technology chosen by Google
  • 100+ PDF CVEs studied Black Hat: attack surface in 1 year

Pricing

Not disclosed

Security

Active CVE stream in the underlying PDFium engine (buffer overflows, use-after-free); Google patches upstream — you must track updates.

  • CVE-2026-11306 — use-after-free in Chrome PDFiumCritical memory-safety flaw in the engine this SDK wraps; patched upstream in Chrome.⁵
  • CVE-2026-6305 / CVE-2026-6306 — PDFium buffer overflowsBuffer overflows in Chrome's PDFium engine (April 2026); the SDK embeds this parsing code.⁴
  • Cryptographic flaw in PDFium (GHSA-mp5w-52hw-836r)Advisory against the engine; verify the SDK bundles a patched PDFium build.

What users say

discussion covers the PDFium engine, not Patagames specifically: developers treat it as Chrome-grade rendering, while noting PDF parsing is bug-prone and free wrappers exist.

Alternatives

Compare Pdfium (Pdfium.Net SDK by Patagames) with each alternative.

  • pypdfium2

    Free Python bindings; ideal for scripting and extraction

  • pdfium-binaries (bblanchon)

    Free prebuilt PDFium binaries for many platforms

  • Nutrient SDK

    Pricier commercial SDK with broader cross-platform support

Companies that use it

  • Google (Chrome)¹
  • Tresorit10
  • Palo Alto Networks (Prisma Browser)
  • Autel Robotics
Full analysis

Based on ~40 public sources; the engine is well documented, SDK-specific reviews are scarce.

Chrome's PDF engine wrapped for .NET. Solid rendering, real CVE stream. Buy for commercial .NET apps; free wrappers cover casual needs.

Methodology

Based on ~40 public sources; the engine is well documented, SDK-specific reviews are scarce.

Sources

  1. chromium/pdfium: The PDF library used in Chromegithub.com
    official
  2. Foxit PDF Technology Chosen for Google Open-Sourcefoxit.com
    news
  3. Pdfium.Net SDK pricing pagepdfium.patagames.com
    official
  4. CVE-2026-6305: Chrome PDFium Buffer Overflowsentinelone.com
    security
  5. CVE-2026-11306: Critical Use-After-Free in Chrome PDFiumsec.co
    security
  6. Dig Into The Attack Surface of PDF — 100+ CVEs in 1 Yearblackhat.com
    security
  7. .NET PDF library discussionreddit.com
    review
  8. Why is it so difficult to find a licence-free and open source PDF library?reddit.com
    review
  9. Pdfium.Net SDK Alternatives — LibHuntdotnet.libhunt.com
    review
  10. Tresorit third-party code disclosuretresorit.com
    official

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