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ViewerJS Alternative: ViewerJS vs PrizmDoc

Published: January 1, 2018 (Updated: December 31, 2021)

ViewerJS

Full-featured document viewer outperforms open source alternative

There are various HTML5 document viewers available for embedding in web and mobile applications. Typically, developers have a few minimum requirements for a viewer: it must display PDFs and Microsoft Office documents, should embed easily into their front-end HTML/CSS/Javascript. Sometimes additional features are needed, such as additional file support, signature, annotation, or redaction.

ViewerJS is an open source product powered by PDF.js, a viewer created by Mozilla for its Firefox browser. ViewerJS appeals to developers due to its cost (zero), its ease of integration and the simplicity of its embedded viewer. It’s written in JavaScript and can display PDF and ODF (Open Document Format) files, but it doesn’t support Microsoft Office documents. This means it doesn’t display basic files like Word documents (.doc) and Excel spreadsheets (.xls). This limitation means many projects will need to evaluate alternatives.

Complete Functionality – More Than Just Document Viewing

PrizmDoc is a far more powerful alternative, offering a number of features unavailable in ViewerJS. PrizmDoc handles over 50 different file formats, including Microsoft Office documents, CAD files, PDFs and major image types. It also offers:

  • Search: Find a text string and see all instances of the text in the document for easy reference.
  • Annotation: For collaborative work on documents, this allows users to highlight areas of a document, inserting comments or instructions or emphasizing key passages.
  • Redaction: Cover sensitive information in the displayed files – a key consideration for government, legal and financial institutions.
  • eSignature: This enables readers to sign documents, agreeing to their terms.

Compare PrizmDoc and ViewerJS

PrizmDoc goes far beyond open source options in providing a comprehensive alternative for embedded document viewing for applications:

PrizmDoc
ViewerJS
Embedded viewer
PDF viewing
MS Office documents
CAD files
Vector and raster images
Search
Annotation
Redaction
eSignature
Engineering support
Regular updates
Works with any programming language

PrizmDoc: Fully Supported & Dependable For The Long Haul

Accusoft offers complete support with PrizmDoc, with our engineers always ready to assist with implementation and integration. And PrizmDoc is always being improved, with new versions released regularly to make the most of new innovations. ViewerJS offers none of these advantages.

View this complete set of product demos to try out PrizmDoc, or contact us here with any questions you might have. And use the trial download link below to test PrizmDoc out in your own applications.

Free Trial