Of course, there are very big differences between pdfToolbox and pdfChip, and in general, there will not be any confusion about when to use either.

However…

If your only task is to convert incoming data into sound, print-worthy PDFs… in what scenarios would you use pdfToolbox, and when is using pdfChip better?

The source of the confusion

To understand where the confusion comes from, we have to look at the feature set of pdfChip and pdfToolbox. The most straightforward product here is pdfChip; its only purpose is to convert an HTML file into a good PDF. It does so through a command-line interface.

pdfToolbox offers a wide range of functionality, and it integrates the pdfChip HTML to PDF converter to implement certain tasks. Specifically, the pdfChip technology is used to create custom PDF preflight reports, implement tiling (splitting very large pages into printable pieces), and decorate existing PDF pages with additional content such as text, graphics, barcodes and more complex combinations of all of these.

Creating PDF files versus decorating PDF files

This nicely highlights the difference between the two products: pdfChip always creates a new PDF file, while pdfToolbox can only decorate existing PDF files. To be exact, the pdfChip technology in pdfToolbox can add content to the pages in a PDF file, but it cannot:

Modify the size of its pages,
Modify its number of pages.

(remark that it is the pdfChip technology inside of pdfToolbox that has this limitation, not pdfToolbox as a whole. We'll come back on this in the next section.)

There is another difference to consider as well. pdfChip doesn't require an input PDF file, and it is unencumbered by the preflight engine (and all of the other capabilities) of pdfToolbox. When speed and simplicity of operation are essential, those are important considerations.

But what if I…

Nothing in life is black and white (well, except some penguins). There are gray zones where pdfToolbox can be used creatively, and such an approach is the best strategy. pdfToolbox can add blank pages to a document or duplicate existing pages. It can also dynamically modify the size of pages (whether it's the trim box, crop box, or…). On top of that, pdfToolbox has Process Plans that allow you to combine multiple tasks in a specific order. This means that the embedded pdfChip technology in pdfToolbox can be combined with other tasks to modify the document as needed.

Conclusion

Is there a strict line that can be drawn for when each product should be used? Not really, but there is a good guideline: if you already have a PDF file and you want to decorate it with additional content, then pdfToolbox is likely your best bet.

If, on the other hand, what you have is an HTML or SVG file to convert to PDF, or you only have data (from an MIS, database, or any other source) to dynamically create a PDF file from, look at pdfChip.

And a last remark about performance. In most cases, optimizing a process solely based on pdfChip will be easier. pdfChip has a smaller footprint than pdfToolbox and is optimized for PDF creation. With a proper HTML template, pdfChip processing is nearly linear (meaning a 1000-page PDF file will be generated in about 10 times the time of a 100-page PDF file). And that linear performance stays for huge PDF files of 10.000 or 100.000 pages. In variable data or transactional workflow, this is a significant benefit.