# depapel vs Pandoc

Pandoc is the right answer for many technical publishing pipelines. depapel is
built for the decision stage where someone has Markdown and needs a clean PDF
or DOCX without setting up a local toolchain.

## Use depapel when

- You want a no-install web editor for PDF or DOCX export.
- You need a quick handoff document from Markdown, a README, or AI-generated Markdown.
- You want built-in themes, syntax highlighting, Git URL import, Mermaid rendering, and product-backed output proof.
- You prefer product proof over local renderer setup.

## Use Pandoc when

- You need local offline automation, filters, citations, templates, or many output formats.
- Your workflow already standardizes on a scripted Pandoc build.
- You need deep publishing customization beyond depapel's current web surface.

## Decision points

depapel emphasizes no-install PDF and DOCX export, Git file import, themes,
syntax highlighting, Mermaid, and proof artifacts. Pandoc is
stronger for local CLI automation, filters, templates, citations, and broad
multi-format publishing.

## Product-backed proof

- [Markdown to PDF](/markdown-to-pdf)
- [Code theme PDF proof](/proof/code-theme.pdf)
- [Markdown to DOCX](/markdown-to-docx)
- [depapel vs browser Print](/compare/depapel-vs-browser-print)

## Limitation

depapel should not replace Pandoc when your team needs offline builds, custom
filters, citation processing, template-heavy publishing, or broad format
coverage.