Pandoc
Pandoc is a free, open-source universal document converter written in Haskell, supporting conversion between more than 40 markup formats. It serves technical writers, academics, and software developers via GitHub distribution under the GPL, with no commercial sales motion.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2006
- HeadquartersBerkeley, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Pandoc does
Pandoc is a free, open-source universal document converter founded in 2006 by John MacFarlane and maintained primarily by him, with Albert Krewinkel serving as a committer and reviewer. The software is written in Haskell and is distributed under the GNU General Public License. It supports conversion between more than 40 markup formats, including Markdown variants, reStructuredText, AsciiDoc, Org-Mode, LaTeX, HTML, DocBook, JATS, EPUB, Microsoft Word (docx), OpenDocument, RTF, and Typst, alongside slide-show formats (PowerPoint, LaTeX Beamer, reveal.js), bibliography formats (BibTeX, BibLaTeX, CSL JSON/YAML), and serialization formats (Haskell AST, JSON, XML). The architecture is modular, with separate reader and writer modules per format, enabling extensibility through Lua-based filters and custom readers/writers. A WebAssembly-compiled version (pandoc.wasm) and a browser-based GUI (pandoc.app) were introduced in 2026, extending distribution beyond command-line and server use cases.
The core product surface consists of a standalone command-line program, a Haskell library for programmatic access, a server variant (pandoc-server), and Lua-based filter extensibility. Built-in capabilities include automatic citation and bibliography generation using hundreds of CSL styles, smart typographic punctuation, math rendering via MathJax and MathML, syntax highlighting, and PDF output via multiple engines (pdflatex, lualatex, xelatex, tectonic, weasyprint, prince). Distribution occurs exclusively through open-source channels: GitHub releases for binaries across Linux, macOS, and Windows, source compilation via the Haskell toolchain, and package managers. No enterprise sales function or commercial go-to-market exists. The only disclosed funding is voluntary GitHub sponsorship to John MacFarlane.
Pandoc serves two primary personas: technical writers and academics who need reliable conversion between academic formats (LaTeX, JATS, Markdown variants) with citation support, and software developers who embed Pandoc in documentation pipelines, static site generators, and content migration workflows. The project operates with no corporate structure, no parent company, no venture backing, and no institutional investment. Copyright is held by John MacFarlane (2006-2025).
Pandoc firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Pandoc
- Legal name
- Pandoc (maintained by John MacFarlane)
- Website
- https://pandoc.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2006
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Pandoc is a free, open-source universal document converter written in Haskell, supporting conversion between more than 40 markup formats. It serves technical writers, academics, and software developers via GitHub distribution under the GPL, with no commercial sales motion.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Pandoc industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Document Conversion Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (513210)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Content Conversion, Digitization & LMS/SCORM/xAPI Packaging (EDAGAKAL)
Keywords
Where Pandoc is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Berkeley
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Pandoc business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Others
Revenue model
- Free Open-Source Software: Pandoc is released as free software under the GPL license (Copyright 2006-2025 John MacFarlane). There is no revenue model as the software is provided at no cost to users. The project accepts sponsorship through GitHub.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels3 records
Pandoc product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Pandoc is a free, open-source universal document converter written in Haskell, distributed under the GPL license. It converts files between 40+ markup formats including Markdown variants, reStructuredText, AsciiDoc, Org-Mode, LaTeX, HTML, EPUB, DocBook, JATS, Microsoft Word (docx), PowerPoint, Typst, and many others. It is available as both a standalone command-line program and a Haskell library, with extensibility provided through Lua filters, custom readers/writers, and a template system.
Product overview
Pandoc is a free, open-source universal document converter released under the GPL (Copyright 2006-2025 by John MacFarlane). It consists of a command-line tool, a Haskell library for programmatic access, and a WebAssembly version for browser operation. The core product supports conversion between dozens of markup formats including lightweight markup (Markdown, reStructuredText, AsciiDoc, Org-Mode, djot), document formats (LaTeX, HTML, EPUB, DocBook), word processor formats (Word docx, RTF, ODT), slide show formats (Beamer, PowerPoint, reveal.js), and many others. Customization is achieved through Lua filters, custom readers/writers written in Lua, and a template system. A WebAssembly-compiled version (pandoc.wasm) enables browser-based operation via the pandoc.app web interface.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Pandoc (Core) Universal document converter available as both a standalone command-line program and Haskell library, converting files between 40+ markup formats including Markdown, LaTeX, HTML, Word docx, PDF, EPUB, JATS, DocBook, PowerPoint, Typst, and many others. Used by technical writers, academics, and developers for document format interoperability.
- pandoc.wasm WebAssembly-compiled version of Pandoc for browser-based operation, providing nearly all capabilities of regular Pandoc except HTTP fetching, system commands, JSON filters, and PDF production. Includes a JavaScript bridge module for integration.
- pandoc.app Full-featured browser-based GUI interface for Pandoc, running entirely in the browser after initial code download. Includes a WASM version of Typst and can produce PDF output via Typst.
- pandoc-server
Companies that use Pandoc
Customer profileSegments2 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Pandoc technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
Pandoc partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators1 record
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Pandoc competitors and assessment
Company assessmentOthers
- docx2pdf (and similar Office-focused converters): Family of single-purpose conversion utilities (e.g., docx2pdf, mammoth.js) addressing narrow format pairs Pandoc also covers. Provides lightweight alternatives for embedded or web use cases where Pandoc's full stack is overkill.
- Zotero: Open-source reference and citation manager with CSL integration. Complementary rather than competitive to Pandoc — both share the CSL-based citation ecosystem — but targets similar academic and research users.
Direct peers
- Sphinx: Python-based documentation generator that converts reStructuredText/Markdown into HTML, LaTeX, PDF, and EPUB. Targets the same technical writer and open-source documentation audience as Pandoc and overlaps heavily on output formats and use cases.
- MkDocs: Markdown-based static documentation site generator with a plugin ecosystem that supports PDF and static-site outputs. Serves the same technical-documentation segment that uses Pandoc for Markdown conversion, with comparable workflow integration.
- Asciidoctor: Open-source AsciiDoc processor and toolchain written in Ruby. Like Pandoc, it converts lightweight markup to HTML/PDF/EPUB and targets technical writers, but supports a narrower set of input/output formats and is locked to the AsciiDoc ecosystem.
Broad incumbents
- Aspose: Commercial document manipulation API suite covering Word, PDF, Excel, PowerPoint, and many markup formats. Competes with Pandoc in format-conversion and document-processing workflows, especially for enterprise customers needing licensed, supported tooling.
- Hugo: Popular Go-based static site generator with native Markdown processing and an extensive theme ecosystem. Operates at much larger scale than Pandoc in the web-publishing space but addresses an overlapping content-authoring audience.
Emerging players
- Jupyter: Open-source interactive notebook platform whose ipynb format Pandoc reads/writes. Overlaps with Pandoc in scientific and data-publishing workflows and represents both an integration partner and adjacent authoring tool.
- Mathpix: AI-powered document and equation conversion service targeting academic and scientific publishing. Competes with Pandoc's LaTeX/MathJax conversion capabilities by offering OCR-plus-LLM-based conversion with a commercial API.
- Typst: Modern typesetting system and cloud editor positioned as a successor to LaTeX. Pandoc integrates Typst as both an input and output format, but Typst also overlaps with Pandoc's academic-publishing use case as a standalone authoring tool.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Pandoc social profiles
Digital presencePandoc financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Pandoc leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Pandoc funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Pandoc M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Pandoc
What does Pandoc do?
Pandoc is a free, open-source universal document converter written in Haskell, distributed under the GPL license. It converts files between 40+ markup formats including Markdown variants, reStructuredText, AsciiDoc, Org-Mode, LaTeX, HTML, EPUB, DocBook, JATS, Microsoft Word (docx), PowerPoint, Typst, and many others. It is available as both a standalone command-line program and a Haskell library, with extensibility provided through Lua filters, custom readers/writers, and a template system.
Is Pandoc a public or private company?
Pandoc is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Pandoc founded?
Pandoc was founded in 2006. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Pandoc based?
Pandoc is headquartered in Berkeley, United States, in the North America region.
How does Pandoc make money?
One revenue line is on record: free Open-Source Software.
Who are Pandoc's main competitors?
Others on record are docx2pdf (and similar Office-focused converters) and Zotero. Direct peers are Sphinx, MkDocs and Asciidoctor. Broad incumbents are Aspose and Hugo. Emerging players are Jupyter, Mathpix and Typst.
Does Pandoc have an API?
Yes. Pandoc includes a Haskell library with separate modules for each input and output format. Adding a new input or output format requires adding a new module. The library is available on Hackage. Pandoc also supports a standalone command-line program and a server version (pandoc-server). The API documentation is available at https://hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc. Users can customize pandoc using a template system and filters system. Developer documentation is at hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc.
What industry is Pandoc in?
Pandoc's product category is Document Conversion Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAGAKAL, Content Conversion, Digitization & LMS/SCORM/xAPI Packaging. Its NAICS code is 513210 and its SIC code is 7372.