A Ghostscript alternative you can ship in closed-source software

What the licence actually requires

Ghostscript has been dual-licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3 since version 9.07 in February 2013. Before that it was GPL v3. Artifex Software owns the copyright and sells a commercial licence as the alternative to AGPL compliance. The same dual licensing covers the wider GhostPDL source tree, which includes the GhostXPS interpreter, so handling XPS instead of PostScript does not change the licensing question.

The AGPL's copyleft provision can require the complete corresponding source code of a derivative work to be released under the AGPL. It also extends to software offered to users over a network, so a SaaS product that never ships a binary is not automatically outside its scope.

The nuance that matters: linking versus shelling out

A common position is that invoking `gs` as a separate process avoids copyleft because the application is not linked to the library. This is genuinely contested territory. Guidance differs on whether a process boundary is decisive or whether the intimacy of the communication and the design of the combined program matter more.

We are not your lawyers, and this page is not legal advice. Your legal team must assess how your product is built, offered and distributed. For many teams, the uncertainty itself is a cost they are unwilling to carry.

Your options

There are three honest routes, and only one of them involves us.

1. Buy a commercial licence from Artifex

Artifex sells a commercial licence so companies can use Ghostscript in closed-source products. This is a legitimate, supported route and is likely the right choice when you depend on Ghostscript's full capability set.

Choose this if: you use Ghostscript as a full PostScript or PDF interpreter or RIP, including colour separations, print devices, PDF input or complex RIP workflows.

2. Replace the component

If the requirement is narrower — converting PS, EPS or XPS files to PDF or images — a purpose-built commercial library can cover it without the same licensing question.

Choose this if: your usage is conversion and rendering, and you prefer a managed NuGet package to a native binary in every deployment.

3. Drop the feature

If format conversion is a rarely used convenience, removing it may cost less than either licence.

Choose this if: the feature is not important enough to justify a commercial licence or a migration.

What a native converter costs you in a container

Every route to Ghostscript from .NET — `Ghostscript.NET`, direct P/Invoke or invoking `gs` as a process — ends with the native binary and its shared libraries in the image. That creates continuing operational work:

• Image size. You are shipping an interpreter, not only a converter.
• CVE patching. Ghostscript vulnerabilities become part of your patching and rebuild cadence.
• Base-image lock-in. Native builds and shared libraries constrain which base images you can use; glibc and musl builds are not interchangeable.
• Environment drift. Development machines, CI runners and production hosts must carry compatible native versions.
• Azure Functions Consumption plan. Native packages cannot be installed there, which is a hard stop rather than a deployment inconvenience. See the technical guide for Docker and serverless deployment .

A managed library removes the native converter from those concerns. You must still package and configure the fonts required by your documents.

Migration

PostScript or EPS to PDF

using System;
using Aspose.Page.EPS;
using Aspose.Page.EPS.Device;
PsDocument document = new PsDocument("input.ps");
PdfSaveOptions options = new PdfSaveOptions(true);
options.AdditionalFontsFolders = new string[] { @"C:\MyFonts" };
document.SaveAsPdf("output.pdf", options);
foreach (Exception ex in options.Exceptions)
{
    Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
}

Replaces: `gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -o output.pdf input.ps`

PostScript or EPS to images

using System.IO;
using Aspose.Page.EPS;
using Aspose.Page.EPS.Device;
PsDocument document = new PsDocument("input.ps");
ImageSaveOptions options = new ImageSaveOptions();
options.ImageFormat = Aspose.Page.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png;
byte[][] imagesBytes = document.SaveAsImagesBytes(options);
for (int i = 0; i < imagesBytes.Length; i++)
{
    File.WriteAllBytes("page_" + i + ".png", imagesBytes[i]);
}
// One byte array is returned for each page.

Replaces: `gs -sDEVICE=png16m -o page_%d.png input.ps`

XPS to PDF

using System.IO;
using Aspose.Page.XPS;
using Aspose.Page.XPS.Presentation.Pdf;
using (Stream pdfStream = File.Open("output.pdf", FileMode.Create, FileAccess.Write))
{
    XpsDocument document = new XpsDocument("input.xps");
    PdfSaveOptions options = new PdfSaveOptions
    {
        JpegQualityLevel = 100,
        ImageCompression = PdfImageCompression.Jpeg,
        TextCompression = PdfTextCompression.Flate
    };
    document.SaveAsPdf(pdfStream, options);
}
// gs does not read XPS; the Artifex equivalent is gxps.

`gs` does not read XPS. The Artifex equivalent is `gxps` from GhostPDL, under the same dual licence.

Try it before you commit

Unlicensed evaluation output carries a watermark. A free 30-day temporary licence removes evaluation limits so you can test your own files before buying.

• Request a temporary licence
• Download Aspose.Page from NuGet
• Read the documentation
• Browse working examples on GitHub

Bring your most difficult PostScript file. If it does not convert correctly, it is better to find out during evaluation than after purchase.