A Google Cloud Print alternative for receipts
Google Cloud Print shut down on December 31, 2020. If you used it to print receipts, order tickets, or packing slips from a web app, tablet, or Chromebook, ReceiptKit does the same job on the thermal printer you already own, in under a second, with a template designer Cloud Print never had.
Cloud Print is gone, and the gap is still there
Google Cloud Print let you register a printer with a Google account and print to it from any signed-in device, anywhere, with no driver on the sending side. Google announced its end in late 2019 and turned it off on December 31, 2020. Its official advice was to use native printing on Chrome OS or find a third-party cloud printing service.
For office documents, plenty of services filled the gap. For the small-business case Cloud Print quietly served, printing an order or receipt from a web app to a thermal printer sitting at a counter or in a kitchen, most of those services are the wrong shape: they render full documents through an operating-system driver and take seconds per job. That is the gap ReceiptKit was built for.
Route through the cloud, render and print locally
Your app sends a small JSON payload. ReceiptKit's cloud pushes it over MQTT to a free bridge running next to the printer, which renders your designed template and writes native printer commands. The sending device can be anywhere; only the bridge needs to reach the printer.
Trigger a print with a single HTTP request, wire up an order webhook, or install the free WooCommerce plugin. See webhook printing.
ReceiptKit vs. Google Cloud Print
| ReceiptKit | Google Cloud Print | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Active, actively developed | Shut down Dec 31, 2020 |
| Built for | Receipts and order tickets on thermal printers | Any document to any printer |
| How a job reaches the printer | Pushed over MQTT to a local bridge | Cloud-rendered, fetched by printer or connector |
| Typical print latency | Under a second | Several seconds |
| Template designer | ||
| Trigger from a webhook or API | Via Google account and Chrome only | |
| Live printer status | ||
| Office / laser / inkjet documents | ||
| Drivers on the sending device | None | None |
Built for the counter, not the office
Under a second, not several
Cloud Print rendered a document in the cloud and waited for the printer to fetch it. ReceiptKit pushes a few hundred bytes of order data to a bridge on the printer's network, which renders and prints locally.
Print from anything with an HTTP call
Cloud Print needed a Google account and Chrome. ReceiptKit prints from any web app, tablet POS, WooCommerce store, or webhook: one JSON request and the receipt is on paper.
Design receipts visually
Cloud Print printed whatever document you gave it. ReceiptKit gives you a visual editor for receipts, kitchen tickets, and packing slips, with logos, barcodes, QR codes, and conditional sections.
Works with your existing printer
Star, Epson, and ESC/POS thermal printers over Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or USB. The same hardware that printed through Cloud Print in most shops, with no drivers apart from Epson USB on Windows.
Nothing to host
The cloud side is managed. The bridge is a free app for Windows, macOS, or Raspberry Pi that you install once next to the printer and forget about.
Printer status in the dashboard
Cloud Print could only tell you a job was sent. ReceiptKit reads cover-open, paper-out, and offline states from the printer and shows them live.
If you need office document printing
ReceiptKit is not a general document printing service
Cloud Print also printed PDFs and office documents to inkjet, laser, and label printers. ReceiptKit does not. For that job, look at PrintNode, ezeep, or PaperCut Mobility Print, which print through the operating system driver to any installed printer. If your need is receipts and tickets on a thermal printer, ReceiptKit is faster and simpler than any of them; if you need both, they coexist fine. See how ReceiptKit compares with PrintNode.
Running in a real store every day
ReceiptKit prints every sale at Family Hardware, a two-store hardware business, after three cloud-printing approaches proved too slow. Read the case study →
Common questions
When did Google Cloud Print shut down?
Google ended support for Google Cloud Print on December 31, 2020. After that date the service stopped accepting print jobs on every platform, including Chrome OS, and Google recommended moving to native printing or a third-party cloud printing service.
What did Google Cloud Print do?
Cloud Print registered a printer with a Google account and let any device signed into that account send documents to it over the internet, without drivers on the sending device. Small businesses used it to print orders and receipts from web apps, tablets, and Chromebooks to a printer sitting anywhere.
Is ReceiptKit a direct replacement for Google Cloud Print?
For receipt and order-ticket printing, yes: you send a small JSON payload to the API and a designed receipt prints on a thermal printer wherever the ReceiptKit bridge runs. ReceiptKit does not print PDFs or office documents to inkjet and laser printers, which Cloud Print also handled. For that, see the office-printing section on this page.
Do I need special printers?
ReceiptKit works with the thermal receipt printers most businesses already own: Star Micronics (mC-Print3, TSP100 series), Epson TM series (TM-T88, TM-T20, TM-m30), and ESC/POS compatible printers from Rongta, Munbyn, and others, over Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or USB. No print server to host and, apart from Epson USB on Windows, no drivers.
How is ReceiptKit faster than Cloud Print was?
Cloud Print rendered a full document in the cloud and had the printer or a connector poll for it. ReceiptKit pushes a few hundred bytes of order data over MQTT to a small bridge on the printer's network, which renders the receipt locally and writes native printer commands. Typical end-to-end time is under a second, including logos and barcodes.
Can I print from a Chromebook or a tablet?
Yes. Anything that can make an HTTP request or fire a webhook can trigger a print: a web app on a Chromebook, a tablet POS, a WooCommerce store, or a Zapier-style automation. The bridge runs on a Windows PC, Mac, or Raspberry Pi near the printer; the device sending the order does not need to be on the same network.
What if I need to print office documents, not receipts?
Use a general-purpose cloud printing service such as PrintNode, ezeep, or PaperCut Mobility Print. They print PDFs and documents through the operating system driver to inkjet, laser, and label printers. ReceiptKit is built specifically for designed receipts and tickets on thermal printers, which is where it is faster and simpler than a document-printing service.
Print receipts from the cloud again
Install the free bridge next to your thermal printer, design a template, and print from any app with one call. First 500 prints a month are free.