AWS Textract alternatives

8 tools we tested head to head against AWS Textract, ranked — and what each one actually does differently.

last reviewed 29 jul 2026 · from our best 9 document extraction apis ·list curated by Onur Ozcanx in

first — what you'd be leaving

AWS Textract ranks #8 of 9 in our document extraction apis testing. the cheapest plain ocr here, the most expensive forms extraction, and it trains on your documents unless you stop it..

66/100

the most granular published pricing in the category, and the only vendor here whose default is to use your contracts and invoices to improve its own models.

why people look for an alternative

−documents used to improve aws models unless you opt out
−opt-out is an organizations-level policy, not a setting
−forms extraction costs 33x plain ocr
−free tier expires after three months

stay with AWS Textract if cheapest plain ocr at $1.50 per thousand pages is the thing you care about most — nothing below beats it on that.

the short version

best alternativeDoclinganyone processing documents they cannot send to a third party, which in this category is most people.90/100

Docling

#1 in document extraction apis · free forever, permissive on both the code and the models, and nothing ever leaves your infrastructure.

90/100

verdictthe only entry where the privacy question is answered by architecture rather than by a policy page — and it publishes real accuracy figures while doing it.

Docling vs AWS Textract

	AWS Textract	Docling
price	$1.50 / 1,000 pages	free
free tier	yes	yes
cost/1000 pages	$1.50 text, $50 forms	$0
tables cost extra	yes — 10x base rate	no
licence	proprietary aws service	mit code, cdla-permissive models
trains on your docs	yes, unless you opt out	no — self-hosted
self-host	no	yes, only option

switch foranyone processing documents they cannot send to a third party, which in this category is most people.

pros

+free with no tiers, mit code and permissive model licences
+nothing leaves your infrastructure — no retention question
+published accuracy figures in a technical report
+docling-serve turns it into your own api

cons

−no vendor sla, support or managed scaling
−two separate licences to accept, code and models
−accuracy and throughput depend on your own hardware
−no hosted option if you don't want to run it

visit Docling →full Docling review →

Unstructured

#2 in document extraction apis · zero data retention on every plan including the free one, and a bill that stops at $3,000 however much you send.

87/100

verdictthe strongest default data posture of any hosted option here, on pricing with a genuinely unusual ceiling — expensive per page until you're sending a lot, then free.

Unstructured vs AWS Textract

	AWS Textract	Unstructured
price	$1.50 / 1,000 pages	$30 / 1,000 pages
free tier	yes	yes
cost/1000 pages	$1.50 text, $50 forms	$30
tables cost extra	yes — 10x base rate	no
licence	proprietary aws service	apache 2.0 core
trains on your docs	yes, unless you opt out	no — zero retention
self-host	no	yes, open core

switch forteams handling sensitive documents at volume who want a hosted service without a retention conversation.

pros

+zero data retention stated on all plans, including free
+15,000 free pages a month, no card required
+spend caps at $3,000/month, then free to a million pages
+apache 2.0 core library, self-hostable

cons

−$30 per thousand pages is high at low volume
−flat rate gives no visibility into how hard documents are handled
−no published accuracy benchmark
−business tier pricing is custom

visit Unstructured →full Unstructured review →

LlamaParse

#3 in document extraction apis · the cheapest hosted parsing here at basic tier, with the accurate mode priced nowhere.

83/100

verdictunbeatable on the entry rate and a generous free tier — and you cannot find out what the mode you'll actually need costs.

LlamaParse vs AWS Textract

	AWS Textract	LlamaParse
price	$1.50 / 1,000 pages	$1.25 / 1,000 pages
free tier	yes	yes
cost/1000 pages	$1.50 text, $50 forms	$1.25 basic
tables cost extra	yes — 10x base rate	via pricier modes
licence	proprietary aws service	proprietary service
trains on your docs	yes, unless you opt out	not stated
self-host	no	enterprise vpc only

switch forrag pipelines doing high-volume basic parsing where most documents are straightforward.

pros

+cheapest hosted rate at $1.25 per thousand pages
+10,000 free credits a month
+no price difference between scanned and text pages
+48-hour cache that can be disabled entirely

cons

−advanced and agentic mode pricing not published
−the modes you need for complex documents are the unpriced ones
−starter and pro share the same overage cap
−no published accuracy benchmark

visit LlamaParse →full LlamaParse review →

Mistral OCR

#4 in document extraction apis · a clean flat rate that quietly doubled in june.

80/100

verdictsimple pricing from a frontier lab with a 50% batch discount — priced today at twice what every pre-july comparison says.

Mistral OCR vs AWS Textract

	AWS Textract	Mistral OCR
price	$1.50 / 1,000 pages	$4 / 1,000 pages
free tier	yes	no
cost/1000 pages	$1.50 text, $50 forms	$4, $2 batch
tables cost extra	yes — 10x base rate	via $5 document ai tier
licence	proprietary aws service	proprietary api
trains on your docs	yes, unless you opt out	zdr option, scope unclear
self-host	no	no

switch forstraightforward bulk conversion where a flat, predictable rate matters more than table fidelity.

pros

+flat per-page rate with no complexity tiering
+batch api halves the cost
+40+ language coverage
+account-level zero data retention option exists

cons

−price doubled from $2 to $4 in june 2026
−no published definition of a billable page
−no quantified accuracy benchmark
−no free tier for ocr

visit Mistral OCR →full Mistral OCR review →

Reducto

#5 in document extraction apis · the best table extraction here, proven on a benchmark it built and published rather than one it cites.

78/100

verdictthe strongest table story in the category and the least predictable bill — the same thousand pages can cost $15 or $60 and you find out afterwards.

Reducto vs AWS Textract

	AWS Textract	Reducto
price	$1.50 / 1,000 pages	$15 / 1,000 pages
free tier	yes	yes
cost/1000 pages	$1.50 text, $50 forms	$15-60 by complexity
tables cost extra	yes — 10x base rate	pushes to higher credit band
licence	proprietary aws service	proprietary api
trains on your docs	yes, unless you opt out	not confirmed
self-host	no	enterprise, unverified

switch fordense financial and scientific documents where table structure is the whole job.

pros

+publishes rd-tablebench, an open hand-labelled dataset, with its score
+purpose-built for complex tables and scans
+15,000 free credits a month
+trust centre references on-prem and air-gapped options

cons

−cost per thousand pages swings fourfold by content
−true price only knowable after processing
−deep extract has a 30-credit minimum per request
−training and retention specifics unconfirmed

visit Reducto →full Reducto review →

Chunkr

#6 in document extraction apis · cheapest at volume, dual-licensed for self-hosting — and the free build ships deliberately weaker models.

72/100

verdictthe cheapest hosted rate at scale and a genuine open-source path — with the catch that the open version is not the same product.

Chunkr vs AWS Textract

	AWS Textract	Chunkr
price	$1.50 / 1,000 pages	$5 / 1,000 pages
free tier	yes	yes
cost/1000 pages	$1.50 text, $50 forms	$5-10 (unverified)
tables cost extra	yes — 10x base rate	no
licence	proprietary aws service	agpl-3.0 or commercial
trains on your docs	yes, unless you opt out	not confirmed
self-host	no	yes, weaker models

switch forhigh-volume pipelines willing to commit to a monthly plan for the lowest hosted rate here.

pros

+cheapest hosted rate at volume, $5 per thousand pages
+dual-licensed agpl or commercial for self-hosting
+zero data retention by default, soc 2 and hipaa
+identifies 11+ element types per page

cons

−self-hosted build uses deliberately weaker models
−pricing page renders through javascript — rates unverified
−cheapest rate requires committing to a monthly plan
−agpl copyleft unless you buy the commercial licence

visit Chunkr →full Chunkr review →

Azure AI Document Intelligence

#7 in document extraction apis · the best privacy default among the big clouds, behind a pricing table that shows dashes.

70/100

verdictgenuinely good defaults on the question that matters — 24-hour deletion and no training — sold from a page that won't show you a number.

Azure AI Document Intelligence vs AWS Textract

	AWS Textract	Azure AI Document Intelligence
price	$1.50 / 1,000 pages	~$10 / 1,000 pages
free tier	yes	yes
cost/1000 pages	$1.50 text, $50 forms	~$10 (unverified)
tables cost extra	yes — 10x base rate	no — included in layout
licence	proprietary aws service	proprietary azure service
trains on your docs	yes, unless you opt out	no — 24h deletion
self-host	no	not confirmed

switch forregulated teams already on azure who need prebuilt models for invoices, receipts and identity documents.

pros

+24-hour deletion and no training on prebuilt model inputs
+custom models train only in your own storage
+broad prebuilt catalogue including id and contract models
+layout includes tables without a surcharge

cons

−public pricing page shows only '$-' placeholders
−rate here is secondhand and unverified
−no published accuracy benchmark
−free tier is only 500 pages a month

visit Azure AI Document Intelligence →full Azure AI Document Intelligence review →

Marker

#9 in document extraction apis · apache-licensed code, and weights you may not use once your company raises five million dollars.

62/100

verdictcheap, well-benchmarked and widely believed to be open source — the model weights carry a revenue and funding gate the code licence doesn't.

Marker vs AWS Textract

	AWS Textract	Marker
price	$1.50 / 1,000 pages	$4 / 1,000 pages
free tier	yes	yes
cost/1000 pages	$1.50 text, $50 forms	$4, $6 high accuracy
tables cost extra	yes — 10x base rate	yes — $0.30 add-ons
licence	proprietary aws service	apache code, gated weights
trains on your docs	yes, unless you opt out	not confirmed
self-host	no	yes, below $5m thresholds

switch forsmall teams below the funding thresholds, and anyone using the hosted api rather than the weights.

pros

+$4 per thousand pages hosted, $5 free credits
+scores reported on an external benchmark, not a self-built one
+apache 2.0 code, genuinely free for small non-competing users
+marker 2.0 added fast, balanced and high-accuracy modes

cons

−weights licence gated at $5m revenue and $5m lifetime funding
−prohibited outright for datalab competitors at any size
−self-hosting does not avoid the weights restriction
−structured add-ons each cost extra per thousand pages

visit Marker →full Marker review →

how these were compared

every tool on this page went through the same test as AWS Textract — same tasks, same order, scored the same way. the comparison tables are the figures from that testing, not vendor spec sheets.

the document extraction apis test in full →

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