Head to head
AWS Textract vs Azure AI Document Intelligence
As a document ai & ocr API, AWS Textract rates higher on the APIbenchmarks Index, 87.7 to 86.2, a 1.5-point gap. Here is how they compare on each criterion.
Criterion by criterion
| Criterion | AWS Textract | Azure AI Document Intelligence |
|---|---|---|
| Documentation & DX | ||
| Reliability | ||
| Ecosystem & SDKs | ||
| Accessibility | ||
| APIbenchmarks Index | 87.7 | 86.2 |
Specifications
| AWS Textract | Azure AI Document Intelligence | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Cloud-native OCR for AWS workloads | Prebuilt + custom models on Azure |
| Free tier | 1,000 pages/mo for 3 months (DetectDocumentText only) | 500 pages/mo (F0, first 2 pages per request) |
| Pricing | Per 1k pages | Per 1k pages |
| Official SDKs | 10 languages | 5 languages |
Is AWS Textract better than Azure AI Document Intelligence?
On the APIbenchmarks Index, AWS Textract rates higher (87.7 vs 86.2). It leads on the four weighted criteria, but price is reported separately, so the best choice still depends on your budget.
Verdict in one line
AWS Textract leads by 1.5 points (87.7 vs 86.2) and wins 2 of 4 criteria; Azure AI Document Intelligence wins 2.
Winner by criterion
| Criterion |  AWS Textract | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Documentation & DX | 82 | 84 | |
| Reliability | 95 | 92 | AWS Textract |
| Ecosystem & SDKs | 95 | 88 | AWS Textract |
| Accessibility | 78 | 80 |
Choose AWS Textract if… / choose Azure AI Document Intelligence if…
Choose AWS Textract if- →reliability matters most to you (95 vs 92)
- →ecosystem & sdks matters most to you (95 vs 88)
- →you need broad SDK coverage (10 official SDKs vs 5)
- →your use case matches its focus: cloud-native ocr for aws workloads
- →documentation & dx matters most to you (84 vs 82)
- →accessibility matters most to you (80 vs 78)
- →your use case matches its focus: prebuilt + custom models on azure
Pricing side by side
AWS Textract- Model
- Per 1k pages
- Free tier
- 1,000 pages/mo for 3 months (DetectDocumentText only)
- Free Tier (first 3 months)$0
- Detect Document Text (raw OCR)$1.50 / 1k pages
- Analyze Document – Forms$50 / 1k pages
- Analyze Document – Tables$15 / 1k pages
- Forms + Tables + Queries (bundle)$70 / 1k pages
- AnalyzeExpense / AnalyzeID$10 / $25 per 1k pages
- Model
- Per 1k pages
- Free tier
- 500 pages/mo (F0, first 2 pages per request)
- Free (F0)$0
- Read (OCR)$1.50 / 1,000 pages
- Layout$10 / 1,000 pages
- Prebuilt models$10 / 1,000 pages
- Custom extraction$30 / 1,000 pages
Vendor-published pricing, verified 2026-06-27 (AWS Textract) and 2026-06-27 (Azure AI Document Intelligence).
SDK and language coverage
Both · 2
Python (boto3)Java
Only AWS Textract · 8
JavaScript / Node.jsAWS SDK for .NET (C#)GoRubyPHPC++AWS CLITextractor (open-source Python helper library)
Only Azure AI Document Intelligence · 3
C# / .NETJavaScript / TypeScriptREST API
Strengths and weaknesses
AWS Textract- +Strong, benchmark-validated accuracy on printed text, forms, and tables (~94% avg in independent tests, on par with Google/Azure)
- +Cheap raw OCR at $1.50/1k pages with steep volume discounts above 1M pages/month
- +Purpose-built endpoints for invoices/receipts, IDs, and loan/mortgage packages reduce custom modeling
- –Structured extraction is expensive, Forms is $50/1k pages and the full bundle $70/1k
- –Pricing is confusing: the same API costs different amounts by feature combination and varies by region
- –Cost tracking in Cost Explorer is awkward and usage is hard to attribute
- +Large library of prebuilt models (invoice, receipt, ID, W-2, health insurance card, pay stub, bank statement) usable with zero training
- +Strong layout/OCR engine that recovers tables, selection marks, and document structure well on clean printed docs
- +Custom extraction trainable on as few as ~5 labeled documents
- –Costs scale steeply at volume, Layout/prebuilt at $10 and custom at $30 per 1,000 pages add up fast
- –Steep learning curve for training and composing custom models
- –Requires an Azure subscription, resource provisioning, and API-key management, infrastructure overhead for teams that just need data out of a PDF
AWS Textract vs Azure AI Document Intelligence: questions
- Which has better documentation, AWS Textract or Azure AI Document Intelligence?
- Azure AI Document Intelligence scores higher on documentation and developer experience: 84 vs 82 out of 100.
- Which is more reliable, AWS Textract or Azure AI Document Intelligence?
- AWS Textract scores higher on reliability: 95 vs 92 out of 100.
- Do AWS Textract and Azure AI Document Intelligence have a free tier?
- AWS Textract: yes (1,000 pages/mo for 3 months (DetectDocumentText only)). Azure AI Document Intelligence: yes (500 pages/mo (F0, first 2 pages per request)).
- How are AWS Textract and Azure AI Document Intelligence priced?
- AWS Textract: Per 1k pages. Azure AI Document Intelligence: Per 1k pages.
- Which has more official SDKs?
- AWS Textract lists 10 official SDKs, Azure AI Document Intelligence lists 5.