# Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API vs Clairic

> Clairic scores 66.3 (B) to Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract's 55.9 (C) for document extraction. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-cloudflare-clairic
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-cloudflare-clairic.md (~2,850 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-cloudflare-clairic.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-cloudflare-clairic.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-21

Clairic scores 66.3 (B) on agent readiness against Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API's 55.9 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do document extraction.

- Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API: grade C, 55.9/100, rank #734 of 1184. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/adobe-pdf-extract.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/adobe-pdf-extract.json
- Clairic: grade B, 66.3/100, rank #330 of 1184. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudflare-clairic.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-clairic.json
- Best document parsing, OCR and extraction APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/document-extraction/index.md
- All 142 documents comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/document-extraction/index.md
- Best PDF manipulation and conversion APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/pdf-tools/index.md
- All 25 pdf comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pdf-tools/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API (C)

Good for: Teams already on Adobe that want PDF extraction and PDF manipulation on one credential, with EU processing.

Watch for: No published paid price, paid use goes through sales

### Clairic (B)

Good for: Typed fields, estimates and next-step forecasts from emails, invoices, receipts and other text or images inside Cloudflare, each with a null probability and confidence.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 85 against 80
- Agent ergonomics, 78 against 57
- Security & auth, 72 against 55
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 20

Watch for: Preview only. Cloudflare calls the endpoint an early checkpoint and expects to replace it under the unversioned ID `@cf/cloudflare/clairic`


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API | Clairic | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 51 | Clairic +1 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 85 | Clairic +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 57 | 78 | Clairic +21 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 55 | 72 | Clairic +17 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 40 | Clairic +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 53 | 57 | Clairic +4 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 80 | Clairic +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **55.9 · C** | **66.3 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API | Clairic |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | Model API |
| Vendor | Adobe | Cloudflare |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://pdf-services.adobe.io` | `https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/ai/run/@cf/cloudflare/clairic` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary hosted preview under Cloudflare's Self-Serve Subscription Agreement and the model page's own terms. Cloudflare says open weights will follow soon, with no date or licence named |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-08-10 | 2026-10-19 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2025-09-12 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-10-24 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | yes |
| Popularity | 165 stars, 82k npm/wk, 58k PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | 3.3/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API.** Public OpenAPI 3.0.1 spec covering Extract, PDF to Markdown and 20 other operations. No published paid price, paid use goes through sales.

**Clairic.** Clairic's price is public at $0.10 per million input tokens with no output charge, and its docs publish JSON Schemas, limitations and when to use a decision model instead. It is a preview that Cloudflare calls an early checkpoint, served under an unversioned ID with no SLA, and its promised open weights have no date or licence.

## Before you call either

### Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API

1. Cache the access token and reuse it until it expires
2. Budget 1 Document Transaction per 5 pages for Extract and PDF to Markdown, so 500 free transactions cover about 2,500 pages
3. Pass `notifiers` with a callback URL instead of polling the job status
4. Use `pdf-services-ew1.adobe.io` when documents must stay in the EU
5. Check `/operation/pdfproperties` first, since copy-protected PDFs fail Extract with DISQUALIFIED_PERMISSIONS

### Clairic

1. Send `model` as `clairic` in the body as well as in the URL. The input schema requires `model` and `fields`
2. Set `reference_date`, or add a line giving today's date to the state, for any field that depends on the current date
3. Treat a null `value` as not found, and read `p_null`, `confidence` or the 80% interval before acting. Typed output is well formed, not necessarily correct
4. Extract the inputs and do multi-step sums and table totals in code. Cloudflare says long arithmetic chains aren't reliable yet
5. Embed images as data URLs or base64 objects, at most four, 4 MiB each and 8 MiB in all. Remote image URLs are refused
6. Read the internal code on a 429. 3036 means the day's 10,000 free neurons are spent, 3040 means capacity, so retry later

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API or Clairic?

Clairic scores 66.3 (B) on agent readiness against Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API's 55.9 (C), and leads in every scored category.

### Do Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API and Clairic need an API key?

Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API uses an OAuth sign-in. Clairic needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API and Clairic without installing anything?

Yes. Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API has a hosted endpoint at https://pdf-services.adobe.io and Clairic at https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/ai/run/@cf/cloudflare/clairic.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-cloudflare-clairic.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-cloudflare-clairic.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "adobe-pdf-extract", "b": "cloudflare-clairic"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare adobe-pdf-extract cloudflare-clairic`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/adobe-pdf-extract.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-clairic.json

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- [Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API vs Amazon Textract](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-amazon-textract.md)
- [Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API vs Azure Document Intelligence](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-azure-document-intelligence.md)
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- [Clairic vs Extend API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clairic-vs-extend.md)
- [Clairic vs Google Cloud Document AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clairic-vs-google-cloud-document-ai.md)
- [Clairic vs Invofox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clairic-vs-invofox.md)
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- [Clairic vs LlamaParse API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clairic-vs-llamaparse.md)
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