{
  "data": {
    "a": {
      "slug": "adobe-pdf-extract",
      "name": "Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API",
      "vendor": "Adobe",
      "vendorUrl": "https://developer.adobe.com/document-services/",
      "kind": "http-api",
      "category": "document-extraction",
      "summary": "Adobe's REST API for reading and changing PDFs.",
      "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/adobe-pdf-extract",
      "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/adobe-pdf-extract.md",
      "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/adobe-pdf-extract.min.md",
      "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/adobe-pdf-extract.json",
      "repo": "https://github.com/adobe/pdfservices-python-sdk-samples",
      "transports": [
        "http"
      ],
      "remoteUrl": "https://pdf-services.adobe.io",
      "packages": [
        {
          "registry": "pypi",
          "name": "pdfservices-sdk"
        },
        {
          "registry": "npm",
          "name": "@adobe/pdfservices-node-sdk"
        }
      ],
      "auth": "oauth",
      "authNotes": "OAuth server-to-server. POST client_id and client_secret to /token for an access token, then send it as Bearer plus the client id in `x-api-key`. JWT service accounts are deprecated.",
      "pricing": "freemium",
      "pricingNotes": "Free tier of 500 Document Transactions a month with no card. Extract and PDF to Markdown use 1 transaction per 5 pages, most other operations 1 per 50 pages, Auto-Tag 10 a page. Paid use is sold through sales on volume or enterprise terms, and no per-transaction price is published (https://developer.adobe.com/document-services/pricing/main/).",
      "priceSummary": "Freemium",
      "where": "hosted",
      "x402": {
        "level": "no",
        "evidence": "No x402 in docs or pricing (checked 2026-09-30).",
        "endpoints": []
      },
      "toolCount": null,
      "popularity": {
        "githubStars": 165,
        "npmWeekly": 81553,
        "pypiWeekly": 58026,
        "asOf": "2026-09-30"
      },
      "docsUrl": "https://developer.adobe.com/document-services/docs/overview/pdf-extract-api/",
      "openapi": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AdobeDocs/pdfservices-api-documentation/main/static/openapi.json",
      "capabilities": [
        "docs.parse",
        "docs.ocr",
        "docs.extract",
        "docs.tables",
        "pdf.convert",
        "pdf.merge",
        "pdf.forms",
        "pdf.generate",
        "pdf.extract"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "hosted",
        "freemium",
        "no-card",
        "free-tier",
        "enterprise",
        "closed-source",
        "openapi",
        "webhooks",
        "python",
        "typescript",
        "async-jobs"
      ],
      "lastRelease": "2026-08-10",
      "graded": true,
      "anchor": {
        "graded": true,
        "score": 56,
        "grade": "C",
        "agentReady": false,
        "rank": 307,
        "ranked": true,
        "rankOf": 452,
        "categoryRank": 6,
        "methodology": "0.3",
        "run": "2026-10-01",
        "scores": {
          "ergonomics": 57,
          "maintenance": 53,
          "payments": 20,
          "reliability": 50,
          "schema": 80,
          "security": 55,
          "transparency": 80
        },
        "pending": [
          "performance",
          "tasks"
        ],
        "assessment": {
          "confidence": "medium",
          "date": "2026-10-01"
        },
        "negative": 0,
        "verdict": "Public OpenAPI 3.0.1 spec covering Extract, PDF to Markdown and 20 other operations. No published paid price, paid use goes through sales.",
        "strengths": [
          "Public OpenAPI 3.0.1 spec covering Extract, PDF to Markdown and 20 other operations",
          "Extract error codes name the cause, such as DISQUALIFIED_SCAN_PAGE_LIMIT or BAD_PDF_COMPLEX_TABLE",
          "500 free Document Transactions a month with no card",
          "Files kept 24 hours by default, deletable at once, or never stored when you pass signed URLs",
          "security.txt and a public bug bounty on Intigriti"
        ],
        "weaknesses": [
          "No published paid price, paid use goes through sales",
          "Four steps per job (token, upload, operation, poll) and no idempotency key",
          "25 requests a minute on the free tier, no Retry-After or backoff guidance",
          "Node.js SDK unchanged since November 2024 and no llms.txt",
          "Status page renders only with JavaScript"
        ],
        "agentNotes": [
          "Cache the access token and reuse it until it expires",
          "Budget 1 Document Transaction per 5 pages for Extract and PDF to Markdown, so 500 free transactions cover about 2,500 pages",
          "Pass `notifiers` with a callback URL instead of polling the job status",
          "Use `pdf-services-ew1.adobe.io` when documents must stay in the EU",
          "Check `/operation/pdfproperties` first, since copy-protected PDFs fail Extract with DISQUALIFIED_PERMISSIONS"
        ],
        "metrics": {
          "kind": "remote",
          "measured": false
        },
        "reviewCount": 2,
        "avgRating": 3.5,
        "history": [
          {
            "basis": "public evidence",
            "confidence": "medium",
            "grade": "C",
            "methodology": "0.3",
            "pending": [
              "performance",
              "tasks"
            ],
            "run": "2026-10-01",
            "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
            "score": 56
          }
        ],
        "editorialScores": {
          "ergonomics": 57,
          "maintenance": 53,
          "payments": 20,
          "reliability": 50,
          "schema": 80,
          "security": 55,
          "transparency": 60
        },
        "provenanceScore": 100
      },
      "connect": {
        "install": "pip install pdfservices-sdk   # or: npm i @adobe/pdfservices-node-sdk",
        "http": "curl https://pdf-services.adobe.io/token \\\n  -H \"content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\" \\\n  --data-urlencode \"client_id=$PDF_SERVICES_CLIENT_ID\" --data-urlencode \"client_secret=$PDF_SERVICES_CLIENT_SECRET\""
      },
      "letme": {
        "capability": "https://letme.dev/docs.parse",
        "tool": "https://letme.dev/adobe-pdf-extract"
      },
      "sameCompany": [
        "adobe-firefly",
        "adobe-photoshop-api"
      ],
      "alsoIn": [
        "pdf-tools"
      ],
      "area": "web-data",
      "provenance": {
        "legalEntity": "Adobe Inc.",
        "domain": "adobe.com",
        "domainRegistered": "1986-11-17",
        "endpointOnVendorDomain": true,
        "terms": "https://www.adobe.com/legal/terms.html",
        "privacy": "https://www.adobe.com/privacy/policy.html",
        "statusPage": "https://status.adobe.com/products/512699",
        "changelog": "https://developer.adobe.com/document-services/docs/overview/releasenotes",
        "securityTxt": "valid",
        "checked": "2026-10-01",
        "notes": [
          "The API is served from pdf-services.adobe.io, Adobe's developer API domain, not adobe.com",
          "The status page is the PDF Services product page the docs link to, and it needs JavaScript to render"
        ],
        "score": 100
      },
      "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/adobe-pdf-extract.json",
      "live": {
        "slug": "adobe-pdf-extract",
        "probe": {
          "target": "https://pdf-services.adobe.io",
          "method": "get",
          "lastAt": "2026-10-05T00:57:15.311848953Z",
          "lastOk": true,
          "lastStatus": 404,
          "lastMs": 254,
          "authRequired": false,
          "uptime24h": 100,
          "uptime30d": 100,
          "p50ms24h": 257,
          "p95ms24h": 302,
          "samples24h": 272,
          "samples30d": 1113,
          "days": [
            {
              "date": "2026-09-30",
              "probes": 35,
              "ok": 35
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-01",
              "probes": 276,
              "ok": 276
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-02",
              "probes": 248,
              "ok": 248
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-03",
              "probes": 271,
              "ok": 271
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-04",
              "probes": 272,
              "ok": 272
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-05",
              "probes": 11,
              "ok": 11
            }
          ]
        },
        "vendorStatus": {
          "page": "https://status.adobe.com/products/512699",
          "indicator": "unknown",
          "summary": "no machine-readable status found",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T21:39:47.838008597Z"
        },
        "versions": [
          {
            "registry": "github",
            "name": "adobe/pdfservices-python-sdk-samples",
            "version": "v4.2.0",
            "released": "2025-07-11",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:19:42.423004947Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "npm",
            "name": "@adobe/pdfservices-node-sdk",
            "version": "4.1.0",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:19:41.011046726Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "pypi",
            "name": "pdfservices-sdk",
            "version": "4.3.0",
            "released": "2026-08-10",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:19:40.825263593Z"
          }
        ],
        "githubStars": 165,
        "npmWeekly": 81098,
        "pypiWeekly": 60815,
        "securityTxt": {
          "url": "https://adobe.com/.well-known/security.txt",
          "state": "valid",
          "expires": "2027-07-30T01:00:00.000Z",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:15:53.305878617Z"
        },
        "domain": {
          "domain": "adobe.com",
          "registered": "1986-11-17",
          "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/adobe.com",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:03:40.934529293Z"
        },
        "pages": [
          {
            "url": "https://developer.adobe.com/document-services/docs/overview/releasenotes",
            "kind": "deprecations",
            "status": 304,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:42:28.755027688Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "27885eb31d8e"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://developer.adobe.com/document-services/pricing/main/",
            "kind": "pricing",
            "status": 304,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:42:30.76269397Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "bf518d524ead"
          }
        ],
        "updatedAt": "2026-10-05T00:57:15.311848953Z"
      }
    },
    "b": {
      "slug": "unstructured",
      "name": "Unstructured API + MCP",
      "vendor": "Unstructured",
      "vendorUrl": "https://unstructured.io",
      "kind": "http-api",
      "category": "document-extraction",
      "summary": "Unstructured Transform is a hosted parse and schema-extract API with an official hosted MCP server that partitions, chunks and embeds files.",
      "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/unstructured",
      "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/unstructured.md",
      "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/unstructured.min.md",
      "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/unstructured.json",
      "repo": "https://github.com/Unstructured-IO/unstructured",
      "license": "Apache-2.0",
      "transports": [
        "http",
        "streamable-http"
      ],
      "remoteUrl": "https://transform.unstructured.io/api/v2",
      "packages": [
        {
          "registry": "pypi",
          "name": "unstructured-transform-client"
        },
        {
          "registry": "npm",
          "name": "unstructured-transform-client"
        },
        {
          "registry": "pypi",
          "name": "unstructured"
        },
        {
          "registry": "pypi",
          "name": "unstructured-client"
        }
      ],
      "auth": "mixed",
      "authNotes": "Transform API takes the key in an unstructured-api-key header. The hosted MCP uses OAuth, or the same key as a bearer token. Business customers get a separate API URL and one key per workspace from platform.unstructured.io or their dedicated instance.",
      "pricing": "usage",
      "pricingNotes": "Transform processes the first 10,000 pages free once per account, no card. After that pay as you go is $0.015 a page, billed monthly; requests fail past 10,000 pages until you add a card. Business (dedicated instance, VPC or multi-tenant SaaS) is custom. The open-source library is free and you pay only for your own compute (https://unstructured.io/pricing).",
      "priceSummary": "$15 / 1k pages",
      "where": "hosted",
      "x402": {
        "level": "no",
        "evidence": "No x402 or per-call crypto payment in docs or pricing (checked 2026-09-30).",
        "endpoints": []
      },
      "toolCount": null,
      "popularity": {
        "githubStars": 15520,
        "npmWeekly": 385,
        "pypiWeekly": 612156,
        "asOf": "2026-09-30"
      },
      "docsUrl": "https://docs.unstructured.io/transform/overview",
      "llmsTxt": "https://docs.unstructured.io/llms.txt",
      "registryName": "io.unstructured/transform",
      "capabilities": [
        "docs.parse",
        "docs.ocr",
        "docs.extract",
        "docs.tables",
        "docs.chunk"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "hosted",
        "freemium",
        "no-card",
        "mcp",
        "llms-txt",
        "python",
        "typescript",
        "async-jobs",
        "enterprise",
        "open-source",
        "self-hosted",
        "local"
      ],
      "lastRelease": "2026-09-30",
      "graded": true,
      "anchor": {
        "graded": true,
        "score": 47,
        "grade": "D",
        "agentReady": false,
        "rank": 390,
        "ranked": true,
        "rankOf": 452,
        "categoryRank": 8,
        "methodology": "0.3",
        "run": "2026-10-01",
        "scores": {
          "ergonomics": 58,
          "maintenance": 80,
          "payments": 40,
          "reliability": 27,
          "schema": 51,
          "security": 42,
          "transparency": 52
        },
        "pending": [
          "performance",
          "tasks"
        ],
        "assessment": {
          "confidence": "medium",
          "date": "2026-10-01"
        },
        "negative": 0,
        "verdict": "Apache-2.0 library partitions 45+ file types locally at no cost, tagged 11 times since 3 July. No status page, no published rate limits and no SLA.",
        "strengths": [
          "Apache-2.0 library partitions 45+ file types locally at no cost, tagged 11 times since 3 July",
          "Flat $0.015 a page after 10,000 free pages, no card to start",
          "Recovery guide with a code, status and action for nine errors, including Retry-After on 429",
          "Hosted MCP with OAuth"
        ],
        "weaknesses": [
          "No status page, no published rate limits and no SLA",
          "No OpenAPI file, no Transform changelog and no published MCP tool list",
          "Transform API takes nine file types, one file per request and no URLs",
          "Agent guide instructs AI agents not to look up or recommend the open-source library",
          "Library sends usage telemetry unless DO_NOT_TRACK or SCARF_NO_ANALYTICS is set"
        ],
        "agentNotes": [
          "For local ingestion, `pip install \"unstructured[all-docs]\"` and call `partition()`; no key needed, and set `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` to stop telemetry",
          "Transform returns 202 with a Location header for long parses; poll it, then pass the parse `id` as `parse_id` to Extract",
          "Uploaded files expire after 24 hours; keep the original and re-upload on a 404",
          "Treat 409 `parse_expired` and 410 `result_expired` as a signal to rerun the parse, not to retry",
          "Check for an existing job ID before resubmitting, since there's no idempotency key"
        ],
        "metrics": {
          "kind": "remote",
          "measured": false
        },
        "reviewCount": 2,
        "avgRating": 2.5,
        "history": [
          {
            "basis": "public evidence",
            "confidence": "medium",
            "grade": "D",
            "methodology": "0.3",
            "pending": [
              "performance",
              "tasks"
            ],
            "run": "2026-10-01",
            "runLabel": "October 2026 research run",
            "score": 47
          }
        ],
        "editorialScores": {
          "ergonomics": 58,
          "maintenance": 80,
          "payments": 40,
          "reliability": 27,
          "schema": 51,
          "security": 42,
          "transparency": 38
        },
        "provenanceScore": 65
      },
      "connect": {
        "install": "pip install \"unstructured[all-docs]\"   # local library; or: pip install unstructured-transform-client",
        "http": "curl https://transform.unstructured.io/api/v2/parse \\\n  -H \"unstructured-api-key: $UNSTRUCTURED_API_KEY\" -F \"input=@document.pdf\"",
        "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http --scope user unstructured-transform https://mcp.transform.unstructured.io"
      },
      "letme": {
        "capability": "https://letme.dev/docs.parse",
        "tool": "https://letme.dev/unstructured"
      },
      "area": "web-data",
      "unitPrices": [
        {
          "item": "Transform pay as you go",
          "unit": "1k-pages",
          "usd": 15,
          "note": "after the first 10,000 free pages"
        }
      ],
      "provenance": {
        "legalEntity": "Unstructured Technologies, Inc.",
        "domain": "unstructured.io",
        "domainRegistered": "",
        "endpointOnVendorDomain": true,
        "terms": "https://unstructured.io/terms-and-conditions",
        "privacy": "https://unstructured.io/privacy-policy",
        "statusPage": "",
        "changelog": "https://github.com/Unstructured-IO/unstructured/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md",
        "securityTxt": "none",
        "checked": "2026-09-30",
        "notes": [
          "RDAP has no service for .io, so the registration date is unknown",
          "The changelog is the open-source library's; no changelog is published for Transform"
        ],
        "score": 65
      },
      "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/unstructured.json",
      "live": {
        "slug": "unstructured",
        "probe": {
          "target": "https://transform.unstructured.io/api/v2",
          "method": "get",
          "lastAt": "2026-10-05T00:57:29.98135402Z",
          "lastOk": true,
          "lastStatus": 404,
          "lastMs": 578,
          "authRequired": false,
          "uptime24h": 100,
          "uptime30d": 99.91,
          "p50ms24h": 589,
          "p95ms24h": 633,
          "samples24h": 272,
          "samples30d": 1113,
          "days": [
            {
              "date": "2026-09-30",
              "probes": 35,
              "ok": 35
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-01",
              "probes": 276,
              "ok": 276
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-02",
              "probes": 248,
              "ok": 247
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-03",
              "probes": 271,
              "ok": 271
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-04",
              "probes": 272,
              "ok": 272
            },
            {
              "date": "2026-10-05",
              "probes": 11,
              "ok": 11
            }
          ]
        },
        "versions": [
          {
            "registry": "github",
            "name": "Unstructured-IO/unstructured",
            "version": "0.27.10",
            "released": "2026-09-27",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:42:55.095805963Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "mcp-registry",
            "name": "io.unstructured/transform",
            "version": "0.7.2",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T23:42:40.113054682Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "npm",
            "name": "unstructured-transform-client",
            "version": "0.18.25",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:42:51.194574206Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "pypi",
            "name": "unstructured",
            "version": "0.27.10",
            "released": "2026-09-27",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:42:51.901885429Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "pypi",
            "name": "unstructured-client",
            "version": "0.46.2",
            "released": "2026-08-24",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:42:53.100589618Z"
          },
          {
            "registry": "pypi",
            "name": "unstructured-transform-client",
            "version": "0.18.25",
            "released": "2026-10-04",
            "seenAt": "2026-10-04T16:42:51.085774814Z"
          }
        ],
        "githubStars": 15528,
        "npmWeekly": 738,
        "pypiWeekly": 326,
        "securityTxt": {
          "url": "https://unstructured.io/.well-known/security.txt",
          "state": "none",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:15:45.908901563Z"
        },
        "llmsTxt": {
          "url": "https://docs.unstructured.io/llms.txt",
          "ok": true,
          "status": 200,
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:18:19.765975201Z"
        },
        "domain": {
          "domain": "unstructured.io",
          "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:05:08.539121016Z"
        },
        "pages": [
          {
            "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Unstructured-IO/unstructured/main/CHANGELOG.md",
            "kind": "changelog",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:47:21.332820363Z",
            "changedAt": "2026-10-04T15:47:21.332820363Z",
            "fingerprint": "e35794a07326"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://unstructured.io/pricing",
            "kind": "pricing",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:48:39.387615056Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "d6877dc0b772"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://unstructured.io/privacy-policy",
            "kind": "privacy",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:48:41.815977787Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "1bd0fb908474"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://unstructured.io/terms-and-conditions",
            "kind": "terms",
            "status": 200,
            "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T15:48:43.879909961Z",
            "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
            "fingerprint": "11aaded220fc"
          }
        ],
        "updatedAt": "2026-10-05T00:57:29.98135402Z"
      }
    },
    "summary": "Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API has a score of 56 (C) against Unstructured API + MCP's 47 (D). Both do docs parse. The largest gap is schema \u0026 documentation, 29 points."
  },
  "kind": "anchor.page",
  "links": {
    "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json",
    "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-unstructured",
    "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-unstructured.json",
    "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt",
    "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-unstructured.md",
    "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-unstructured.min.md"
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  "markdown": "Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API has a score of 56 (C) against Unstructured API + MCP's 47 (D). Both do docs parse. The largest gap is schema \u0026 documentation, 29 points.\n\n- Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API: grade C, 56/100, rank #307 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/adobe-pdf-extract.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/adobe-pdf-extract.json\n- Unstructured API + MCP: grade D, 47/100, rank #390 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/unstructured.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/unstructured.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\nPick Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API for reliability (+23), schema \u0026 documentation (+29), security \u0026 auth (+13), transparency \u0026 trust (+28).\n\nPick Unstructured API + MCP for payments \u0026 pricing (+20), maintenance \u0026 community (+27).\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API | Unstructured API + MCP | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 27 | Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API +23 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 51 | Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API +29 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 57 | 58 | Unstructured API + MCP +1 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 55 | 42 | Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API +13 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 40 | Unstructured API + MCP +20 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 53 | 80 | Unstructured API + MCP +27 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 52 | Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API +28 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **56 · C** | **47 · D** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API | Unstructured API + MCP |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Adobe | Unstructured |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://pdf-services.adobe.io` | `https://transform.unstructured.io/api/v2` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | none | Apache-2.0 |\n| Tools exposed | none | none |\n| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |\n| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |\n| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | no | yes |\n| MCP registry | not listed | `io.unstructured/transform` |\n| Last release | 2026-08-10 | 2026-09-30 |\n| Popularity | 165 stars, 82k npm/wk, 58k PyPI/wk | 16k stars, 385 npm/wk, 612k PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | 2.5/5 (2) |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**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.\n\n**Unstructured API + MCP.** Apache-2.0 library partitions 45+ file types locally at no cost, tagged 11 times since 3 July. No status page, no published rate limits and no SLA.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API\n\n1. Cache the access token and reuse it until it expires\n2. Budget 1 Document Transaction per 5 pages for Extract and PDF to Markdown, so 500 free transactions cover about 2,500 pages\n3. Pass `notifiers` with a callback URL instead of polling the job status\n4. Use `pdf-services-ew1.adobe.io` when documents must stay in the EU\n5. Check `/operation/pdfproperties` first, since copy-protected PDFs fail Extract with DISQUALIFIED_PERMISSIONS\n\n### Unstructured API + MCP\n\n1. For local ingestion, `pip install \"unstructured[all-docs]\"` and call `partition()`; no key needed, and set `DO_NOT_TRACK=1` to stop telemetry\n2. Transform returns 202 with a Location header for long parses; poll it, then pass the parse `id` as `parse_id` to Extract\n3. Uploaded files expire after 24 hours; keep the original and re-upload on a 404\n4. Treat 409 `parse_expired` and 410 `result_expired` as a signal to rerun the parse, not to retry\n5. Check for an existing job ID before resubmitting, since there's no idempotency key\n\n## Other comparisons with Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API or Unstructured API + MCP\n\n- [Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API vs Extend API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-extend.md)\n- [Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API vs LlamaParse API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-llamaparse.md)\n- [Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API vs Mistral OCR API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-mistral-ocr.md)\n- [Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API vs Nanonets API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-nanonets.md)\n- [Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API vs Reducto API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-reducto.md)\n- [Extend API + MCP vs Unstructured API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-unstructured.md)\n- [LlamaParse API + MCP vs Unstructured API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llamaparse-vs-unstructured.md)\n- [Mistral OCR API vs Unstructured API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-ocr-vs-unstructured.md)\n- [Nanonets API + MCP vs Unstructured API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanonets-vs-unstructured.md)\n- [Reducto API + MCP vs Unstructured API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/reducto-vs-unstructured.md)\n- [Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API vs Mindee API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-mindee.md)\n- [Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API vs Veryfi API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-veryfi.md)\n- [Mindee API vs Unstructured API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mindee-vs-unstructured.md)\n- [Unstructured API + MCP vs Veryfi API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/unstructured-vs-veryfi.md)\n",
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