# Amazon Textract vs Nanonets API + MCP

> Amazon Textract scores 73.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Nanonets API + MCP's 42.6 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do docs parse. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-textract-vs-nanonets
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-textract-vs-nanonets.md (~2,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-textract-vs-nanonets.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-textract-vs-nanonets.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
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Amazon Textract scores 73.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Nanonets API + MCP's 42.6 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do docs parse.

- Amazon Textract: grade BB, 73.5/100, rank #85 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amazon-textract.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/amazon-textract.json
- Nanonets API + MCP: grade E, 42.6/100, rank #790 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nanonets.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nanonets.json

## Which one, for what

### Amazon Textract (BB)

Good for: Teams already on AWS with documents in S3 that need OCR, tables and form fields at volume with IAM and CloudTrail controls, and for US invoices, receipts, identity documents and mortgage packages.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 96 against 45
- Schema & documentation, 82 against 61
- Agent ergonomics, 70 against 47
- Security & auth, 74 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 58 against 8
- Transparency & trust, 82 against 65

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

Watch for: AWS may store and use processed documents to improve the service, in other Regions too, unless an AI services opt-out policy is set on the AWS organisation

### Nanonets API + MCP (E)

Good for: A team that wants schema-shaped JSON from mixed documents and is happy to sort out the two API generations.

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No public changelog and no dated release in the last 90 days


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Amazon Textract | Nanonets API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 96 | 45 | Amazon Textract +51 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 61 | Amazon Textract +21 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 47 | Amazon Textract +23 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 74 | 30 | Amazon Textract +44 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 35 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 58 | 8 | Amazon Textract +50 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 65 | Amazon Textract +17 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **73.5 · BB** | **42.6 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Amazon Textract | Nanonets API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Amazon Web Services | Nanonets |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://textract.us-east-1.amazonaws.com` | `https://extraction-api.nanonets.com/api/v2` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the AWS Customer Agreement. The AWS SDKs and the Textractor helper library are Apache-2.0 | MIT (docstrange library) |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-08 | 2025-10-31 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-08-14 | 2020-12-02 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-18 | 2026-07-22 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 1.9M npm/wk, 208k PyPI/wk | 1.6k stars, 47 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 2/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Amazon Textract.** IAM policies limit a credential to single operations, CloudTrail logs every call, and page prices start at $1.50 per 1,000 in US East. Multipage files need S3 and an asynchronous job. Text detection covers six languages. Under the AWS Service Terms AWS may store and use documents to improve the service unless an AI services opt-out policy is set.

**Nanonets API + MCP.** Extraction API returns Markdown, CSV or JSON, with named fields or a JSON schema. No public changelog and no dated release in the last 90 days.

## Before you call either

### Amazon Textract

1. Sign with SigV4 for service `textract` at `textract.<region>.amazonaws.com`, or call `aws textract detect-document-text`. The AWS CLI can't send image bytes, so reference an S3 object
2. Use `StartDocumentTextDetection` or `StartDocumentAnalysis` for any PDF or TIFF of more than one page, pass a `ClientRequestToken`, then page `Get` calls with `NextToken` (1,000 blocks at most each)
3. Fetch results within 7 days of starting a job, or set `OutputConfig` to write them to your own S3 bucket
4. Request only the `FeatureTypes` you need. Forms cost $50 per 1,000 pages against $15 for tables or queries in US East
5. Back off on `ProvisionedThroughputExceededException` (HTTP 400) and `ThrottlingException` (HTTP 500). Neither carries Retry-After, and default quotas are 1 call a second in most Regions
6. Set the AI services opt-out policy on the AWS organisation before sending customer documents

### Nanonets API + MCP

1. Use the extraction API at `extraction-api.nanonets.com`, not `app.nanonets.com`, unless you already have a trained model
2. Pass a JSON schema in `json_options` when downstream code needs fixed field names
3. Use the async extract endpoints for long documents and poll `/api/v1/extract/results/{record_id}`
4. On a 429, wait 30 seconds and double the delay each retry
5. Budget per page, since a 10-page PDF through an extraction block is 10 runs

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Amazon Textract or Nanonets API + MCP?

Amazon Textract scores 73.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Nanonets API + MCP's 42.6 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Do Amazon Textract and Nanonets API + MCP need an API key?

Amazon Textract needs an API key. Nanonets API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Amazon Textract and Nanonets API + MCP without installing anything?

Yes. Amazon Textract has a hosted endpoint at https://textract.us-east-1.amazonaws.com and Nanonets API + MCP at https://extraction-api.nanonets.com/api/v2.


## For agents

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

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