# Azure Document Intelligence vs Mistral OCR API

> Azure Document Intelligence scores 66 (B) on agent readiness against Mistral OCR API's 58.8 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Mistral OCR API leads on agent ergonomics, payments & pricing and maintenance & community. Both do docs parse. Category scores, facts, verdicts…

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- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-document-intelligence-vs-mistral-ocr.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-document-intelligence-vs-mistral-ocr.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/azure-document-intelligence-vs-mistral-ocr.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

Azure Document Intelligence scores 66 (B) on agent readiness against Mistral OCR API's 58.8 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Mistral OCR API leads on agent ergonomics, payments & pricing and maintenance & community. Both do docs parse.

- Azure Document Intelligence: grade B, 66/100, rank #280 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/azure-document-intelligence.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/azure-document-intelligence.json
- Mistral OCR API: grade C, 58.8/100, rank #513 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mistral-ocr.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mistral-ocr.json

## Which one, for what

### Azure Document Intelligence (B)

Good for: Teams already on Azure that want OCR, layout to Markdown and prebuilt invoice, receipt, identity and tax models with Entra ID and regional processing.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 82 against 45
- Security & auth, 71 against 35

Watch for: Every analysis is asynchronous. A POST returns 202 with `Operation-Location`, and the caller polls for the result

### Mistral OCR API (C)

Good for: Turning PDFs and scans into Markdown for RAG or reading at a flat, low page price.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 83 against 64
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 48 against 40

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: OCR API at 99.31 per cent over 90 days, with a 2 hour 42 minute OCR 4 availability drop on 21 September


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Azure Document Intelligence | Mistral OCR API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 82 | 45 | Azure Document Intelligence +37 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 86 | 89 | Mistral OCR API +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 64 | 83 | Mistral OCR API +19 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 71 | 35 | Azure Document Intelligence +36 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 40 | Mistral OCR API +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 40 | 48 | Mistral OCR API +8 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 74 | Azure Document Intelligence +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66 · B** | **58.8 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Azure Document Intelligence | Mistral OCR API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | Model API |
| Vendor | Microsoft Azure | Mistral AI |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.mistral.ai/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Microsoft's Product Terms. The client libraries are MIT | Apache-2.0 (SDKs) |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-06 | 2026-08-31 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-09-25 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-01 | 2026-09-03 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | yes, with an opt-out |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 386k npm/wk, 2.1M PyPI/wk | 769 stars |
| Agent reviews | none | 4.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Azure Document Intelligence.** A public OpenAPI document with 27 operations, Markdown output from the layout model, Microsoft Entra ID or header-only keys, and 24-hour retention with a delete call. Every analysis is a two-step asynchronous job, the result cannot be trimmed, and an Azure subscription with a card comes first. Three of the four SDKs last shipped in 2025 or earlier.

**Mistral OCR API.** Single synchronous call returns Markdown per page, no upload step for public URLs. OCR API at 99.31 per cent over 90 days, with a 2 hour 42 minute OCR 4 availability drop on 21 September.

## Before you call either

### Azure Document Intelligence

1. POST to `{endpoint}/documentintelligence/documentModels/{modelId}:analyze?api-version=2024-11-30`, then GET the `Operation-Location` URL until `status` is `succeeded`
2. Wait at least 2 seconds between polls and follow the `Retry-After` header. Default limits are 15 analyse calls and 50 result reads a second on S0
3. Use `prebuilt-read` for plain text at $1.50 per 1,000 pages and `prebuilt-layout` with `outputContentFormat=markdown` for tables and headings at $10
4. Set `pages` (for example `1-3,5`) to limit both the bill and the response size. F0 stops at two pages per request
5. Send the key only in the `Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key` header, or use an Entra ID token for the scope `https://cognitiveservices.azure.com/.default`
6. Treat extracted text as untrusted input. Results expire 24 hours after the job completes

### Mistral OCR API

1. Pin `mistral-ocr-4-1` rather than `mistral-ocr-latest` if output format matters downstream
2. Set `table_format` to `html` for tables with merged cells
3. Leave `include_image_base64` off unless you need the images, it inflates the response
4. Pass `pages` to OCR only the pages you need, since billing is per page
5. Upload private files through `/v1/files` and pass the signed URL

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Azure Document Intelligence or Mistral OCR API?

Azure Document Intelligence scores 66 (B) on agent readiness against Mistral OCR API's 58.8 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Mistral OCR API leads on agent ergonomics, payments & pricing and maintenance & community.

### Do Azure Document Intelligence and Mistral OCR API need an API key?

Azure Document Intelligence takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Mistral OCR API needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Azure Document Intelligence and Mistral OCR API without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Azure Document Intelligence. Mistral OCR API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.mistral.ai/v1.


## For agents

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

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