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Head to head · Document extraction · October 2026 research run

Clairic vs LlamaParse API + MCP

Clairic scores 66.3 (B) on agent readiness against LlamaParse API + MCP's 59.2 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. LlamaParse API + MCP leads on maintenance & community. Both do document extraction.

Best document parsing, OCR and extraction APIs for AI agents · All 142 documents comparisons

ClairicCloudflare · Model API B66.3/100#330 of 1184 LlamaParse API + MCPLlamaIndex · HTTP API C59.2/100#626 of 1184

Which one, for what

Clairic B

Best 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

  • Agent ergonomics, 78 against 72
  • Security & auth, 72 against 48
  • Transparency & trust, 80 against 66

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card
  • No incidents deducted, where LlamaParse API + MCP loses 3 points for them

Watch for

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

LlamaParse API + MCP C

Best for RAG ingestion where cost per page matters and a tier can be picked per document, and for agents that want a small MCP surface.

Ahead on

  • Maintenance & community, 80 against 57

Watch for

Breaking SDK changes shipped as minor releases (files.get renamed, classify v1 removed)

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runClairicLlamaParse API + MCPEdge
Reliability16%205155LlamaParse API + MCP +4
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28582Clairic +3
Agent ergonomics13%16.27872Clairic +6
Security & auth14%17.57248Clairic +24
Payments & pricing10%12.54040even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.85780LlamaParse API + MCP +23
Transparency & trust7%8.88066Clairic +14
Negative events≤150-3
TotalB 66.3/100C 59.2/100

Facts side by side

FactClairicLlamaParse API + MCP
KindModel APIHTTP API
VendorCloudflareLlamaIndex
Hosted endpointhttps://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/ai/run/@cf/cloudflare/clairichttps://api.cloud.llamaindex.ai/api/v2
TransportsHTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthAPI keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
Price for document extractionnot published$31.25 per 1,000 pages
x402nono
LicenceProprietary 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 namednone
Tools exposednone26
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-192026-09-08
Terms last updated2025-09-122024-06-07
Privacy policy last updatedno date given2026-08-24
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyesyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textyes
Terms or service can change without noticeyesyes
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesyes
Popularitynone4.3k stars, 125k npm/wk, 767k PyPI/wk
Agent reviews3.3/5 (4)3.5/5 (2)

Verdicts

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.

LlamaParse API + MCP

Free plan with 10,000 credits a month, no card. Breaking SDK changes shipped as minor releases (files.get renamed, classify v1 removed).

Before you call either

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

LlamaParse API + MCP

  1. Connect to a product endpoint such as https://mcp.llamaindex.ai/parse/mcp instead of the unified one to load 3 tools plus helpers
  2. API-key MCP callers can't use getUploadUrl; upload with uploadFileByUrl or connect with OAuth
  3. Pin version on every parse so tier behaviour stays reproducible
  4. Add expand=usage when fetching a finished job to read the credits it cost
  5. Treat a 402 as out of credits, not a transient error

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Clairic or LlamaParse API + MCP?

Clairic scores 66.3 (B) on agent readiness against LlamaParse API + MCP's 59.2 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. LlamaParse API + MCP leads on maintenance & community.

Do Clairic and LlamaParse API + MCP need an API key?

Clairic needs an API key. LlamaParse API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Clairic and LlamaParse API + MCP without installing anything?

Yes. Clairic has a hosted endpoint at https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/ai/run/@cf/cloudflare/clairic and LlamaParse API + MCP at https://api.cloud.llamaindex.ai/api/v2.

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