# Clairic vs LlamaParse API + MCP

> Clairic scores 66.3 (B) to LlamaParse's 59.2 (C) for document extraction. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clairic-vs-llamaparse
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clairic-vs-llamaparse.md (~2,750 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clairic-vs-llamaparse.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-clairic-vs-llamaparse.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 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.

- 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
- LlamaParse API + MCP: grade C, 59.2/100, rank #626 of 1184. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/llamaparse.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/llamaparse.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

## Which one, for what

### 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:
- 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)

Good 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

| Category | Weight | Clairic | LlamaParse API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 51 | 55 | LlamaParse API + MCP +4 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 82 | Clairic +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 72 | Clairic +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 72 | 48 | Clairic +24 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 40 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 57 | 80 | LlamaParse API + MCP +23 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 66 | Clairic +14 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **66.3 · B** | **59.2 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Clairic | LlamaParse API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Cloudflare | LlamaIndex |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/ai/run/@cf/cloudflare/clairic` | `https://api.cloud.llamaindex.ai/api/v2` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Price for document extraction | not published | $31.25 per 1,000 pages |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | 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 | none |
| Tools exposed | none | 26 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-19 | 2026-09-08 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-09-12 | 2024-06-07 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-08-24 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | none | 4.3k stars, 125k npm/wk, 767k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.3/5 (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.


## For agents

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

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