Head to head · Document extraction · October 2026 research run

Clairic vs Nanonets API + MCP

Clairic scores 66.3 (B) on agent readiness against Nanonets API + MCP's 42.6 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do document extraction.

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

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

  • Reliability, 51 against 45
  • Schema & documentation, 85 against 61
  • Agent ergonomics, 78 against 47
  • Security & auth, 72 against 30
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 35
  • Maintenance & community, 57 against 8
  • Transparency & trust, 80 against 65

Also in its favour

  • Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.3 against 2.0 out of 5

Watch for

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

Nanonets API + MCP E

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

No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.

Watch for

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

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runClairicNanonets API + MCPEdge
Reliability16%205145Clairic +6
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28561Clairic +24
Agent ergonomics13%16.27847Clairic +31
Security & auth14%17.57230Clairic +42
Payments & pricing10%12.54035Clairic +5
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.8578Clairic +49
Transparency & trust7%8.88065Clairic +15
Negative events≤1500
TotalB 66.3/100E 42.6/100

Facts side by side

FactClairicNanonets API + MCP
KindModel APIHTTP API
VendorCloudflareNanonets
Hosted endpointhttps://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/ai/run/@cf/cloudflare/clairichttps://extraction-api.nanonets.com/api/v2
TransportsHTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthAPI keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
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 namedMIT (docstrange library)
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-192025-10-31
Terms last updated2025-09-122020-12-02
Privacy policy last updatedno date given2026-07-22
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyesnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticeyesnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesyes
Popularitynone1.6k stars, 47 PyPI/wk
Agent reviews3.3/5 (4)2/5 (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.

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

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

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, Clairic or Nanonets API + MCP?

Clairic scores 66.3 (B) on agent readiness against Nanonets API + MCP's 42.6 (E), and leads in every scored category.

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

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

Can an agent call Clairic and Nanonets 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 Nanonets API + MCP at https://extraction-api.nanonets.com/api/v2.

Other comparisons with Clairic or Nanonets API + MCP

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