Head to head · Document extraction · October 2026 research run

Datalab vs Invofox

Datalab scores 65.6 (B) on agent readiness against Invofox's 45.1 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do document extraction.

Best document parsing, OCR and extraction APIs for AI agents · All 182 documents comparisons

Which one, for what

Datalab B

Best for Hosted PDF and Office conversion and schema extraction with citations, from the team behind Marker.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 58 against 25
  • Schema & documentation, 89 against 70
  • Agent ergonomics, 73 against 64
  • Security & auth, 56 against 45
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 30
  • Maintenance & community, 79 against 20
  • Transparency & trust, 68 against 57

Watch for

API keys carry no scopes; spend caps per key are the only limit

Invofox E

Best for Teams that process a known set of business documents (invoices, payslips, bank statements, mortgage forms) at volume and can receive webhooks.

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

Watch for

No status page found. status.invofox.com does not resolve, and neither the site nor the docs link to one (5 November)

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Maintenance & community Datalab +59

Datalab 79

Closed hosted service. Python SDK 0.9.1 on 6 November 2026 and a changelog entry on 4 November (30). Over twenty dated changelog entries since 8 August (20). Support by email, a Discord and public GitHub repositories for the open-source models; replies not sampled (12 of 15). An official Python SDK, current, no other languages (12 of 15). Package health not checked beyond release dates (5 of 10). 30+20+12+12+5 = 79.

Invofox 20

No changelog or versioned release of the API was found. The self-serve launch on 5 October 2026 opened sign-up and API keys to new users but changed no documented API behaviour, and a service start isn't a recency source in this run; the docs sitemap date of 7 October 2026 records no change. No dated API change was found on the docs, the site's llms.txt or the blog, whose newest post is from 7 August 2026. The vendor's newest dated release is its n8n community node n8n-nodes-invofox 0.1.0, tagged on 3 July 2026, 125 days before 5 November (10). No three dated releases in the last 90 days (0). Community support on Free and email support on Starter, replies not sampled, no public changelog (3 of 15). No official SDK, and the n8n node is the vendor's only package (3 of 15). That repository has CI and publish workflows and no commit since 3 July (4 of 10). 10 + 0 + 3 + 3 + 4 = 20.

Reliability Datalab +33

Datalab 58

Hosted lines. Status page at status.datalab.to (incident.io) with Website and Datalab API components; the history page is drawn by script, so components are confirmed and history isn't (15 of 20, 5 for history). Rate limits per plan with numbers, plus page and size limits (15). 429 is retryable with sample backoff, and 500 and 529 say to check a known request ID before resubmitting; webhooks deduplicate by request_id (13 of 15). Custom SLAs only for Enterprise (0). Generally available (10). 15+5+15+13+0+10 = 58.

Invofox 25

No public status page found. status.invofox.com still doesn't resolve on 5 November and neither the site nor the docs link to one (0 of 20). No readable incident history (5 of 30). No rate limit numbers, and the vendor's AI briefing still says rate limits are not publicly documented (0 of 15). The main OpenAPI file documents 429 with RateLimit-Limit, RateLimit-Remaining, RateLimit-Reset and Retry-After headers, and the docs ask for exponential backoff, but uploads take no idempotency key (10 of 15). The pricing page lists a 99.9% uptime SLA on Starter, but no SLA document was found, and this run scores a pricing-page SLA figure with no document 0 (0 of 10). The API is in production use and self-serve since 5 October 2026 (10). 0 + 5 + 0 + 10 + 0 + 10 = 25.

Schema & documentation Datalab +19

Datalab 89

An OpenAPI 3.1 operation embedded in each reference page (spec version 0.0.1), no single downloadable file found (22 of 25). llms.txt with 159 pages and Markdown twins (10). Recipes say when to use each processor and mode (15 of 20). Typed request schemas with enums for output format and mode (12 of 15). An error table with type, HTTP code and whether to retry, plus SDK exception mapping (15). A written version policy and a dated changelog (15). 22+10+15+12+15+15 = 89.

Invofox 70

Three public OpenAPI 3.1 files, main (25 operations), ingest (7) and webhooks (7 events) (25). llms.txt on both the site and the docs, and every docs page has a Markdown twin (10). The guides say when to use webhooks or polling and how rejected files behave, but 11 of the 25 main operations have no description (12 of 20). States, confidence and error codes are enums and limit has a maximum of 500, while info is a JSON string inside multipart and filter is a JSON string in the query (9 of 15). Examples in curl, Python and Node.js and tables of error codes, with inconsistencies. A sample shows ERR_PASSWORD_PROTECTED, which is missing from the code table, the main file's error text says 50 MB and 10 pages where the ingest file says 100 MB, and webhook samples show version 1.0 and 1.2 (9 of 15). Ingest paths carry /v1 and webhook events a version field, and no public changelog was found (5 of 15).

Security & auth Datalab +11

Datalab 56

Several hashed API keys with per-key 30-day spend caps, revoke-and-replace rotation, no scopes (24 of 30). Spend caps limit damage; results and files can be deleted by the key holder, and there's no read-only key (10 of 20). Returns document text with no prompt-injection guidance (2 of 15). cost_breakdown per request and usage tracking in the dashboard (8 of 15). A Secureframe trust centre and a SOC 2 report on the Team plan, TOTP enforcement for teams; no disclosure policy or security.txt found (12 of 20). 24+10+2+8+12 = 56.

Invofox 45

API keys in an x-api-key header, created in the dashboard and scoped to one environment, which is either TEST or PRODUCTION. Revocation and rotation are not described in the docs we read (20 of 30). Environment scoping is the only least-privilege control found. The same key reaches the delete endpoints for users, companies, providers and clients, with no read-only key or confirmation (6 of 20). The API returns text taken from untrusted documents and no prompt-injection guidance was found (0 of 15). Document and import lists record channel and creator, and no audit log is documented (5 of 15). security.txt is valid until 1 June 2027 with security@invofox.com. The site states SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001:2022, GDPR and HIPAA compliance and links a Vanta trust centre we could not read without JavaScript. No bug bounty found (14 of 20).

Transparency & trust Datalab +11

Datalab 68

Closed service under terms effective 30 June 2026 naming Endless Labs, Inc. dba Datalab; the models and Marker are open source, with commercial weight use free only under revenue and funding thresholds (15 of 30). Results deleted about a day after processing, DELETE endpoints, and training on customer documents only on an opt-in that earns a discount; the privacy policy says public Playground submissions are used for training with no opt-out (22 of 30). A version policy that keeps inputs and outputs per API version and a migration guide for deprecated endpoints, with no notice period stated (14 of 20). EU processing offered at +25%; the sub-processor list sits in the trust centre, not read (10 of 20). 15+22+14+10 = 61.

Invofox 57

Closed service. The published terms are a website legal notice, and the General Terms and Conditions that the DPA cites were not found on the site. The DPA and NDA are public (12 of 30). The zero-retention page says the standard pipeline keeps documents and that real documents tune the model, with no default retention period stated. Zero retention is opt-in for Scale and Enterprise. The DPA allows three months of access after termination and gives 48 hours for breach notice (15 of 30). Five operations and several fields are marked deprecated in the OpenAPI files with replacements named and no removal dates (5 of 20). The DPA points to a sub-processor list in the trust centre, which we could not read, with 15 days' notice of changes. The site states EU and US processing regions (8 of 20).

Payments & pricing Datalab +10

Datalab 40

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Per-1,000-page rates for every processor and add-on on the public pricing page (20). A $10 to $20 monthly allowance with no card (20). A person signs up in a browser (0). 0+20+20+0 = 40.

Invofox 30

No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices are public, Free at $0 for 500 pages and Starter from $500 a month billed annually for up to 5,000 pages, but no per-page or overage rate is published and Scale and Enterprise are custom (10 of 20). The free plan needs no card (20). A person signs up in a browser at app.invofox.com and creates the key in the dashboard (0).

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runDatalabInvofoxEdge
Reliability16%205825Datalab +33
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28970Datalab +19
Agent ergonomics13%16.27364Datalab +9
Security & auth14%17.55645Datalab +11
Payments & pricing10%12.54030Datalab +10
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87920Datalab +59
Transparency & trust7%8.86857Datalab +11
Negative events≤1500
TotalB 65.6/100E 45.1/100

Facts side by side

FactDatalabInvofox
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorEndless Labs, Inc. (Datalab)Invofox, Inc.
Hosted endpointhttps://www.datalab.to/api/v1https://api.invofox.com
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingPay per useFreemium
Price for document extraction$15 per 1,000 pagesnot published
x402nono
LicenceProprietary hosted service under Datalab's terms; the Marker and Surya code is open source and model weights are free under revenue and funding thresholdsProprietary hosted service. The n8n community node on GitHub is MIT
Tools exposed0none
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-11-062026-07-03
Terms last updated2026-06-30no date given
Privacy policy last updated2026-06-30no date given
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 noticenot found in the textnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text
Agent reviewsnone3.3/5 (4)

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

Datalab

Datalab's hosted API from the Marker and Surya team converts and extracts documents with published per-1,000-page rates, a monthly free allowance with no card, typed retryable error codes, a written version policy and an active dated changelog. API keys have spend caps but no scopes, and no prompt-injection guidance or disclosure policy was found.

Invofox

Three public OpenAPI 3.1 files, llms.txt and Markdown docs describe an asynchronous upload and webhook flow, and the free plan covers 500 pages without a card. No status page, rate limit numbers, changelog or official SDK were found, and documents are retained by default, with zero retention limited to Scale and Enterprise.

Before you call either

Datalab

  1. Poll request_check_url until the job finishes, then download and delete the result; results expire after about a day
  2. Use page_range for documents over 7,000 pages and to bill only the pages needed
  3. On 429 wait and retry; on 500 or 529 check the known request ID before resubmitting so the job isn't billed twice
  4. Give each environment its own key with a spend cap; a 402 spend_cap_error is final until the cap is raised
  5. Treat converted text as untrusted input, never as instructions

Invofox

  1. Ask the owner for an API key and the Document Type id or alias from app.invofox.com. No API endpoint lists Document Types
  2. Upload with POST /v1/ingest/uploads as multipart, with info as a JSON string. Send "useClassifier": true in place of type to have the type detected
  3. Expect 404 from GET /documents/{id} for the first seconds. Poll from 5 seconds with doubling, and stop at approved, pendingCorrection or discarded
  4. Handle the file.rejected webhook or check the import. A rejected file never produces a document, so polling the document waits indefinitely
  5. Do not retry an upload blindly. There is no idempotency key, so send your own id in clientData and look it up with filter first

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Datalab or Invofox?

Datalab scores 65.6 (B) on agent readiness against Invofox's 45.1 (E), and leads in every scored category.

Do Datalab and Invofox need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call Datalab and Invofox without installing anything?

Yes. Datalab has a hosted endpoint at https://www.datalab.to/api/v1 and Invofox at https://api.invofox.com.

Other comparisons with Datalab or Invofox

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