Docling vs Unstructured API + MCP

Docling 85

Local-software lines, graded on the library with docling-serve and docling-mcp. Installs from PyPI (docling 2.148.0, per the PyPI release feed) for Python 3.10 and later on macOS, Linux and Windows (20). Public CI workflows for checks, tests and heavy examples; the pass state of the default branch was not read (20 of 25). About 719 open issues and 223 open pull requests on the repository page against 13 releases in four weeks, many of them fixes; replies not sampled (15 of 25). Semantic-release changelog with Feature and Fix sections and Breaking sections where they apply (15). Version 2.x since 2024 (15). 20+20+15+15+15 = 85.

Unstructured API + MCP 27

Readings on the docs and pricing pages are per the 1 October check, not re-read on 5 November (the website terms bar robots on unstructured.io and its docs). No status page found, status.unstructured.io didn't resolve (0). No incident history to read (5). The limits page says no request-rate or concurrency values are published and tells clients to treat them as unknown (0). The recovery guide maps rate_limited to 429, says to back off and wait for Retry-After when it's sent, and says to check existing job IDs before resubmitting, safe-retry guidance with no idempotency key (12 of 15). No SLA found (0). Transform wasn't labelled beta in the pages read (10). 0+5+0+12+0+10 = 27.

Docling 77

No OpenAPI file is published; docling-serve is a FastAPI app that serves its schema when run, and docling-mcp's tools carry typed inputs with Field descriptions from Pydantic (20 of 25). No llms.txt on the docs site; Markdown docs and AGENTS.md in the repository (5 of 10). MCP tool docstrings say what each tool returns and which other tool supplies its key, with little on when not to use one (14 of 20). Pydantic types with descriptions, few enums (12 of 15). Many runnable examples in docs/examples, with errors raised as Python exceptions that name the fix, such as OperationNotAllowed and unknown document keys listing valid ones (11 of 15). Changelog per release (15). 20+5+14+12+11+15 = 77.

Unstructured API + MCP 51

All readings per the 1 October check, not re-read on 5 November (the website terms bar robots on unstructured.io and its docs). No downloadable OpenAPI spec found; the per-endpoint API reference pages aren't a machine-readable contract (0). llms.txt, Markdown pages and an agent guide (10). Guides for parse, extract, chaining and jobs. MCP tool descriptions not read (12 of 20). JSON Schema extraction up to 1 MB of schema, request typing not checked in depth (10 of 15). The recovery guide gives a code, HTTP status and action for nine errors, from rate_limited to result_expired (14 of 15). Versioned /api/v2 path, no Transform changelog (5 of 15). 0+10+12+10+14+5 = 51.

Docling 60

Self-hosted rule. Free MIT software with nothing to buy, so 20 + 20 + 20, and no payment protocol (0). 60.

Unstructured API + MCP 40

Pricing per the 1 October check, not re-read on 5 November (the website terms bar robots on unstructured.io and its docs). No x402, MPP or L402 (0). $0.015 a page after the free pages, on the public pricing page (20). 10,000 free pages with no card (20). A person signs up in a browser (0). 0+20+20+0 = 40.

Docling 77

About 25 MCP tools in the default groups (15), selectable as conversion, generation and manipulation groups, with anchor tools to read one part of a document (22 of 25). max_num_pages, max_file_size and page ranges on conversion, Markdown or JSON export (15 of 20). Errors are exceptions with messages, such as an unknown document key listing the valid ones (12 of 20). readOnlyHint and destructiveHint on the MCP tools, and conversions are repeatable (18 of 20). Sensible defaults and one call to convert; Python only, with a docling-client package for docling-serve (10 of 15). 22+15+12+18+10 = 77.

Unstructured API + MCP 58

All readings per the 1 October check, not re-read on 5 November (the website terms bar robots on unstructured.io and its docs). The MCP tool count isn't published. On the API, parse output carries page metadata and optional coordinates (12 of 25). jobsList, jobsGet, cancel and delete endpoints (12 of 20). Every error code has a recovery action (18 of 20). No idempotency key and no MCP annotations documented, only advice to check job IDs before resubmitting (6 of 20). Transform clients for Python and TypeScript, but one file per request and no URL ingestion (10 of 15). 12+12+18+6+10 = 58.

Docling 89

v2.148.0 on 5 November 2026, the day before this check (30). 13 releases from 9 October to 5 November (20). Open issues and pull requests are numerous, an AI triage workflow and PR reminders run, and six maintainers are named; replies not sampled (17 of 25). docling-mcp publishes to the official MCP registry on release under io.github.docling-project, per its workflow and server.json; the registry entry itself was not read (12 of 15). CI, a dependency-update workflow and uv.lock (10). 30+20+17+12+10 = 89.

Unstructured API + MCP 80

The open-source library, a listed package, was tagged 0.27.36 on 29 October 2026, 7 days before this check (30). It has 19 tags in the 90 days from 7 August, from 0.27.0 (21 August) to 0.27.36 (20). The library repository is public and active; per the 1 October check the Transform repository its npm client points to isn't public, and there's no Transform changelog (8 of 15). Transform clients for Python and TypeScript, per the 1 October check (15). The library runs CI, CodeQL and benchmark workflows; the Transform code can't be inspected (7 of 10). 30+20+8+15+7 = 80.

Docling 65

MIT, an OSI licence, with model licences noted as separate (30). Runs locally, remote services off by default and air-gapped use documented; no privacy statement is needed for local use, but model downloads from Hugging Face on first run are only partly described (22 of 30). Breaking changes are marked in the changelog, with no deprecation policy or dated notices (10 of 20). No telemetry found in the source; nothing to opt out of (15 of 20). 30+22+10+15 = 77.

Unstructured API + MCP 58

The partitioning library is Apache-2.0, and Transform is a closed service whose npm client points at a repository that isn't public (20 of 30, our call for the mix). Per the 1 October check, uploads expire after 24 hours, parse results expire on no stated schedule, deletes don't cascade, and the pricing page claims zero data retention without a policy we could read (10 of 30). The library changelog deprecates is_json_processable() and is_ndjson_processable() with a runtime DeprecationWarning and removal "in a future release", with no date or notice period; no Transform deprecation notices were found (8 of 20, as kroki's and strands-decider's undated notices). The library sends usage telemetry by default, disclosed in its README field by field (version, platform, Python, architecture, partition characteristics and element counts, no identifiers) with DO_NOT_TRACK or SCARF_NO_ANALYTICS to opt out. No subprocessor list or data locations found for Transform (8 of 20). 20+10+8+8 = 46.