# Extend API + MCP vs LlamaParse API + MCP

> Extend API + MCP has a score of 62.9 (B) against LlamaParse API + MCP's 59.6 (C). Both do docs parse. The largest gap is reliability, 12 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-llamaparse
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-llamaparse.md (~1,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-llamaparse.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-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
- Updated: 2026-10-05

Extend API + MCP has a score of 62.9 (B) against LlamaParse API + MCP's 59.6 (C). Both do docs parse. The largest gap is reliability, 12 points.

- Extend API + MCP: grade B, 62.9/100, rank #211 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/extend.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/extend.json
- LlamaParse API + MCP: grade C, 59.6/100, rank #262 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/llamaparse.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/llamaparse.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Extend API + MCP for reliability (+12), schema & documentation (+5).

Pick LlamaParse API + MCP for security & auth (+5), payments & pricing (+10).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Extend API + MCP | LlamaParse API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 67 | 55 | Extend API + MCP +12 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 82 | Extend API + MCP +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 68 | 72 | LlamaParse API + MCP +4 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 43 | 48 | LlamaParse API + MCP +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 40 | LlamaParse API + MCP +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 80 | Extend API + MCP +2 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 70 | LlamaParse API + MCP +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **62.9 · B** | **59.6 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Extend API + MCP | LlamaParse API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Extend | LlamaIndex |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.extend.ai` | `https://api.cloud.llamaindex.ai/api/v2` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | none |
| Tools exposed | 86 | 26 |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `ai.extend/extend` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-25 | 2026-09-08 |
| Popularity | 124k npm/wk, 59k PyPI/wk | 4.3k stars, 125k npm/wk, 767k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 4/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Extend API + MCP.** Hosted MCP with OAuth scoped to workspaces and to test or production, and a tools filter with nine groups. Parse is billed on top of Extract, Split and Classify, so Performance Extract costs 5 credits a page.

**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

### Extend API + MCP

1. Connect with `https://mcp.extend.ai/mcp?tools=parse,extract,files` to keep the schema small
2. Every MCP call names a workspace and TEST or PRODUCTION; start in TEST
3. Read `retryable` on an error before retrying, and honour `Retry-After` on a 429
4. Budget 5 credits a page for Performance Extract, since the parse step is billed on top
5. Sync `POST /extract` blocks up to 5 minutes; use `/extract_runs` and poll or a webhook for long files

### 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

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