# Extend API + MCP vs OpenDocRouter

> Extend API + MCP scores 62.9 (B) on agent readiness against OpenDocRouter's 56.6 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. OpenDocRouter leads on agent ergonomics. Both do docs parse. OpenDocRouter is cheaper for docs parse, $0.80 against $6.25 per 1,000 pages. Category…

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-opendocrouter
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-opendocrouter.md (~2,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-opendocrouter.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-opendocrouter.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: 2026-10-08

Extend API + MCP scores 62.9 (B) on agent readiness against OpenDocRouter's 56.6 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. OpenDocRouter leads on agent ergonomics. Both do docs parse. OpenDocRouter is cheaper for docs parse, $0.80 against $6.25 per 1,000 pages.

- Extend API + MCP: grade B, 62.9/100, rank #291 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/extend.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/extend.json
- OpenDocRouter: grade C, 56.6/100, rank #434 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/opendocrouter.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/opendocrouter.json

## Which one, for what

### Extend API + MCP (B)

Good for: Teams building production extraction with evaluation sets and versioned processors, and for agents that need to build or tune extractors as well as run them.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 67 against 43
- Maintenance & community, 82 against 65
- Transparency & trust, 67 against 47

Watch for: Parse is billed on top of Extract, Split and Classify, so Performance Extract costs 5 credits a page

### OpenDocRouter (C)

Good for: Agents that need page-level markdown from PDFs and images and want to choose or compare models on price and published benchmark scores with one key.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 84 against 68

Also in its favour:
- Cheaper for docs parse, $0.80 against $6.25 per 1,000 pages

Watch for: Launched on 7 October 2026. The domain was registered on 23 September 2026 and both SDKs have one release, 1.0.0


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Extend API + MCP | OpenDocRouter | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 67 | 43 | Extend API + MCP +24 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 85 | Extend API + MCP +2 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 68 | 84 | OpenDocRouter +16 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 43 | 40 | Extend API + MCP +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 30 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 65 | Extend API + MCP +17 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 47 | Extend API + MCP +20 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **62.9 · B** | **56.6 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Extend API + MCP | OpenDocRouter |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Extend | LlamaIndex |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.extend.ai` | `https://www.opendocrouter.ai/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| Price for docs parse | $6.25 per 1,000 pages | $0.80 per 1,000 pages |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service under the LlamaIndex Terms of Service with an OpenDocRouter addendum. The Python and TypeScript SDKs are MIT |
| Tools exposed | 86 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | `ai.extend/extend` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-25 | 2026-10-07 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-14 | 2026-10-07 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-14 | 2024-03-30 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 124k npm/wk, 59k PyPI/wk | 127 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 4/5 (2) | none |

## 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.

**OpenDocRouter.** One endpoint reaches 11 parsing models, each with a dated recipe version, a published token price and a ParseBench score, and failed pages aren't charged. The service launched on 7 October 2026, so it has no status page, incident history, SLA or changelog yet, and no key scopes were found in the reviewed documentation.

## 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

### OpenDocRouter

1. Call `GET /v1/models` first, which needs no key, and choose a model by `avg_charge_per_page_usd` and its ParseBench scores. Send its `id` as `model`
2. Send `cache: true` on any request you might repeat. Without it the markdown exists only in the POST response and a resend is charged as a new request
3. Raise the SDK timeout above its 60-second default for sync parses. Pages can run for 270 seconds and the SDKs retry a timed-out request twice
4. Check every page's `status` before using its markdown. A 200 can be `partial`, and failed pages can be resent alone with `pages`
5. Treat 402 as final until credit is added. The hold is the model's maximum charge per page times the page count, and `GET /v1/credits` shows `available_usd`

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Extend API + MCP or OpenDocRouter?

Extend API + MCP scores 62.9 (B) on agent readiness against OpenDocRouter's 56.6 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. OpenDocRouter leads on agent ergonomics.

### Which is cheaper for docs parse, Extend API + MCP or OpenDocRouter?

OpenDocRouter, at $0.80 per 1,000 pages against $6.25 per 1,000 pages for Extend API + MCP. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.

### Do Extend API + MCP and OpenDocRouter need an API key?

Extend API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. OpenDocRouter needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Extend API + MCP and OpenDocRouter without installing anything?

Yes. Extend API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.extend.ai and OpenDocRouter at https://www.opendocrouter.ai/v1.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Extend API + MCP or OpenDocRouter

- [Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API vs Extend API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-extend.md)
- [Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API vs OpenDocRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-opendocrouter.md)
- [Extend API + MCP vs LlamaParse API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-llamaparse.md)
- [Extend API + MCP vs Mistral OCR API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-mistral-ocr.md)
- [Extend API + MCP vs Nanonets API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-nanonets.md)
- [Extend API + MCP vs Reducto API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-reducto.md)
- [Extend API + MCP vs Unstructured API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-unstructured.md)
- [LlamaParse API + MCP vs OpenDocRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llamaparse-vs-opendocrouter.md)
- [Mistral OCR API vs OpenDocRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mistral-ocr-vs-opendocrouter.md)
- [Nanonets API + MCP vs OpenDocRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nanonets-vs-opendocrouter.md)
- [OpenDocRouter vs Reducto API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opendocrouter-vs-reducto.md)
- [OpenDocRouter vs Unstructured API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opendocrouter-vs-unstructured.md)
- [Extend API + MCP vs Mindee API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-mindee.md)
- [Extend API + MCP vs Veryfi API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-veryfi.md)
- [Invofox vs OpenDocRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/invofox-vs-opendocrouter.md)
- [Mindee API vs OpenDocRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mindee-vs-opendocrouter.md)
- [OpenDocRouter vs Veryfi API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opendocrouter-vs-veryfi.md)
- [Extend API + MCP vs Invofox](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/extend-vs-invofox.md)