# OpenDocRouter vs Reducto API + MCP

> Reducto API + MCP scores 62.9 (B) on agent readiness against OpenDocRouter's 56.6 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. OpenDocRouter leads on schema & documentation and security & auth. Both do docs parse. OpenDocRouter is cheaper for docs parse, $0.80 against $10 per…

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

Reducto API + MCP scores 62.9 (B) on agent readiness against OpenDocRouter's 56.6 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. OpenDocRouter leads on schema & documentation and security & auth. Both do docs parse. OpenDocRouter is cheaper for docs parse, $0.80 against $10 per 1,000 pages.

- 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
- Reducto API + MCP: grade B, 62.9/100, rank #292 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/reducto.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/reducto.json

## Which one, for what

### 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:
- Schema & documentation, 85 against 80
- Security & auth, 40 against 35

Also in its favour:
- Cheaper for docs parse, $0.80 against $10 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

### Reducto API + MCP (B)

Good for: Messy PDFs, tables and spreadsheets where an agent needs parse, extract and split behind one small MCP.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 72 against 43
- Maintenance & community, 80 against 65
- Transparency & trust, 57 against 47

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: Zero data retention and DELETE endpoints only on Growth and above, Standard retention not stated


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | OpenDocRouter | Reducto API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 43 | 72 | Reducto API + MCP +29 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 80 | OpenDocRouter +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 84 | even |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 40 | 35 | OpenDocRouter +5 |
| 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) | 65 | 80 | Reducto API + MCP +15 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 47 | 57 | Reducto API + MCP +10 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **56.6 · C** | **62.9 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | OpenDocRouter | Reducto API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | LlamaIndex | Reducto |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://www.opendocrouter.ai/v1` | `https://platform.reducto.ai` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| Price for docs parse | $0.80 per 1,000 pages | $10 per 1,000 pages |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the LlamaIndex Terms of Service with an OpenDocRouter addendum. The Python and TypeScript SDKs are MIT | none |
| Tools exposed | none | 9 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-09-11 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-10-07 | 2026-04-17 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-03-30 | 2024-01-21 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 127 PyPI/wk | 342k npm/wk, 1.1M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 4/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Reducto API + MCP.** Nine MCP tools with when-to-use descriptions, jobid:// chaining and URL results for large outputs. Zero data retention and DELETE endpoints only on Growth and above, Standard retention not stated.

## Before you call either

### 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`

### Reducto API + MCP

1. Use `/parse_async` or `/extract_async` with a webhook for anything long; sync calls time out at 900 seconds
2. Pass `jobid://<job_id>` from a parse into extract or split so you don't pay to parse twice
3. Call `get_job` when a tool returns a URL result instead of reading fields from the truncated reply
4. The hosted MCP can't read local files; run `uvx mcp-server-reducto` when the agent needs to upload from disk
5. Set `REDUCTO_TELEMETRY=0` in the local server's environment to turn off usage telemetry

## Questions

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

Reducto API + MCP scores 62.9 (B) on agent readiness against OpenDocRouter's 56.6 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. OpenDocRouter leads on schema & documentation and security & auth.

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

OpenDocRouter, at $0.80 per 1,000 pages against $10 per 1,000 pages for Reducto API + MCP. These are the vendors' published prices for the job.

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

Both need an API key.

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

Yes. OpenDocRouter has a hosted endpoint at https://www.opendocrouter.ai/v1 and Reducto API + MCP at https://platform.reducto.ai.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with OpenDocRouter or Reducto API + MCP

- [Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API vs OpenDocRouter](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-opendocrouter.md)
- [Adobe PDF Services / PDF Extract API vs Reducto API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-pdf-extract-vs-reducto.md)
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- [LlamaParse API + MCP vs Reducto API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llamaparse-vs-reducto.md)
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