PDF Vector vs Amazon Textract
Amazon Textract is an AWS machine-learning service that extracts text, forms, tables, layout and signatures from scanned documents, with pre-built APIs for expenses, IDs and lending documents.
Facts about Amazon Textract come from its public pricing and documentation pages, checked on November 11, 2026. Prices and features change, so confirm on their site before you decide.
Feature and pricing comparison
| PDF Vector | Amazon Textract | |
|---|---|---|
| Product type | Developer API, TypeScript SDK, MCP server, no-code actions | AWS developer API |
| Input formats | 27 formats, including PDF, Office, images, CSV, HTML, EPUB | JPEG, PNG, PDF, TIFF |
| Output | Markdown (optionally per page), HTML on Max; JSON via Extract; answers via Ask | JSON Block objects with bounding boxes |
| Schema-based extraction | Yes, any JSON Schema per request | No; Forms, Queries and pre-built models instead |
| Layout and coordinates | Tables kept in markdown; no bounding boxes | Yes: bounding boxes and Layout feature |
| Integrations | Zapier, Make, n8n, MCP server, REST from any language | AWS SDKs and CLI; S3 and SNS |
| Deployment and regions | Cloud (shared US instance); dedicated instances in UK, EU, US, Japan, Australia or Asia Pacific on Enterprise | AWS regions including GovCloud and EU |
| Pricing | Plans from $25/month; Document Parse $0.97 to $7.76 per 1,000 pages on Pro | $0.0015 per page for text, $0.015 with tables (US West example, first 1M pages) |
| Free tier | 100 credits, no credit card | 3 months of limited pages for new AWS customers |
When Amazon Textract is a good choice
Teams on AWS that need high-volume OCR with bounding boxes, AWS regions including GovCloud, and AWS compliance programs.
- Very low price for plain text detection ($0.0015 per page for the first million pages in the US West example).
- Bounding boxes for every element, plus Forms, Tables, Queries and Layout features.
- Runs in many AWS regions including GovCloud and EU; HIPAA eligible.
Things to consider
- No markdown output; you assemble text from Block objects yourself.
- No arbitrary JSON-schema extraction; you use Forms, Queries or pre-built APIs.
- Accepts JPEG, PNG, PDF and TIFF only; handwriting is supported in English only.
Why teams choose PDF Vector
- Clean markdown and JSON that matches your schema, ready for LLMs, without post-processing blocks.
- Office files, spreadsheets, EPUB and 20+ other formats on the same endpoint.
- No AWS setup: one API key, Zapier, Make and n8n actions, and an MCP server.