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Document to Markdown

Iteration Layer vs Mistral OCR

Mistral OCR converts documents to markdown with excellent OCR quality — but is US-based and per-page.

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Why developers switch from Mistral OCR

Mistral has best-in-class OCR and returns markdown, but doesn't describe image content and processes files from US servers.

Image description field

When you convert an image file, we return both the OCR-extracted markdown and a natural language description of the image content. Mistral OCR returns text extraction only — no semantic understanding of what the image shows.

EU hosting with GDPR compliance

Mistral OCR processes documents on US infrastructure. We process all documents on EU servers with zero data retention and a Data Processing Agreement available for every customer.

Office format support

Mistral OCR handles PDF and image input. We also convert DOCX, XLSX, CSV, TXT, and HTML files to markdown in the same API call.

Feature-by-feature comparison

We went through the docs so you don't have to. Here's how every feature compares — including the ones where we're not the better choice.

Feature Iteration Layer Mistral OCR
Markdown output
Clean markdown

Returns well-structured markdown with preserved headings, tables, and lists from any document
Clean markdown

High-quality markdown with strong structure preservation and table support
Image description
Yes

Returns a natural language description of image content alongside OCR markdown for image files
No

Text extraction only — no semantic description of visual image content
Supported input formats
PDF, images, Office

Process PDFs, images, DOCX, XLSX, CSV, TXT, and HTML in a single API endpoint
PDF, images

Supports PDF and image files for OCR and markdown conversion
Table preservation
Markdown tables

Tables are extracted and rendered as clean markdown table syntax
Markdown tables

Strong table-to-markdown conversion as part of Mistral's document understanding
Multilingual support
Standard

Standard multilingual document support
Strong

Excellent multilingual OCR and text extraction across many languages
MCP server
Yes

MCP server available for integration with AI agents and assistants
No

No MCP server available for the OCR API
EU hosting
EU only

All processing happens exclusively on EU-hosted servers
US-based

Processing infrastructure is located in the United States
Pricing model
Per page

Simple, predictable per-page pricing
Per page

Per page processed as part of Mistral's pay-as-you-go API platform
Infrastructure required
None

Fully managed API with no deployment or infrastructure to manage
None

Fully managed cloud API with no infrastructure to manage
GDPR / Data privacy
Zero retention

No files or results stored beyond temporary 90-day logs
US-based processing

Documents processed on US infrastructure with standard data policies

Pricing

Start with free trial credits. No credit card required.

Developer

For individuals & small projects

$29.99 /per month
  • 1,000 credits / month
    That's either: 1,000 image transformations 500 document generations 500 image generations 500 sheet generations 200 document extractions (5-page docs) 200 markdown conversions (5-page docs)
  • All APIs included
  • Free trial credits per API
  • Email support
  • Budget caps per key
  • Optional auto top-up
Get Your Free API Key
Most Popular

Startup

Save 40%

For growing teams

$119.99 /per month
  • 5,000 credits / month
    That's either: 5,000 image transformations 2,500 document generations 2,500 image generations 2,500 sheet generations 1,000 document extractions (5-page docs) 1,000 markdown conversions (5-page docs)
  • All APIs included
  • Free trial credits per API
  • Priority support
  • Budget caps per key
  • Optional auto top-up
Get Your Free API Key

Business

Save 47%

For high-volume workloads

$319.99 /per month
  • 15,000 credits / month
    That's either: 15,000 image transformations 7,500 document generations 7,500 image generations 7,500 sheet generations 3,000 document extractions (5-page docs) 3,000 markdown conversions (5-page docs)
  • All APIs included
  • Free trial credits per API
  • Priority support
  • Budget caps per key
  • Optional auto top-up
Get Your Free API Key
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Free trial credits included. No credit card required.

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