PaddleOCR
PaddleOCR is Baidu’s Apache document OCR / vision-language stack: drop a page on the official Hugging Face demo, click Parse Document, and read Markdown /…
OUR TAKE
Pick PaddleOCR for engineers who will run Apache PaddleOCR or poke the Space. The Space can be slow.
Good fit
Engineers who will run Apache PaddleOCR or poke the Space.
Poor fit
Teams that need a public $/1k SLA (Mistral OCR) without a GPU.
Self-host
USD, before tax · Checked 2026-10-28 · github.com/PaddlePaddle/PaddleOCR
OUR TAKE
Pick PaddleOCR for engineers who will run Apache PaddleOCR or poke the Space. The Space can be slow. (the demo says so).
Good fit
Engineers who will run Apache PaddleOCR or poke the Space.
Poor fit
Teams that need a public $/1k SLA (Mistral OCR) without a GPU.
Self-host
USD, before tax · Checked 2026-10-28 · github.com/PaddlePaddle/PaddleOCR
What it costs
USD, before tax · Checked 2026-10-28 · github.com/PaddlePaddle/PaddleOCR
Self-host
Apache-2.0. You pay hardware
$0
Hugging Face Space
Not published by the vendor
Not published by the vendor
Baidu AI Studio / ModelScope
Not published by the vendor
Not published by the vendor
Checked 2026-10-28·github.com/PaddlePaddle/PaddleOCR
Before you pay
Good fit
Engineers who will run Apache PaddleOCR or poke the Space.
Poor fit
Teams that need a public $/1k SLA (Mistral OCR) without a GPU.
Watch out
The Space can be slow. (the demo says so).
Instead, try
MinerU if papers → markdown with a hosted Pro card; Surya if layout boxes; Datalab cloud if you want a rate card
Compare PaddleOCR with
Limits, in full
- 01
The Space can be slow. (the demo says so).
- 02
Headers/footers ignored by default. in Document Parsing.
- 03
Not an invoice mailbox
If PaddleOCR isn't it
Why: papers → markdown with a hosted Pro card.
Free· paid from$9.90/mo
Free has no APIChecked 2026-10-28·mineru.io
vs PaddleOCR
Why: layout boxes; Datalab cloud if you want a rate card.
Free· paid from$0.50
Weights are not a blanket commercial Apache grantChecked 2026-10-28·datalab.to/pricing
vs PaddleOCR
Why: Allen AI PDF → text playground.
Free· open source,Apache-2.0
You bring the GPUChecked 2026-10-28·github.com/allenai/olmocr
vs PaddleOCRLimits & alternatives3 limits · MinerU, Surya, olmOCR instead
Limits, in full
- 01
The Space can be slow. (the demo says so).
- 02
Headers/footers ignored by default. in Document Parsing.
- 03
Not an invoice mailbox
If PaddleOCR isn't it
Why: papers → markdown with a hosted Pro card.
Free· paid from$9.90/mo
Free has no APIChecked 2026-10-28·mineru.io
vs PaddleOCRWhy: layout boxes; Datalab cloud if you want a rate card.
Free· paid from$0.50
Weights are not a blanket commercial Apache grantChecked 2026-10-28·datalab.to/pricing
vs PaddleOCRWhy: Allen AI PDF → text playground.
Free· open source,Apache-2.0
You bring the GPUChecked 2026-10-28·github.com/allenai/olmocr
vs PaddleOCR