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Document Processing & OCR🔴Developer
U

Unstructured

Unstructured data platform for GenAI that connects to any source, processes 64+ file types, and outputs clean AI-ready inputs.

Starting atFree
Visit Unstructured →
💡

In Plain English

Unstructured data platform for GenAI that connects to any source, processes 64+ file types, and outputs clean AI-ready inputs.

OverviewFeaturesPricingGetting StartedUse CasesIntegrationsLimitationsFAQSecurityAlternatives

Overview

Unstructured is the most widely deployed open-source document ingestion library, plus a managed platform that productizes the same pipeline for enterprise. It solves the unglamorous but critical first mile of every RAG and agent system: pulling content out of PDFs, slide decks, emails, HTML, images, spreadsheets, and 60+ other file types, normalizing it into typed elements (titles, paragraphs, lists, tables, figures), and emitting clean JSON, Markdown, or chunks ready to embed. The platform's biggest differentiator is the connector library — pre-built source connectors for SharePoint, Google Drive, S3, Salesforce, Confluence, Slack, and dozens more, and destination connectors that write into Pinecone, Weaviate, OpenSearch, Postgres pgvector, and other vector stores. That means a team can wire "every PDF in a SharePoint site, refreshed nightly, into a vector index" without building a custom ETL. Unstructured also exposes a serverless API for ad-hoc parsing, and the underlying library remains open source under Apache 2.0 with hundreds of thousands of downloads per month. Pricing is metered per page processed plus connector fees on the enterprise platform. Best fit for AI engineering teams that have validated a RAG prototype and need a production-grade ingestion pipeline they will not have to rebuild every quarter.

🦞

Using with OpenClaw

▼

Create OpenClaw skills that leverage Unstructured for document analysis and processing. Integrate via API calls or direct SDK usage.

Use Case Example:

Process documents uploaded to OpenClaw using Unstructured's specialized capabilities, then store results in memory for later reference.

Learn about OpenClaw →
🎨

Vibe Coding Friendly?

▼
Difficulty:intermediate

Document processing tool requiring some technical understanding of formats and parsing.

Learn about Vibe Coding →

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Editorial Review

Unstructured is the most comprehensive document processing pipeline, handling virtually every document format and producing clean, structured output suitable for RAG systems. The open-source library works well for common formats, while the managed API adds OCR, table extraction, and high-volume processing. Users note that output quality varies significantly by document type and complexity — simple text documents work perfectly, while complex PDFs with tables and images require more tuning. The API pricing can be significant at scale.

Key Features

  • •Universal Document Partitioning
  • •Structure-Aware Chunking
  • •Table Extraction
  • •OCR Pipeline
  • •Source & Destination Connectors
  • •Metadata Enrichment

Pricing Plans

Open Source

$0

    Serverless API

    Per page

      Platform

      Subscription

        Enterprise

        Custom

          See Full Pricing →Free vs Paid →Is it worth it? →

          Ready to get started with Unstructured?

          View Pricing Options →

          Getting Started with Unstructured

          1. 1Create a free account at unstructured.io and verify your email address
          2. 2Install the unstructured library using 'pip install unstructured' or get your API key from the dashboard
          3. 3Run your first document through the partition() function or make a POST request to api.unstructured.io/general/v0/general
          4. 4Configure chunking strategy (by_title, by_page, or by_similarity) based on your RAG use case
          5. 5Set up source and destination connectors for your document pipeline using the Platform interface
          Ready to start? Try Unstructured →

          Best Use Cases

          🎯

          Enterprise RAG ingestion pipelines

          ⚡

          Connecting SaaS data sources to vector stores

          🔧

          Knowledge-base copilots over heterogeneous content

          🚀

          Replacing brittle custom ETL scripts

          Integration Ecosystem

          18 integrations

          Unstructured works with these platforms and services:

          🧠 LLM Providers
          OpenAI
          📊 Vector Databases
          PineconeWeaviateChromaelasticsearch
          ☁️ Cloud Platforms
          AWSGCPAzure
          📇 CRM
          Salesforce
          🗄️ Databases
          PostgreSQLMongoDB
          💾 Storage
          S3GCSgoogle-drivesharepoint
          ⚡ Code Execution
          Docker
          🔗 Other
          GitHubconfluence
          View full Integration Matrix →

          Limitations & What It Can't Do

          We believe in transparent reviews. Here's what Unstructured doesn't handle well:

          • ⚠Table extraction in the open-source library is basic — complex tables often require the paid API for accurate results
          • ⚠Processing speed without GPU acceleration is slow for collections larger than a few hundred documents
          • ⚠Heavily formatted documents (multi-column, mixed content, nested layouts) can produce inconsistent element classification
          • ⚠OCR accuracy for handwritten text, unusual fonts, or low-resolution scans is unreliable

          Pros & Cons

          ✓ Pros

          • ✓Broadest connector library in the document ingestion category — most teams will not outgrow it
          • ✓Genuine Apache 2.0 open-source escape hatch from the managed platform
          • ✓Pre-built destination connectors mean RAG ingestion is wire-and-go for major vector stores
          • ✓Scheduling and incremental refresh are in the box, not bolted-on afterwards

          ✗ Cons

          • ✗Table-extraction accuracy on truly adversarial documents trails specialists like Reducto
          • ✗Platform tier gets expensive once you turn on many connectors and high-throughput parsing
          • ✗Open-source library moves fast — production users need to pin versions deliberately
          • ✗Less precise structured-extraction API than purpose-built tools (Reducto extract, LlamaParse)

          Frequently Asked Questions

          How does the open-source library compare to the Unstructured API?+

          The open-source library handles most document types but uses simpler extraction models. The API uses more sophisticated table extraction (vision models), better OCR, and higher-quality element classification. For production RAG systems with complex documents, the API produces noticeably better results.

          Can Unstructured handle scanned PDFs?+

          Yes, through integrated OCR. The open-source version uses Tesseract, and the API uses more advanced OCR models. Quality depends on scan resolution — clean scans at 300+ DPI produce good results. Low-quality scans, handwriting, or unusual fonts degrade accuracy.

          How does Unstructured compare to LlamaParse for PDF processing?+

          Unstructured handles a wider range of document formats (not just PDFs) and provides more deployment flexibility (local, API, enterprise). LlamaParse often produces better results for complex PDFs with tables and figures because it uses LLM-powered extraction. For PDF-heavy workloads, test both; for multi-format document ETL, Unstructured is more comprehensive.

          What's the processing speed for large document collections?+

          The open-source library processes roughly 1-5 pages per second depending on complexity and whether OCR is needed. The API is faster with parallelization. For large collections (10K+ documents), use the Platform product or batch API with concurrent requests.

          Does Unstructured preserve document formatting like bold, italic, and headers?+

          It preserves structural elements (headers become Title elements, lists become ListItem elements) but not inline formatting like bold or italic. The output is semantic elements with types, not formatted text. This is by design — the element classification is more useful for RAG than formatting preservation.

          🔒 Security & Compliance

          🛡️ SOC2 Compliant
          ✅
          SOC2
          Yes
          ✅
          GDPR
          Yes
          ✅
          HIPAA
          Yes
          ✅
          SSO
          Yes
          🔀
          Self-Hosted
          Hybrid
          ✅
          On-Prem
          Yes
          ✅
          RBAC
          Yes
          ✅
          Audit Log
          Yes
          ✅
          API Key Auth
          Yes
          ✅
          Open Source
          Yes
          ✅
          Encryption at Rest
          Yes
          ✅
          Encryption in Transit
          Yes
          Data Retention: configurable
          Data Residency: CONFIGURABLE
          📋 Privacy Policy →🛡️ Security Page →
          🦞

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          What's New in 2026

          •Launched Unstructured Platform v2 with 3x faster processing and improved table extraction accuracy
          •Added intelligent chunking strategies that respect document structure for better RAG performance
          •New document classification model automatically routing documents to optimal processing pipelines

          Alternatives to Unstructured

          LlamaParse

          Document AI

          LlamaParse: Extract and analyze structured data from complex PDFs and documents using LLM-powered parsing.

          Apache Tika

          Automation & Workflows

          Enterprise-grade text extraction and document processing framework that detects and extracts content from 1,000+ file formats. Free, containerized, and battle-tested across 18 years of production deployment.

          View All Alternatives & Detailed Comparison →

          User Reviews

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          Quick Info

          Category

          Document Processing & OCR

          Website

          unstructured.io
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