Do I need a document AI API or just basic OCR?

It depends on what you want to do with the document.

Use basic OCR if you only need:

• Extract plain text from scanned images or PDFs
• Read printed text reasonably well
• Do simple search, indexing, or copy/paste
• Process fairly clean documents with fixed layouts

Good for: scanned receipts, letters, screenshots, simple forms where you only need the text.

Use a Document AI API if you need:

• Understand document structure, not just text
• Extract fields like names, dates, totals, line items, tables
• Handle invoices, receipts, tax forms, contracts, IDs, etc.
• Classify documents by type
• Detect tables, paragraphs, headings, key-value pairs
• Get better results on messy, multi-column, or complex layouts
• Automate downstream workflows with structured output

Good for: invoice processing, KYC, claims, onboarding, compliance, document workflows.

Rule of thumb

• If you ask, “What does this page say?” → OCR
• If you ask, “What information is in this document, and where is it?” → Document AI

Quick example

A scanned restaurant receipt:

• OCR: gives you all the text
• Document AI: gives you merchant, date, subtotal, tax, total, line items

Cost/complexity tradeoff

• OCR is usually cheaper and simpler
• Document AI is more powerful but often more expensive and may take more setup/training

If you want, I can help you decide based on your specific documents and output needs.