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GLM-OCR vs PaddleOCR (PP-OCR)

PaddleOCR (PP-OCR) is cheaper per page; PaddleOCR (PP-OCR) is faster; only GLM-OCR supports tables, math.

GLM-OCRzai/glm-ocrPaddleOCR (PP-OCR)paddle/paddleocr
TypeOpen sourceOpen source
Price2 credits / page1 credit / page
Per 1,000 pages$2.00$1.00
Typical speed1.3 s / page0.7 s / page
Best forLow-cost general documentsFast printed text, Chinese and English
InputsPDF, imagesPDF, images
Languages100+ languages80+ languages
Max pages per request500500
Tables✓ YesNo
HandwritingNoNo
Math✓ YesNo
Bounding boxes✓ Yes✓ Yes
Confidence✓ Yes✓ Yes
FormsNoNo
Multilingual✓ Yes✓ Yes
On OCRRouterAvailableComing soon

Prices are what you pay on OCRRouter. Speed is the provider's typical figure, not a benchmark we ran.

What each one is

GLM-OCR

Small open-source OCR model from Z.ai with layout regions. MIT licensed.

GLM-OCR details

PaddleOCR (PP-OCR)

Baidu's classic open-source text detection and recognition pipeline. Light enough to run on CPU.

PaddleOCR (PP-OCR) details

Use one, fall back to the other

Request body
{
  "model": "zai/glm-ocr",
  "fallbacks": ["paddle/paddleocr"],
  "file_url": "https://example.com/document.pdf"
}

Questions

More comparisons

GLM-OCR alternativesPaddleOCR (PP-OCR) alternatives