olmOCR vs Unstract
Short answer
olmOCR: Ai2's vision-language OCR that turns PDFs and scans into clean Markdown, including tables, equations and handwriting. Unstract: No-code LLM platform that turns invoices, forms and other documents into structured JSON. Both are in our Document processing category.
Choose olmOCR if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Network copyleft (AGPL)), larger community (19.8k vs 7.4k GitHub stars) and simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack).
Choose Unstract if you want: no GPU server needed and an actively maintained project (olmOCR is stale).
Last updated · computed from each project's official docs and live GitHub data · sources
olmOCR vs Unstract side by side
| olmOCR | Unstract | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Document processing | Document processing |
| What it is | Ai2's vision-language OCR that turns PDFs and scans into clean Markdown, including tables, equations and handwriting. | No-code LLM platform that turns invoices, forms and other documents into structured JSON. |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| License type | Permissive | Network copyleft (AGPL) |
| License conditions | Permissive. Internal and commercial use, modification and redistribution allowed; keep the license and notices. | Free for internal and commercial use. If you modify Unstract and let users interact with it over a network, you must offer them the modified source code under AGPL-3.0. |
| Status | Stale (no commit in 180+ days) | Active |
| GitHub stars | 19.8k | 7.4k |
| Last commit | Mar 25, 2026 | Nov 2, 2026 |
| Latest release | v0.4.27 | v0.201.0 |
| Minimum hardware | 30 GB disk | 8 GB RAM |
| Recommended hardware | Not published | Not published |
| RAM measured by us | Not tested yet | Not tested yet |
| GPU | Required for local inference: a recent NVIDIA GPU with at least 12 GB of GPU RAM (tested on RTX 4090, L40S, A100, H100). Without a GPU you can point it at a remote vLLM or OpenAI-compatible server. | Not required by the platform itself; LLMs are reached through the provider you configure (cloud API or a local server such as Ollama). |
| Est. server cost | GPU server (not estimated) | from €35.99/mo |
| Deploy method | Docker (GPU image with model included) | Docker Compose (run-platform.sh) |
| Known gotchas | 3 listed | 4 listed |
| Telemetry | Not documented | On by default |
| Calls home by default | Not documented | Not documented |
| SSO (OIDC / SAML / LDAP) | Not documented | Paid / enterprise only (OIDC paid · SAML paid) |
| Audit log | Not documented | Not documented |
| RBAC | Not documented | Not documented |
| Details | Full olmOCR guide → | Full Unstract guide → |
Key differences
- License: olmOCR: Apache-2.0 (Permissive). Unstract: AGPL-3.0 (Network copyleft (AGPL)).
- Official hardware: olmOCR: not published. Unstract: minimum 8 GB RAM.
- GPU: olmOCR: needed for practical use. Unstract: optional / see notes.
- Est. server cost: olmOCR: GPU server (not estimated). Unstract: from €35.99/mo.
- Deploy: olmOCR: Docker (GPU image with model included) · single container. Unstract: Docker Compose (run-platform.sh) · multi-container stack.
- Status: olmOCR: Stale (no commit in 180+ days). Unstract: Active.
- GitHub stars: olmOCR: 19.8k. Unstract: 7.4k.
- Last commit: olmOCR: Mar 25, 2026. Unstract: Nov 2, 2026.
- Latest release: olmOCR: v0.4.27 (Mar 12, 2026). Unstract: v0.201.0 (Nov 3, 2026).
Same for both: Category: Document processing.
olmOCR vs Unstract: FAQ
olmOCR or Unstract: which should a small business choose?
Choose olmOCR if you want: fewer license conditions (Permissive vs Network copyleft (AGPL)), larger community (19.8k vs 7.4k GitHub stars) and simpler deploy (one container vs a multi-container stack). Choose Unstract if you want: no GPU server needed and an actively maintained project (olmOCR is stale).
Which is cheaper to self-host, olmOCR or Unstract?
olmOCR: GPU server (not estimated). Unstract: from €35.99/mo. Our estimate is the cheapest Hetzner Cloud plan that meets each project's official RAM and vCPU figure; it covers the server only.
How much hardware do olmOCR and Unstract need?
olmOCR: not published. Unstract: minimum 8 GB RAM. olmOCR needs a GPU for practical use.
What is the license difference between olmOCR and Unstract?
olmOCR: Apache-2.0 (Permissive). Permissive. Internal and commercial use, modification and redistribution allowed; keep the license and notices. Unstract: AGPL-3.0 (Network copyleft (AGPL)). Free for internal and commercial use. If you modify Unstract and let users interact with it over a network, you must offer them the modified source code under AGPL-3.0. This is a summary, not legal advice.
Is olmOCR or Unstract more actively maintained?
olmOCR: Stale (no commit in 180+ days), last commit Mar 25, 2026. Unstract: Active, last commit Nov 2, 2026. GitHub data refreshed Nov 3, 2026.
Which is easier to deploy, olmOCR or Unstract?
olmOCR installs via Docker (GPU image with model included) (single container); Unstract via Docker Compose (run-platform.sh) (multi-container stack). olmOCR lists 3 known gotchas and Unstract lists 4; see each app page.
Related
- olmOCR self-hosting guide · Unstract self-hosting guide
- All olmOCR alternatives, ranked
- All Unstract alternatives, ranked
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- Docling Serve vs Unstract
- MinerU vs olmOCR
- MinerU vs Unstract
- OCRmyPDF vs olmOCR
- OCRmyPDF vs Unstract
- olmOCR vs PaddleOCR
- olmOCR vs Paperless-AI
- olmOCR vs paperless-gpt
- olmOCR vs Paperless-ngx
- PaddleOCR vs Unstract
- Paperless-AI vs Unstract
- Add a third app in the interactive comparison
Sources
- olmOCR GitHub repository: github.com/allenai/olmocr
- olmOCR documentation: github.com/allenai/olmocr#readme
- olmOCR license: github.com/allenai/olmocr/blob/main/LICENSE
- olmOCR hardware requirements: github.com/allenai/olmocr#python-installation
- olmOCR deploy instructions: github.com/allenai/olmocr#using-docker
- Unstract GitHub repository: github.com/Zipstack/unstract
- Unstract documentation: docs.unstract.com/unstract/unstract_platform/quick_start
- Unstract license: github.com/Zipstack/unstract/blob/main/LICENSE
- Unstract hardware requirements, Unstract deploy instructions: github.com/Zipstack/unstract#readme
- Hetzner Cloud pricing used for cost estimates (read 2026-11-01): www.hetzner.com/cloud/regular-performance
- GitHub REST API (stars, commits, releases): docs.github.com/en/rest
Every value is generated from the same verified data as the app pages. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.