mdkit vs Docling
Docling is the open-source document conversion library mdkit's async lane runs. Self-host it yourself, or let mdkit run it behind a simple API.
| Docling | An open-source (MIT) document conversion toolkit, started by IBM Research, with advanced PDF layout understanding |
|---|---|
| Relationship | mdkit's async high-fidelity lane runs Docling as its conversion engine |
Docling is an open-source Python library and toolkit for document conversion — strong PDF layout analysis, table structure recognition and OCR, with Markdown and a rich JSON document model as outputs. You install and run it yourself (it downloads and runs ML models locally, so it wants real CPU/GPU and memory).
This is not an either/or from mdkit's side: mdkit's async lane runs Docling as its high-fidelity engine. mdkit is the hosted, operated version of the same capability — an API key instead of a deployment.
When Docling fits
You want the library: full control over versions, models and tuning, data that must never leave your infrastructure, no per-call cost, and you're set up to operate Python ML workloads yourself. As open source, it's free.
When mdkit fits
You want the RESULT of Docling without operating it: one
POST /v1/convert/jobs call, polling or a signed webhook, Markdown and JSON
outputs from storage — plus a fast synchronous lane for small files and an MCP
server for agents. Free tier to evaluate, subscription pricing for volume.
Try it free.