MinerU
An open-source tool that extracts structured content from PDFs, preserving layout, tables, and formulas.
MinerU converts PDFs and other documents into machine-readable formats, with particular care for scientific and technical content: it keeps tables intact and converts formulas to LaTeX.
It handles scanned documents through OCR and is aimed at producing high-quality training and retrieval data from dense source material.
Where it fits
A fit when source PDFs are technical or scientific and formulas and tables must survive the conversion.
Where it does not fit
More machinery than needed for simple, text-only documents that any basic extractor handles.
Alternatives to MinerU
The closest options on the map, and where each fits instead.
-
Docling Document parser
A strong fit when you want high-quality, fully local document parsing with no data leaving your environment.
-
Marker Document converter
A strong fit when you need fast, accurate document-to-Markdown conversion and can run it on your own GPU.
Unlike MinerU Hosted API
-
Surya OCR toolkit
A fit when you want modern, multilingual OCR with strong layout and reading-order detection.
-
PaddleOCR OCR toolkit
A fit when the core problem is OCR (extracting text from scans and images) across multiple languages.
Unlike MinerU Maturity: mature
Pairs with
Commonly used alongside it.
