Python
olmOCR
Turn PDFs into clean training-grade text
by allenai · Apache-2.0
Document AI & OCROCR pipelineApache-2.0Runs locallyPythonIntermediate
From the README
Install
pip install olmocr
- Convert PDF, PNG, and JPEG based documents into clean Markdown
- Support for equations, tables, handwriting, and complex formatting
- Automatically removes headers and footers
- Convert into text with a natural reading order, even in the presence of
Excerpts from the project README on GitHub. Copyright and licensing remain with the respective authors.
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What is olmOCR?
olmOCR from AI2 converts messy PDFs into clean linearised text at scale, preserving reading order across columns and figures.
Why people choose olmOCR
- Handles multi-column academic PDFs
- Built for very large batches
- Preserves correct reading order
olmOCR at a glance
| Category | Document AI & OCR |
| Type | OCR pipeline |
| License | Apache-2.0 |
| Runs locally | Yes |
| Built with | Python |
| Skill level | Intermediate |
| Best for | bulk PDF extraction for RAG or training |
Latest releases
Open-source alternatives to olmOCR
Other open-source document ai & ocr tools worth comparing:
MarkerConvert PDFs to clean Markdown fast
DoclingIBM-grade document understandingSuryaModern OCR with layout detection
PaddleOCRIndustrial OCR with tiny models
UnstructuredTurn any file into LLM-ready data
FirecrawlTurn websites into LLM-ready Markdown
Crawl4AIOpen-source LLM-friendly crawler
MinerUPDF to Markdown with formulas and tables
TesseractThe classic OCR engineolmOCR head-to-head
olmOCR vs MarkerolmOCR vs DoclingolmOCR vs SuryaolmOCR vs PaddleOCRolmOCR vs UnstructuredolmOCR vs FirecrawlolmOCR vs Crawl4AIolmOCR vs MinerUolmOCR vs Tesseract
FAQ
Is olmOCR free?
olmOCR is free and open-source (Apache-2.0 license), so you can use, self-host and modify it at no cost.
Can I run olmOCR locally?
Yes. olmOCR is designed to run on your own machine or server, keeping your data private.
What is the best alternative to olmOCR?
Popular open-source alternatives include Marker, Docling, Surya. See the comparisons above to choose.
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