docling vs markitdown vs marker

Docling, Markitdown, and Marker are all tools used to convert documents into Markdown format, primarily for use in Large Language Model (LLM) pipelines. They differ in their core focus: Docling prioritizes accuracy with complex documents, Markitdown emphasizes speed and simplicity, and Marker provides a good balance of speed and quality, particularly with technical content. 

 

Comparison of Docling vs. Markitdown vs. Marker

 

Feature	Docling (IBM Research)	Markitdown (Microsoft)	Marker (VikParuchuri)
Primary Strength	Superior handling of complex layouts, tables, and scientific content.	Speed and simplicity for batch processing of simpler documents.	Balance of speed and quality, good with code blocks, images, and diagrams.
Target Use Cases	Academic papers, financial reports, legal documents, and documents requiring high structural fidelity.	General document conversion, basic office files (Word, Excel, PPT), and simple, fast LLM data prep.	Technical documentation, marketing materials, PDFs with visual elements, and general purpose use.
Speed	Slower due to its detailed AI-powered layout analysis.	Generally the fastest for simple documents.	Fast and optimized for quick conversions of PDFs (approx. 0.86 seconds per page).
Output Quality	High accuracy in preserving structure, with detailed JSON/DocTags output.	Good for basic structure (headings, lists), but struggles with complex tables or images without an external LLM.	High quality for human-readable Markdown, handles multi-column pages well, good image and table support.
Technology	AI-powered, leverages specialized models for layout analysis.	Lightweight, uses simple converters (e.g., pdfminer for PDFs) with optional external LLM integration for images.	Uses a vision model (Surya) for layout analysis and OCR, and offers an optional LLM "boost".

 

Key Takeaways

• Choose Docling if your primary concern is maximum accuracy and preservation of complex document structures like nested tables, equations, and citations, even if it means sacrificing speed.
• Choose Markitdown for fast, automated batch processing of simple documents where ease of use and speed are more important than perfect fidelity for complex layouts.
• Choose Marker when you need a balance of speed and quality, especially when dealing with technical documentation containing images, diagrams, and code blocks.