Head to head

pdf-inspector vs LiteParse

Same fixture, different extraction paths. These results describe this adapter configuration and this small test set.

Configured adapter capabilities
Capability	pdf-inspector	LiteParse
Output	markdown	markdown
OCR	none	builtin
Licence	MIT	Apache-2.0
Parser charge	No parser API fee	No parser API fee

When to test pdf-inspector

Compare financial tables and headings in PDFs with an existing text layer.

This adapter does not OCR scanned pages. Native dependencies run in the parsing engine.

When to test LiteParse

Compare a layout-aware extraction path with plain-text baselines on the same PDF.

OCR capability does not establish accuracy on scans. The published fixtures contain text layers.

Measured fixture results

How these checks work

Captured 2026-09-12 · darwin/arm64 · Node v22.21.1. Median of up to three sequential local samples. Timings will vary on other machines.

Measured parser results on synthetic fixtures
Fixture / parser	Status	Median	Aligned cells	Reading order
pdf-inspectortext-layer.pdf	ok	1.0 ms	Not scored	Not scored
LiteParsetext-layer.pdf	ok	112.0 ms	Not scored	Not scored
pdf-inspectortables.pdf	ok	2.0 ms	9/9 (100%)	Not scored
LiteParsetables.pdf	ok	144.0 ms	9/9 (100%)	Not scored
pdf-inspectorragged-table.pdf	ok	2.0 ms	20/20 (100%)	Not scored
LiteParseragged-table.pdf	ok	215.0 ms	20/20 (100%)	Not scored
pdf-inspectormulti-column.pdf	ok	3.0 ms	Not scored	Preserved · 40/40 lines
LiteParsemulti-column.pdf	ok	745.0 ms	Not scored	Preserved · 40/40 lines

pdf-inspector · text-layer.pdf · raw output

Samples: 29.0 ms, 0.0 ms, 1.0 ms

<!-- Page 1 -->

# Quarterly Report

## Revenue grew 12% year over year.

LiteParse · text-layer.pdf · raw output

Samples: 349.0 ms, 109.0 ms, 112.0 ms

<!-- Page 1 -->

Quarterly Report

Revenue grew 12% year over year.

pdf-inspector · tables.pdf · raw output

Samples: 2.0 ms, 1.0 ms, 2.0 ms

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# Financial Summary

|Region|Q1|Q2|Q3|
|---|---|---|---|
|North|120|145|160|
|South|98|102|115|
|East|210|198|225|

LiteParse · tables.pdf · raw output

Samples: 146.0 ms, 144.0 ms, 143.0 ms

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# Financial Summary

| Region | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| North | 120 | 145 | 160 |
| South | 98 | 102 | 115 |
| East | 210 | 198 | 225 |

pdf-inspector · ragged-table.pdf · raw output

Samples: 4.0 ms, 1.0 ms, 2.0 ms

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# Q3 Results by Region

|Region|Manager|Q1|Q2|Q3|Notes|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|North|Alice Chen|120|145|160|strong|
|South||98|102|115||
|East|Bob Lee|210|198|225|recovering|
|West|Dana|88||99|pending|

LiteParse · ragged-table.pdf · raw output

Samples: 216.0 ms, 214.0 ms, 215.0 ms

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# Q3 Results by Region

| Region | Manager | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North | Alice Chen | 120 | 145 | 160 | strong |
| South |  | 98 | 102 | 115 |  |
| East | Bob Lee | 210 | 198 | 225 | recovering |
| West | Dana | 88 |  | 99 | pending |

pdf-inspector · multi-column.pdf · raw output

Samples: 3.0 ms, 3.0 ms, 3.0 ms

<!-- Page 1 -->

# On Reading Order

Left column line 1. Left column line 2. Left column line 3. Left column line 4. Left column line 5. Left column line 6. Left column line 7. Left column line 8. Left column line 9. Left column line 10. Left column line 11. Left column line 12. Left column line 13. Left column line 14. Left column line 15. Left column line 16. Left column line 17. Left column line 18. Left column line 19. Left column line 20.

Right column line 1. Right column line 2. Right column line 3. Right column line 4. Right column line 5. Right column line 6. Right column line 7. Right column line 8. Right column line 9. Right column line 10. Right column line 11. Right column line 12. Right column line 13. Right column line 14. Right column line 15. Right column line 16. Right column line 17. Right column line 18. Right column line 19. Right column line 20.

LiteParse · multi-column.pdf · raw output

Samples: 745.0 ms, 744.0 ms, 745.0 ms

<!-- Page 1 -->

# On Reading Order

Left column line 1. Left column line 2. Left column line 3. Left column line 4. Left column line 5. Left column line 6. Left column line 7. Left column line 8. Left column line 9. Left column line 10. Left column line 11. Left column line 12. Left column line 13. Left column line 14. Left column line 15. Left column line 16. Left column line 17. Left column line 18. Left column line 19. Left column line 20.

Right column line 1. Right column line 2. Right column line 3. Right column line 4. Right column line 5. Right column line 6. Right column line 7. Right column line 8. Right column line 9. Right column line 10. Right column line 11. Right column line 12. Right column line 13. Right column line 14. Right column line 15. Right column line 16. Right column line 17. Right column line 18. Right column line 19. Right column line 20.

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