MarkItDown
Microsoft MarkItDown converts documents and supported media into Markdown for LLM and text-analysis pipelines.
- Starting price
- Free MIT licence; services extra
- Free access
- MIT-licensed local converter
- Billing unit
- Local resources; optional provider usage
- Platform
- Python library and command line
- Verified
- 1 Nov 2026
Overview
What you provide
- Provide a supported local file, stream or URL and select the needed optional dependencies.
What you get
- Receive Markdown text suitable for subsequent indexing, summarization or analysis.
Choosing this tool
Use MarkItDown when you need a lightweight conversion step you can script. Its format-specific extras let you avoid installing every converter. Docling is worth comparing for richer document structure, while PaddleOCR addresses OCR-heavy workloads. A successful conversion does not prove that every table or scanned page was faithfully preserved.
A decision worked through
For a PDF-to-Markdown batch, first inspect representative outputs with the local converter. If embedded images require vision OCR, explicitly configure the LLM client: the documented OCR plugin can otherwise skip OCR and fall back to the standard converter.
MarkItDown alternatives for this workflow
Compare the workflow, charging unit and review work required before choosing MarkItDown.
| Product | Price / unit | Free allowance | Input → output | Key limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MarkItDownRead profileOfficial source ↗ | Free MIT licence; services extra | Local software | Files → Markdown | Optional AI clients need configuration |
| DoclingRead profileOfficial source ↗ | Free software; compute extra | Self-managed toolkit | Documents → structured content | Deployment and OCR need resources |
| PaddleOCRRead profileOfficial source ↗ | Free software; compute extra | Apache-2.0 software | Images/PDF → OCR and structure | Model and hardware setup required |
Setup & workflow
- Create a supported Python environment and install the required format extras.
- Convert a sample with markitdown input.pdf -o output.md.
- Check tables, images and text order before feeding the result to an LLM.
Requirements & installation
- Python library and command line
Limits & review
- The documented Python range is 3.10–3.14. Third-party plugins are disabled by default; cloud conversion and local extraction have different privacy and cost implications.
Your part
- Review MarkItDown results against the original material before using them.
Sources & verification2
This profile is based on official sources, not a hands-on product test.
Vendor descriptions and demos document advertised features. Editorial guidance is based on these sources.
- MarkItDown official productgithub.com
- MarkItDown pricing and usage termsgithub.com
