Azure Document Intelligence Alternative: Passport OCR API

What Azure AI Document Intelligence ID model Is

Azure AI Document Intelligence includes a prebuilt identity document model within Microsoft’s cloud. Choosing between it and an API comes down to where processing runs, how you pay, and which documents you need.

Where StructOCR Differs

StructOCR is a server-side REST API: you send an image and receive structured JSON for passport, national id card, driver license. There is no SDK to embed, billing is 2 credits per successful request, credits never expire, and failed requests are not billed. See the Passport API docs or try the free scanner.

Where This Fits

• Choose Azure AI Document Intelligence ID model when: you run on Azure and want document processing inside your existing Microsoft contracts.
• Choose StructOCR when: you want a single-purpose REST API with credits that never expire and no cloud account setup.
• Use both when: You capture on a device with one tool and need server-side extraction or a fallback for uploaded images with the other.

Try the API in a Few Lines

A complete request takes one HTTP call with your API key.

Prerequisite: Python 3.9+, `pip install requests`, and a STRUCTOCR_API_KEY

import base64
import os
import requests

with open("passport.jpg", "rb") as image_file:
    image = base64.b64encode(image_file.read()).decode("ascii")

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.structocr.com/v1/passport",
    headers={"x-api-key": os.environ["STRUCTOCR_API_KEY"]},
    json={"img": image},
    timeout=30,
)
response.raise_for_status()
data = response.json()["data"]
print("passport_number:", data.get("passport_number"))
print("surname:", data.get("surname"))
print("given_names:", data.get("given_names"))
print("date_of_expiry:", data.get("date_of_expiry"))

Response Shape

Illustrative fields returned by the StructOCR API for this document type.

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "passport_number": "…",
    "surname": "…",
    "given_names": "…",
    "date_of_expiry": "…"
  }
}