Google Document AI Alternative: National ID Card OCR API

What Google Document AI identity processors Is

Google Cloud Document AI offers prebuilt identity document processors for a set of supported document types. 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 national id card, passport, 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 National ID Card API docs or try the free scanner.

Where This Fits

• Choose Google Document AI identity processors when: you are committed to Google Cloud and your document types are on its supported list.
• Choose StructOCR when: you need a broader country mix for ID cards and passports without managing cloud processors.
• 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("id-card.jpg", "rb") as image_file:
    image = base64.b64encode(image_file.read()).decode("ascii")

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

Response Shape

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

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "document_number": "…",
    "surname": "…",
    "given_names": "…",
    "date_of_birth": "…"
  }
}