Azure Document Intelligence

Both Azure Document Intelligence and a custom extraction pipeline can work. The question is not which one is better in the abstract — it is which one fits your documents, your accuracy requirements, and your operational context. This article is written for teams who have already done some research and are now trying to make an actual decision.

Azure Document Intelligence (formerly Form Recognizer) is Microsoft’s managed IDP service. It handles invoices, receipts, purchase orders, and ID documents well — out of the box, with no custom training required for standard formats. For many use cases, it’s a reasonable starting point. For many production workflows, it’s not enough.