{
 "schemaVersion": 1,
 "generated": "2026-10-30",
 "dataLicense": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
 "license": "CC BY-SA 4.0",
 "notice": "Data from Open Source Everything (https://opensourceeverything.org), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0: use it freely, credit the site, link to the page, and share changes under the same license. Listings were drafted with AI assistance and are managed by the r/TrueOpenSource moderators; check a project's own page before relying on a fact.",
 "id": "rag-tools",
 "name": "Preparing documents for AI search",
 "page": "https://opensourceeverything.org/g/rag-tools/",
 "category": "ai-build",
 "categoryName": "Building with AI",
 "job": "Turning PDFs and documents into text an AI app can search",
 "closedApps": [
  "Azure AI Document Intelligence",
  "Vectara"
 ],
 "coverage": null,
 "alternatives": [
  {
   "id": "docling",
   "name": "Docling",
   "page": "https://opensourceeverything.org/p/docling/",
   "summary": "Docling is a free tool that reads documents such as PDFs, Word files, slides and spreadsheets and turns them into clean, structured text. It is aimed at programmers and AI app builders who need document content in a form that AI systems can search and use.",
   "kind": "developer_tool",
   "setup": "advanced",
   "setupWhy": "Made for developers: you use it from code or the command line.",
   "platforms": [
    "windows",
    "mac",
    "linux"
   ],
   "license": "MIT",
   "licenseClass": "open",
   "licenseNeedsCheck": false,
   "stars": 69694,
   "forks": null,
   "status": "active",
   "verified": false,
   "latestRelease": null,
   "code": "https://github.com/docling-project/docling",
   "website": null,
   "download": null,
   "release": null,
   "family": null,
   "familyChildren": [],
   "howToHelp": null,
   "project": "docling",
   "rank": 1,
   "fit": "full",
   "note": null,
   "why": "Does the whole job · Advanced setup",
   "score": 64.5
  },
  {
   "id": "ragflow",
   "name": "RAGFlow",
   "page": "https://opensourceeverything.org/p/ragflow/",
   "summary": "RAGFlow is free software that helps organize documents, such as PDFs and Word files, so AI tools can search and answer questions from them. It is aimed at developers and businesses that want to build AI search over their own files.",
   "kind": "self_hosted",
   "setup": "advanced",
   "setupWhy": "You run it on your own server (a computer you set up and keep running), or from the command line.",
   "platforms": [
    "windows",
    "mac",
    "linux",
    "server"
   ],
   "license": "Apache-2.0",
   "licenseClass": "open",
   "licenseNeedsCheck": false,
   "stars": 92971,
   "forks": null,
   "status": "active",
   "verified": false,
   "latestRelease": null,
   "code": "https://github.com/infiniflow/ragflow",
   "website": "https://ragflow.io",
   "download": null,
   "release": null,
   "family": null,
   "familyChildren": [],
   "howToHelp": null,
   "project": "ragflow",
   "rank": 2,
   "fit": "full",
   "note": null,
   "why": "Does the whole job · Advanced setup",
   "score": 62.9
  },
  {
   "id": "deepset",
   "name": "deepset",
   "page": "https://opensourceeverything.org/p/deepset/",
   "summary": "Haystack is a free Python toolkit for developers who want to build AI applications that search documents, answer questions, and use chatbots or other AI models. It is aimed at programmers building their own AI systems rather than at end users.",
   "kind": "library",
   "setup": "advanced",
   "setupWhy": "A building block for developers, not a ready-to-use app.",
   "platforms": [
    "server"
   ],
   "license": "Apache-2.0",
   "licenseClass": "open",
   "licenseNeedsCheck": false,
   "stars": 26845,
   "forks": 3346,
   "status": "active",
   "verified": false,
   "latestRelease": {
    "name": "v3.4.1",
    "date": "2026-10-21T19:10:58Z"
   },
   "code": "https://github.com/deepset-ai/haystack",
   "website": "https://haystack.deepset.ai",
   "download": null,
   "release": "https://github.com/deepset-ai/haystack/releases/tag/v3.4.1",
   "family": null,
   "familyChildren": [],
   "howToHelp": {
    "contributingGuide": "https://github.com/deepset-ai/haystack/blob/HEAD/CONTRIBUTING.md",
    "goodFirstIssues": null,
    "helpWanted": null,
    "plugins": null
   },
   "project": "deepset",
   "rank": 3,
   "fit": "partial",
   "note": "Builds pipelines for search, but no ready PDF-to-text service is confirmed.",
   "why": "Does part of the job · Advanced setup",
   "score": 39.3
  },
  {
   "id": "marker",
   "name": "Marker",
   "page": "https://opensourceeverything.org/p/marker/",
   "summary": "Marker is a tool that converts PDFs, images, and office documents such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel into clean markdown, JSON, HTML or text chunks. It is aimed at programmers and IT people who need document text for other software.",
   "kind": "developer_tool",
   "setup": "advanced",
   "setupWhy": "Made for developers: you use it from code or the command line.",
   "platforms": [
    "mac"
   ],
   "license": "Apache-2.0",
   "licenseClass": "open",
   "licenseNeedsCheck": false,
   "stars": 40667,
   "forks": null,
   "status": "active",
   "verified": false,
   "latestRelease": null,
   "code": "https://github.com/datalab-to/marker",
   "website": null,
   "download": null,
   "release": null,
   "family": null,
   "familyChildren": [],
   "howToHelp": null,
   "project": "marker",
   "rank": 4,
   "fit": "partial",
   "note": "Converts documents to text and chunks, but is a command-line tool, not a search service.",
   "why": "Does part of the job · Advanced setup",
   "score": 33.8
  }
 ],
 "source": "https://opensourceeverything.org/g/rag-tools/",
 "group": "Preparing documents for AI search",
 "replaces": [
  "Azure AI Document Intelligence",
  "Vectara"
 ]
}