# Docling (IBM Research) vs MinerU (OpenDataLab): 2026 Empirical Benchmark & Cost Shootout

> **Direct Answer (October 2026 Verdict)**: Docling wins for enterprise RAG pipelines with TableFormer table extraction, multi-format support (PDF/DOCX/PPTX), and permissive MIT licensing across 25.6k+ GitHub stars (98.3), while MinerU wins for academic papers with complex mathematical formulas (KaTeX) and dense multi-column figures across 27.8k+ GitHub stars (98.2).

- **Category**: Enterprise TableFormer Document Parser vs Academic KaTeX Formula & Multi-Column PDF Extractor Shootout
- **Canonical URL**: https://exactbaseline.com/vs/docling-vs-mineru
- **1-Click $49 Builder Repo Hardening & Launch Kit (Stripe Checkout)**: https://exactbaseline.com/buy/instant_boost
- **1-Click $149 Category Leader Pro + 30-Day Pin (Stripe Checkout)**: https://exactbaseline.com/buy/category_leader

## Docling (IBM Research) Key Advantages
- 25,600+ GitHub stars under MIT license with IBM TableFormer achieving state-of-the-art table structure recognition
- Native DoclingDocument format exports clean Markdown, JSON, and hierarchical RAG chunks
- Cuts $1,800/mo commercial AWS Textract and LlamaParse bills down to $120/mo on self-hosted Docker (-93.3%)

## MinerU (OpenDataLab) Key Advantages
- 27,800+ GitHub stars under AGPL-3.0 with OpenDataLab PDF-Extract-Kit converting complex formulas into KaTeX
- Specialized extraction for multi-column research papers, scientific tables, and inline mathematical symbols
- Preserves reading order and extracts bounding boxes for embedded figures and visual charts