Skip the Studio.
Ship the extraction.
Azure Form Recognizer expects you to set up a resource, train a custom model in Document Intelligence Studio, and manage labeling. Ordalis returns structured records from a single API call — no training, no Studio, no Azure subscription.
A side-by-side look
Every row below is something procurement or finance teams actually ask in a vendor questionnaire.
| Capability | Ordalis | Azure Form Recognizer |
|---|---|---|
| Training required for custom templates | None — JSON Schema or natural language | Studio labeling, 5+ sample docs, retrain on change |
| Per-field confidence + page citations | Yes, on every extracted field | Field-level confidence only; page offsets require extra work |
| Published accuracy benchmarks | Updated monthly | Not published |
| Document-type auto-detection | 10+ domains out of the box | Prebuilt models per document type — you pick the right one |
| Infrastructure setup | API key, one POST | Azure subscription, resource, endpoint, key vault |
| Review queue for low-confidence extractions | Built in | Build it yourself |
| Audit trail (tamper-evident chain hash) | On every workspace | Azure Monitor at API level only |
| HIPAA BAA | Firm plan and above | Via Azure |
| Pricing model | Flat per-extraction | Per-page, tiered; custom model training extra |
| Self-serve free tier | 25 extractions/mo forever | 500 pages/month free tier (Azure account required) |
| Time to first extraction | Under 60 seconds from signup | Azure signup + resource + Studio labeling |
Three concrete reasons
No labeling, ever
Azure expects 5+ labeled samples per template and a retrain cycle on schema changes. Ordalis doesn't: describe the shape in chat or import a JSON Schema.
Excel that finance teams accept
Styled workbooks with Cover, Summary, Line Items, and Metadata tabs. Formulas, named ranges, source citations per cell. Not a CSV renamed .xlsx.
Zero Azure lock-in
No Azure tenant, no key vault, no resource provisioning. Bring a credit card or not — the free tier runs as-is on Cloudflare.
Questions we get a lot
We're already deep in Azure — does that matter?
Only if you need everything to live in one subscription. Ordalis issues webhooks, so results can post to an Azure Function, Event Grid, or Logic App without changing your architecture.
Can I migrate my Form Recognizer custom models?
Export the labels.json and fields.json — or upload a sample XLSX with your target columns. Ordalis infers the schema in one step, no retrain cycle.
Is there a free trial?
Yes — 25 extractions/month forever, no credit card. Paid plans start at $49/mo.
Does Ordalis run in a specific region?
US today, EU in 2026-Q3. Enterprise customers can get dedicated regions — contact sales@ordalis.io.
Switch from Azure Form Recognizer
One API call. No Studio. No retraining. Audit-ready output.