#PowerPlatformTip 115: 'AI OCR Models'

TL;DR: AI Builder is the quick start inside Power Platform. Azure AI Document Intelligence offers more control and is often cheaper at higher volume.

💡 Challenge

Efficient document processing matters, and the AI OCR tool you pick in Power Platform makes a real difference in cost and flexibility.

✅ Solution

Power Platform gives you two main AI OCR options for document processing:

🔸 AI Builder - prebuilt models inside Power Apps and Power Automate: Invoice processing, Receipt processing, ID reader, Business card reader and Text recognition, plus custom Document processing models (the former “form processing”).

🔸 Azure AI Document Intelligence - the Azure service with prebuilt models such as prebuilt-invoice, prebuilt-receipt, prebuilt-idDocument, prebuilt-layout and prebuilt-read, plus custom models, called over its REST API.

🔧 How It’s Done

1. AI Builder

🔸 Use a prebuilt model directly in a flow: for invoices, add the AI Builder action Extract information from invoices, pass the file content and use the extracted fields (invoice ID, date, total, vendor, line items) as dynamic content.

🔸 Custom layouts: train a Document processing model in make.powerapps.com with sample documents, then call it from the flow with the AI Builder action for document processing.

🔸 Cost: AI Builder uses AI Builder credits first and Copilot Credits after that. New customers can’t buy AI Builder capacity add-ons anymore and buy Copilot Credits instead.

2. Azure AI Document Intelligence

🔸 Setup: create a Document Intelligence resource in Azure and copy its endpoint and key.

🔸 Start the analysis with an HTTP action:

POST {endpoint}/documentintelligence/documentModels/prebuilt-invoice:analyze?api-version=2024-11-30
Ocp-Apim-Subscription-Key: <key>
Content-Type: application/json

{ "urlSource": "<document-url>" }

🔸 Get the result: the call answers with 202 and an Operation-Location header. Send a GET with the same key header to that URL until status is succeeded (a Do until with a short Delay), then read analyzeResult from the body. While the job runs, status is notStarted or running.

🔸 Licensing: the HTTP action is a Premium feature in Power Automate. Keep the key in an environment variable of type Secret or in Azure Key Vault, not in the flow.

🔸 Cost: billed per page on your Azure subscription.

🎉 Result

AI Builder gets a document scenario running inside the flow designer with no Azure setup. Azure AI Document Intelligence gives you the full model catalog, every API option and billing on your Azure subscription, and at volume it is often cheaper per page.

🌟 Key Advantages

🔸 AI Builder: quick, easy setup, tightly integrated with Power Automate, no Premium HTTP action needed.

🔸 Azure AI Document Intelligence: full control over models, versions and output, usually the better fit for high-volume processing.

Recommendation: start with AI Builder to prove the scenario, and look at Azure AI Document Intelligence when volume or flexibility requirements grow. Compare the current rates on the AI Builder licensing page and the Azure pricing page before you decide, both change regularly.

Special thanks to Damien Bird for the great overview!

🎥 Video Tutorial

🛠️ FAQ

1. What is the main difference between AI Builder and Azure AI Document Intelligence?

AI Builder is tightly integrated into Power Platform with an easy setup and its own flow actions. Azure AI Document Intelligence offers more flexibility and a wider range of models, is called over HTTP and is billed separately in Azure.

2. How do I choose the right prebuilt model for my documents?

Pick a model based on your document type (invoices, receipts, ID documents, business cards) and test it with sample files to confirm accuracy before integrating. For forms with your own layout, train a custom Document processing model.

3. What are the cost implications of each service?

AI Builder consumes AI Builder credits and then Copilot Credits for each processed page. Azure AI Document Intelligence is billed per page on your Azure subscription, and calling it from a flow needs the Premium HTTP action.

🔗 Related Tips

🔸 #PowerPlatformTip 140: ‘Free Invoice OCR’ - a concrete, zero-cost invoice-processing flow built on this same OCR trade-off.

🔸 #PowerPlatformTip 143: ‘Reduce AI Costs’ - cut spending further once AI Builder credits are involved.