Independent Document AI Benchmarking

The Wrong Document AI Provider
Costs You Six Figures a Year.
The Right One Takes 3 Weeks to Find.

Arena Assessment benchmarks every leading LLM on your actual documents — invoices, contracts, claims, medical reports — and tells you exactly which provider to use, for which document type, at what cost.

ISO 27001 · ISO 27017 · ISO 27018 certified  |  2M+ docs/month processed in production  |  Results in 2–3 weeks
Vendor-AgnosticYour Documents, Not DemosYour Compliance Framework
Fixed-price engagement · No recurring fees · Report in 2–3 weeks
Providers Benchmarked in Every Engagement
OpenAI
Anthropic
Google
Mistral
Cohere
AWS Bedrock
Azure OpenAI

Is This You?

Arena Assessment is built for teams making high-stakes document AI decisions.

CTO / VP Engineering
About to commit budget to a document AI provider

You need independent data to justify a six-figure infrastructure decision to the board. Vendor demos looked great — but you've been burned before by production performance that didn't match the sales pitch.

You need this when:You're evaluating providers, building an RFP, or about to sign a contract
Head of Innovation / Digital Transformation
Exploring AI for document processing — first time or replacing legacy

Your team has no baseline. Everyone has an opinion about which LLM is best, but nobody has tested them on your actual documents. You need a structured evaluation before committing resources.

You need this when:You're running a pilot, building a business case, or comparing build vs. buy
Head of Operations / Process Automation
Already using AI extraction — costs are growing, accuracy is inconsistent

Your current provider works — sometimes. Some document types extract perfectly, others need manual correction. Costs have scaled faster than expected. You suspect a hybrid approach could cut costs 30-60%, but you don't have the data to prove it.

You need this when:Extraction costs are on the agenda, or accuracy complaints are increasing

We meticulously benchmark the accuracy of every major LLM across your document types

Invoices & Receipts
Line items, totals, tax fields, supplier data, currency detection, multi-page invoice handling
Contracts & Agreements
Clause extraction, party identification, dates, obligations, termination conditions, signature detection
Insurance Claims
Claim numbers, incident details, policy references, damage descriptions, assessment values, multi-form claims
Medical Reports
Patient data, diagnoses, lab results, medication lists, clinical notes, structured and unstructured medical records
Identity Documents
Passports, ID cards, driving licenses: name, DOB, document numbers, MRZ zones, photo detection, expiry dates
Logistics & Shipping
Bills of lading, delivery notes, customs declarations, packing lists, weight/dimension extraction, tracking references
Don't see your document type? We benchmark any structured or semi-structured document. Tell us what you process and we'll scope it.

The Cost of Choosing Wrong

Every team using LLMs to extract data from documents hits the same wall. The wrong choice compounds silently — until it becomes a crisis.

3–10x
Cost difference between the cheapest and most accurate provider — for the same document type
4–8 weeks
Average time teams spend building throwaway evaluation scripts that test 2–3 providers on cherry-picked samples
90 days
Before you discover the provider you chose drops 15% accuracy on a document type you didn't test during evaluation
The compounding problem: New models drop every quarter. Pricing changes without warning. The provider you selected 6 months ago may no longer be the right choice — but you'd never know without re-testing on your actual documents, at your actual scale.
Real-World Result

European Insurance Company — Claims Processing

6 providers · 340 documents · 4 document types · 2.5 weeks

A European insurance company was about to commit to a single LLM provider for claims document processing. Arena Assessment benchmarked 6 providers across their real claims forms, medical reports, invoices, and policy documents.

The finding: GPT-4o scored 96.2% field accuracy on invoices but dropped to 78.4% on medical reports. Claude Sonnet led on medical documents at 94.1% but cost 2.1x more per extraction. Gemini Flash scored 91.8% on invoices at 1/4 the cost.

The recommendation: a hybrid stack — Claude for medical reports, Gemini Flash for invoices, GPT-4o for policy documents. The client implemented the hybrid approach and cut extraction costs by 62% with less than 1% accuracy loss overall.

62%
Cost reduction
<1%
Accuracy trade-off
2.5 wks
Time to report
Field-Level Accuracy by Provider — Invoice Extraction
GPT-4o
96.2%
Claude 4
93.8%
Gemini Flash
91.8%
Mistral Large
87.3%
Command R+
82.1%
Best overall
Best cost/accuracy
Below threshold
Accuracy Heatmap — Provider x Document Type
Invoices
Medical
Claims
Policy
Receipts
GPT-4o
96.2
78.4
91.7
95.3
93.1
Claude 4
93.8
94.1
92.4
90.6
88.2
Gemini Flash
91.8
83.2
86.9
87.4
94.7
Mistral
87.3
81.6
84.2
82.9
86.5
Cohere
82.1
76.8
80.3
81.2
83.4
Green border = best provider for that document type · Data from representative engagement

What Teams Do Today (And Why It Fails)

We've seen every approach. None of them produce the data you need to decide with confidence.

Write throwaway Python scripts

Your team spends weeks building one-off evaluation code. Tests 2–3 providers on a handful of documents. No ground truth, no statistical rigor, no cost analysis. Then the code is thrown away.

Trust vendor benchmarks

Vendors run benchmarks on their best datasets and publish the results. Your invoices, contracts, and claims forms are not their demo PDFs. Their numbers don't transfer to your pipeline.

Copy-paste into ChatGPT and eyeball it

Manual spot-checks on 5–10 documents. No latency data. No cost projection. No field-level accuracy. No statistical significance. A gut feeling dressed up as a decision.

Pick a provider and hope for the best

Skip evaluation entirely. Choose based on brand recognition or a colleague's recommendation. Discover the accuracy or cost problem 3 months later — when switching costs are already six figures.

Arena Assessment is the alternative.
We run your documents through every major LLM provider under controlled conditions, with ground truth annotations, field-level accuracy scoring, and cost-per-extraction analysis. You get a technical report in 2–3 weeks. Your team gets certainty.

Build It Yourself vs. Arena Assessment

We've watched dozens of teams try the DIY approach. Here's what it actually looks like.

DIY Evaluation
Arena Assessment
Time to results
4–8 weeks
2–3 weeks
Your team's time
200–400 hours
< 4 hours
Providers tested
2–3 typically
7 LLM providers
Ground truth annotations
Rarely built
Always included
Field-level accuracy
Eyeballed
0.0–1.0 per field
Statistical significance
None
Confidence intervals
Cost-per-extraction analysis
Rough estimates
At your projected volumes
Compliance matrix
Not assessed
Per provider, per model
Independence
Internal bias
Third-party, vendor-agnostic
Estimated cost
€15,000–40,000in engineering time
From €4,500fixed, all-inclusive

How It Works

A structured engagement, not a product trial. We do the work — you get the answers.

Phase 01
Briefing

We understand your document landscape: types, volumes, languages, accuracy requirements, latency constraints, and compliance framework.

Remote · 60–90 min
Phase 02
Dataset Preparation

You provide real documents. We build ground truth annotations and extraction schemas tailored to your use cases.

3–5 business days
Phase 03
Benchmark Execution

Multiple LLM providers tested across four dimensions: accuracy, speed, cost, and compliance eligibility. Controlled conditions.

3–5 business days
Phase 04
Report & Walkthrough

Detailed technical report with per-model, per-document-type analysis. Live session with clear recommendations for your context.

Report + 90 min session
End-to-end: 2–3 weeks from briefing to report delivery  |  Your team's time commitment: < 4 hours total

What You Get

Not a slide deck with opinions. A technical audit report built on your data.

Field-level accuracy breakdown — per model, per document type, with confidence intervals
Latency benchmarks — p50, p95, p99 under realistic load, not synthetic tests
Cost-per-extraction analysis — projected at your actual volumes, not per-token estimates
Compliance matrix — which providers and models meet your specific regulatory framework
Head-to-head comparisons — statistical significance testing, not eyeballed rankings
Recommended stack — primary model + fallback strategy, with cost/accuracy rationale
Risk flags — vendor lock-in exposure, data residency issues, model deprecation risks
Live walkthrough — 90-minute session with your technical team to review findings and Q&A
The outcome: Your team walks away with a data-backed recommendation for which provider to use, for which document types, at what cost — and the confidence to defend that decision to the board.

Your report includes these deliverables

Every deliverable is built from your data, not templates. Here's what lands on your desk.

accuracy_report.pdf
Accuracy Report
Field-level accuracy per provider, per document type. Confidence intervals, statistical significance, and per-field failure analysis.
cost_analysis.pdf
$
$
$$
$
$
$
Cost Analysis
Cost-per-extraction at your projected volumes. Provider comparison, annual cost projections, and cost/accuracy trade-off matrix.
compliance_matrix.pdf
Compliance Matrix
Which providers meet your regulatory framework. Data residency, model hosting, certifications, and GDPR/SOC2 eligibility per provider.
recommendation.pdf
RECOMMENDED
Stack Recommendation
Primary provider + fallback strategy per document type. Implementation roadmap, risk flags, and vendor lock-in assessment.

Want to see what a real report looks like?

Download a sample Arena Assessment report — real data, real methodology, real recommendations. See exactly what you'll get before committing.

Results That Speak for Themselves

We were about to sign a 2-year contract with a single provider. The Arena Assessment showed us that a hybrid approach — two models instead of one — would save us 40% on extraction costs with less than 2% accuracy trade-off. That data paid for the engagement 50x over in the first quarter alone.

CTO
European Insurance Company · 50,000+ docs/month

We'd been on the same provider for 18 months. The Arena Assessment confirmed it was still the best for our contracts — but discovered we were using the wrong model tier. Same provider, different model, 34% cost reduction. They also found that for receipts and delivery notes, a cheaper provider matched accuracy at 1/3 the price.

VP Operations
European Logistics Company · 120,000+ docs/month

Our internal evaluation took 6 weeks and tested two providers on 50 documents. Arena tested seven providers on 400 documents in half the time. The depth of analysis was incomparable — field-level accuracy, latency percentiles, cost projections at our actual volume. We should have started here.

Head of Engineering
FinTech Scale-up · 30,000+ docs/month

The compliance matrix alone was worth the engagement. We operate in a regulated industry and needed to know which providers met our data residency requirements. Arena mapped every model against our framework — three providers we were considering turned out to be non-compliant. That saved us from a costly mistake.

CISO
European Banking Group · 80,000+ docs/month

We came back for a second assessment 8 months later when GPT-4.1 launched. The re-benchmark showed it improved accuracy by 7% on our medical reports but regressed 3% on invoices. Without the data, we would have blindly upgraded everything. Instead, we upgraded selectively and saved the pipeline.

Director of Innovation
Healthcare Provider · 45,000+ docs/month

Two Tiers. One Clear Answer.

Both tiers include the full methodology, report, and live walkthrough.

Essential

Focused Benchmarking

For teams evaluating a specific use case or document type
Starting at€4,500Fixed price · No hidden fees
  • Up to 3 document types
  • 7 LLM providers tested
  • Accuracy, speed, cost, and compliance analysis
  • Technical report + 90-min live walkthrough
  • Recommended provider with rationale
Request a Proposal
Typical ROI: Clients report 10–50x return on the engagement cost in the first year through optimized provider selection and hybrid stack savings.
Document Types We've Benchmarked Across Industries
Banking
Insurance
Logistics
Healthcare
Legal
Financial Services

Methodology Guarantee

If our benchmark methodology cannot produce statistically significant results for your document types, you pay nothing. We assess feasibility during the Briefing phase — before any commitment. If we can't deliver rigorous, actionable data, we'll tell you upfront.

What Happens Next

The assessment is the beginning, not the end. Your document AI landscape keeps evolving.

01
Implement with Confidence

Your team uses the report to select providers, configure pipelines, and set accuracy/cost baselines. The data eliminates months of internal debate.

02
Monitor Against Your Baseline

The benchmark results become your reference point. When a new model launches or accuracy drifts in production, you have data to compare against.

03
Refresh When the Landscape Shifts

Most clients return for a follow-up assessment within 6–12 months. New models, new pricing, new document types — each is a trigger to re-benchmark. Returning clients receive preferential pricing and faster turnaround.

70% of clients request a follow-up assessment within 12 months — because the landscape never stops moving.

Why You Can't Do This Yourself

Vendor benchmarks are designed to make the vendor look good.

They pick the datasets, the document types, the evaluation criteria. Your invoices, contracts, and claims forms are not their demo PDFs. Their published numbers don't predict your results.

Building a rigorous evaluation in-house takes 4–8 weeks of engineering time.

Ground truth annotation. Multi-provider API integration. Field-level accuracy scoring. Cost normalization. Statistical testing. Your team has better things to build. We've already built the infrastructure.

The best model changes every quarter.

A benchmark from six months ago is already stale. What worked for your competitors may not work for your documents, your schemas, your volumes. You need a current answer, not a historical one.

You need evidence your board will trust.

An internal evaluation by the team that's already leaning toward a provider isn't independent. Arena Assessment delivers third-party data — controlled, reproducible, statistically significant — that justifies a six-figure infrastructure decision.

70%
of clients request a follow-up assessment within 12 months
3x
ISO Certified

27001 · 27017 · 27018. Triple-certified information security. Your documents, your rules.

2M+
Docs / Month

Processed in production for European banking, insurance, and logistics clients.

7+
Years in Production

We built the benchmark because we needed it ourselves. Now we offer it as a service.

Before You Decide

"We can build this evaluation ourselves."
You can. Most teams estimate 1–2 weeks; it takes 4–8. You'll need ground truth annotation, multi-provider API integration, field-level accuracy scoring, cost normalization, and statistical significance testing. Arena Assessment delivers this in 2–3 weeks with less than 4 hours of your team's time. The question isn't whether you can — it's whether that's the best use of your engineering capacity.
"We already chose a provider."
Then an assessment validates your choice with independent data — or reveals document types where a different provider would perform better. Many teams run Arena Assessment after initial deployment to optimize their stack: primary provider + fallback for specific doc types. The savings often pay for the engagement in the first month.
"How is this different from public LLM benchmarks?"
Public benchmarks (MMLU, HellaSwag, etc.) test general knowledge. They tell you nothing about how GPT-4o handles your Portuguese invoices vs. how Claude handles your German contracts. Arena Assessment tests your documents, your schemas, your extraction use cases — the only data that matters for your decision.
"What about data security?"
We're ISO 27001, 27017, and 27018 certified. Your documents are processed under your compliance framework. We can operate within data residency requirements, sign NDAs and DPAs before engagement, and delete all data after report delivery.
"How much does it cost?"
Fixed price per engagement, scoped during the Briefing phase based on document volume and complexity. No recurring fees, no per-document charges, no surprises. Request a proposal and we'll provide a quote within 48 hours of the scoping call.
"What if the results show no clear winner?"
That's actually one of the most valuable outcomes. It means the decision should be driven by cost, latency, or compliance — not accuracy. The report will show exactly where providers diverge and where they're interchangeable, so you can optimize on the dimension that matters most.
Every quarter you operate without benchmark data, the landscape shifts underneath you.
New models. New pricing. New deprecations. The provider you chose 6 months ago may already be the wrong answer. An Arena Assessment takes 2–3 weeks. The cost of waiting is measured in months of overpaying or under-performing.

Request a Proposal

Fill in the form below. We'll get back to you within 48 hours with a scoping call invitation and a preliminary quote.