Textract vs. RekognitionImageDetectText
A comparison of Amazon Textract and Amazon Rekognition text detection across different image types.
Both Amazon Textract and Amazon Rekognition offer text detection capabilities, but they excel at different types of images. Nomad Media uses both processors; this page documents empirical comparisons across representative image types to help you understand which processor is appropriate for a given use case.
All examples use the LINE response type from both Rekognition DetectText and Textract.
Example 1 — Movie Poster (Smokey and the Bandit)
| Rekognition | Textract |
|---|---|
| OEZ (from "Smokey" header), and (from header), THE (from header), CB (small CB radio), andit (from "Bandit" header), THRIS RIRL (from "TRANS AM"), BANONE (from license plate) | The (from header), RII (from "AM" above license plate in "TRANS AM"), BAN ONE (from license plate) |
Rekognition performs slightly better here — it catches the CB radio text — but also produces more noise. Neither detected the full "Smokey and the Bandit" logo. This example is roughly even.
Example 2 — Comic Book Cover
| Rekognition | Textract |
|---|---|
| MARVEL LEGACY HOME OF THE BRAUE PART 1, 695 MARK WAIO, MATTHEW CHRIS SAMNEE WILSON, CALRAL (CAPTAIN), AAMICA (AMERICA), SAWWEE'17 (bottom right), MIN (bottom right) | LEGACY HOME OF THE BRAVE, PART, 1, 695, MARK WAID, CHRIS SAMNEE, MATTHEW WILSON |
Rekognition captures more data but mixes it together. Textract breaks it into cleaner, structured tokens. Roughly equal, with Rekognition having a slight edge.
Example 3 — Street Corner Signs
| Rekognition | Textract |
|---|---|
| Grennan Rd, Brace Rd, STOP, BRACE RD, GRENNAN RD | Rd, Grennan, Brace Rd, STOP, BRACE RD, GRENNAN RD |
Rekognition is the clear winner — it reads the full "Grennan Rd" as a single token.
Example 4 — OUTATIME License Plate
| Rekognition | Textract |
|---|---|
| NO (top of license plate), OUTATIME | (found nothing) |
Rekognition wins — Textract found nothing on this image.
Example 5 — Slanted / Skewed Text
| Rekognition | Textract |
|---|---|
| AI, THE BEST WAY TO, SLANT OR SKEW TEXT, IN ILLUSTRATOR | (found nothing) |
Rekognition wins clearly — Textract cannot handle skewed or rotated text.
Example 6 — Straight Text (Same Content, Unslanted)
| Rekognition | Textract |
|---|---|
| THE BEST WAY TO, SLANT OR SKEW TEXT, IN ILLUSTRATOR | (still found nothing) |
Rekognition wins — even on straight text in a non-document layout, Textract struggles.
Summary
While Textract is the best choice for scanned documents and structured OCR (forms, invoices, tables), Rekognition (RekognitionImageDetectText) outperforms Textract on almost every non-document image type — including signs, movie posters, license plates, and skewed text.
Recommendation: Use Textract for document-type assets. Use RekognitionImageDetectText for all other image types.