A transparent breakdown of IDP costs, from AWS service pricing to implementation, with real ROI examples from our client projects.
Intelligent Document Processing (IDP) can dramatically reduce document handling costs—but how much does it actually cost to implement? This guide breaks down all the costs involved, from AWS services to implementation, so you can build an accurate business case.
Quick Answer: IDP Cost Summary
| Cost Component | Typical Range |
|---|---|
| AWS Textract (per 1,000 pages) | $1.50 - $15.00 |
| Implementation (one-time) | $50,000 - $200,000 |
| Monthly AWS infrastructure | $500 - $5,000 |
| Typical ROI | 60-75% cost reduction vs manual |
AWS Textract Pricing Breakdown
AWS Textract is priced per page processed. Here's the current pricing (US East region):
DetectDocumentText API
For basic text extraction:
- First 1 million pages/month: $1.50 per 1,000 pages
- Over 1 million pages/month: $0.60 per 1,000 pages
AnalyzeDocument API (Forms & Tables)
For structured data extraction:
- First 1 million pages/month: $15.00 per 1,000 pages
- Over 1 million pages/month: $10.00 per 1,000 pages
AnalyzeExpense API (Invoices)
Specialized for financial documents:
- All volumes: $10.00 per 1,000 pages
Example: Processing 50,000 Invoices/Month
Monthly Textract cost: 50,000 pages × $0.01/page = $500/month
Cost per document: $0.01 (one cent)
Additional AWS Service Costs
A production IDP system uses several AWS services beyond Textract:
| Service | Purpose | Typical Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon S3 | Document storage | $50 - $200 |
| AWS Lambda | Processing logic | $20 - $100 |
| Step Functions | Workflow orchestration | $25 - $100 |
| Amazon Comprehend | Text classification | $100 - $500 |
| Amazon A2I | Human review | $50 - $200 |
| DynamoDB/RDS | Data storage | $50 - $300 |
| Total Infrastructure | $300 - $1,500/month |
Implementation Costs
The one-time cost to build an IDP system depends on complexity:
Basic Implementation ($50,000 - $80,000)
- Single document type
- Standard extraction fields
- Basic validation rules
- Simple integration (API or file export)
- Timeline: 6-8 weeks
Standard Implementation ($80,000 - $150,000)
- Multiple document types
- Complex extraction logic
- Human-in-the-loop validation
- Integration with existing systems
- Custom dashboard
- Timeline: 10-14 weeks
Enterprise Implementation ($150,000 - $300,000+)
- Multiple document types and workflows
- Advanced AI/ML (handwriting, Bedrock)
- Complex integrations (ERP, CRM, core banking)
- Compliance and audit requirements
- Multi-region deployment
- Timeline: 16-24 weeks
ROI: Real Client Examples
Here's what our clients have achieved:
Bank of Montreal - Loan Processing
- Problem: Manual loan application review taking 5-7 days
- Solution: Textract + Bedrock for handwriting extraction
- Results: 65% faster processing, $2.1M annual savings
- ROI Timeline: ~8 months to break even
DegreeData - Course Catalog Processing
- Problem: Manual catalog processing from 500+ institutions
- Solution: Bedrock-powered document parsing
- Results: 80% faster, $800K annual savings
- ROI Timeline: 180% ROI in 14 months
Cost Comparison: IDP vs Manual Processing
Let's compare costs for processing 50,000 documents per month:
| Cost Factor | Manual Processing | IDP Solution |
|---|---|---|
| Labor (data entry staff) | $25,000/month | $2,500/month (review only) |
| AWS Services | $0 | $1,500/month |
| Error correction | $3,000/month | $500/month |
| Monthly Total | $28,000 | $4,500 |
| Annual Total | $336,000 | $54,000 |
Annual Savings: $282,000 (84% reduction)
With a $100,000 implementation cost, this example achieves ROI in approximately 4-5 months.
Hidden Costs to Consider
- Change management: Training staff on new workflows
- Integration complexity: Connecting to legacy systems may add cost
- Document quality: Low-quality scans may require pre-processing
- Ongoing optimization: Budget for tuning and improvements
- Support and maintenance: Typically 15-20% of implementation annually
How to Get Started
Ready to explore IDP for your organization? Here's our recommended approach:
- Document audit: Inventory your document types and volumes
- ROI analysis: Calculate current costs vs. projected savings
- Proof of concept: Test with a subset of documents (2-3 weeks)
- Production build: Scale to full implementation
We offer free IDP assessments to help you understand your potential ROI. Our team has implemented document processing solutions for Bank of Montreal, Ford Credit, Ricoh, and other enterprise clients.
