OCR is now widely applied to turn scans and images into searchable and readable text. If you have scans or images that you need to turn into searchable text, you may search for a free OCR software.
Here in this article I used my expertise in the industry to thoroughly test and compare more than 20 free OCR software that are either completely free, or have a free trial version with a lot of the necessary functionality. I narrowing it down to the 11 best and safest options. Whether you want to turn scanned PDF into searchable text, extract text from images or whether you’re using Android or iPhone… we got you covered.
Cisdem PDF Converter OCR
Free Download 
Free DownloadOCR, which is Optical Character Recognition, it is the technology to recognize text from a image-based file (scanned PDFs, images) or paper documents. It will make these files to digital copies of readable and searchable texts.
There are both online and offline OCR tools. Online OCR refers to web-based OCR services that perform OCR on uploaded files online, then save the output documents to local hard drive of a device, users need to have access to Internet and upload the files to 3rd party server which stores those files for 24 hours or more.
While offline OCR refers to desktop or mobile software to perform OCR even without accessing to Internet. As long as we have these apps installed on our device, we can perform OCR at anytime anywhere without staying online. And the files stay on our device.
It has been estimated that 40% of all document imaging and scanning work is rework. But when OCR converts a scanned image into digital text, it becomes a searchable text file, thus making all things possible like:
* You could quickly find your favorite quote within a large document.
* You can also copy, paste, and edit passages of text within the document.
* You files become much smaller than a scanned one.
* You can cut down the cost of hiring consultants to help with data extraction.
* For those who are blind or visually impaired, OCR software can help decipher text and have it read aloud.
From the below infographic, we find that a greater number of companies are now looking for OCR solutions than before and this trend will only grow in the future.
Image source:[Optical Character Recognition Market Growth Analysis, 2022-28]
| Criteria | Value |
|---|---|
| Quantity of tested tools | 20 |
| Time duration | 2 months |
| OS Version | Windows, macOS, Android, iOS |
| File Types | Scanned PDF files, images with different conditions |
If you want to edit scanned documents as freely as possible, make it in searchable PDF, editable Word or other formats then Cisdem PDF Converter OCR is the best OCR software for you.
It is my favorite OCR Software on the market — and while it doesn’t currently have a free plan, it offers a freetrail and a risk-free 30-day money-back guarantee, which gives you 1 months to try it out and see if this is the right OCR software for you. It has an advanced OCR engine, support convert PDF to MS Office, iWork, image and more. and it can also work as a PDF creator which can create PDF from Word, PowerPoint, Excel, HTML, EPUB, etc.
Cisdem PDF Converter OCR provides perfect recognition accuracy in all conditions. In all of our tests, it was able to perform OCR on scanned files in all conditions, from simple ones like scanned PDF and images to complex background PDFs, or PDF diagrams. It also has excellent file conversion capability, the converted files keep all the layout and fonts.
High Quality — Convert scans and PDF to searchable ones and keep the original text, layout and formatting.
Process Files in Batches — Can convert multiple files at the same time.
File Format Support — Support convert PDF and images to 20+ formats like MS Office, iWork and images.
Powerful PDF Creator — Create PDF from Word, excel, Image and other 40+ formats in a breeze.
Page Range Support - You can set to only convert certain PDF pages.
Language Support — Supports multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Italian,
German, French, etc.
And much more…
Bottom Line:
Cisdem PDF Converter OCR offers unparalleled OCR recognition technology, a wide range of high-end converting features, and affordable plans with 30 days free-trail.
Free Download Windows 11/10/8/7 Free Download macOS 10.11 or later
To OCR scanned PDF and images using Cisdem PDF
1: Open Cisdem PDF Converter OCR and Click the Converter interface.
2: Drag and drop to add your scanned PDF or images.
2. When you add scanned files the program will ask you to download the OCR module installer. Click OK to install it.
4: Set the PDF pages you want to convert, choose the language of your PDF file and set the output format as OCR PDF.
OS Platform: Windows
Our Rating: 4.0/5.0
Free Download Capture2Text Software: https://sourceforge.net/projects/capture2text/
Best For: OCR text from screen captures and convert text to speech.
Capture2Text is a powerful OCR program to recognize texts from screen captures. Though only allows users to turn captures to plain text, it offers extended features, like text replacement, translation, text to speech conversion. In addition, it allows users to configure different settings to customize the OCR according to needs. However, it seems Capture needs further work to fix the bugs regarding translation and OCR.
OS Platform: Windows and macOS
Our Rating: 4.0/5.0
Free Download PDF OCR X Community Software: https://solutions.weblite.ca/pdfocrx/download
Best For: OCR PDF and images with simple interface.
PDF OCR X Community is an extremely simple program to perform OCR on both PDF and various images. You just need to drag and drop the file, then choose output format and file language to start the OCR progress. It supports exporting files as Text or searchable PDF, but can convert single-page PDF only. To convert multiple-page PDF, you need to update to its Enterprise version or split the PDF to several single-page PDF for free OCR. Same as FreeOCR, it hasn’t been updated for years. You may have crash issues on latest operating systems.
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OS Platform: Windows
Our Rating: 4.0/5.0
Free Download SimpleOCR Software: https://www.simpleocr.com/download/
Best For: OCR PDF and images with spell check.
SimpleOCR from SimpleSoftware, is a freeware to do OCR on PDF, image, even paper files from a connected scanner. SimpleSoftware offers various brands of OCR tools, its SimpleOCR gives users a free experience to know how efficient and convenient an OCR tool can be. If your file is reversed, you can rotate to have a more accurate OCR. Also, it supports spell check, you can replace those suspected errors with words from the dictionary. Yet, it may take you some time to manually adjust the errors.
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OS Platform: Windows
Our Rating: 3.8/5.0
Free Download FreeOCR Software: http://www.paperfile.net/download2.html
Best For: OCR and convert PDF files to Text, Word and RTF.
FreeOCR from PaperFile is based on Tesseract OCR to turn scans, PDF and image to 3 formats: Text, Word and RTF. It offers batch OCR and allows users to export files as JPG. Though it is designed to convert files to editable Word, the formatting cannot keep in the Word file. In addition, the last update for this program was released in 2015, there may be some technical errors on different, especially latest Windows. Anyway, it offers high accuracy and deserves a try.
OS Platform: Windows and macOS
Our Rating: 3.8/5.0
Free Download Free OCR to Word Software: https://www.ocrtoword.com/
Best For: Free OCR software with fast speed.
Free OCR to Word offers an easy way to turn files from scanner and images to editable Word or Text format. Other than other free OCR tools, it has an excellent support on image input, besides common image, it also does OCR on ICO, PCX, PSD, CUR, DCM, WMF, EMF, TGA, PXM, WBMP, CRW, WPD, IEV, JP2, J2K, DCX and LYR All. In addition, it offers a set of image and document tools, to view and manage the file easily, which gives a better user experience.
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OS Platform: Windows
Our Rating: 3.8/5.0
Free Download SuperGeek Free OCR Software: https://www.ocrfree.net/download.php
Best For: OCR and convert PDF files to Text, Word.
Does this program look familiar to you? Let’s say Free OCR to Word. Yes, I finally figure out that SuperGeek Free OCR and Free OCR to Word are exactly the same program, having the same functions but using a different color of interface and available on different website. I have been hesitate if I should put this SuperGeek program on this list, anyway, it is an option to do OCR for free and offline, for users who have problems accessing to Free OCR to Word, this program may help.
OS Platform: macOS, Windows, iOS, Android
Our Rating:3.8 /5.0
Free Download OneNote OCR Software: https://products.office.com/en/onenote/digital-note-taking-app
Best For: OCR software you might already have.
OneNote from Microsoft is a note-taking program to create and organize notes across different platforms, including macOS, Windows, Android and iOS, also it offers online free portal to manage your notes anytime anywhere. It is free and mainly focusing on processing notes, to process notes source from PDF or images, it builds in OCR feature to copy text from these files, then embed to a note for other use.
OS Platform: Android and iOS
Our Rating: 3.6/5.0
Free Download Adobe Scan OCR Software: https://acrobat.adobe.com/us/en/mobile/scanner-app.html
Best For: OCR software for mobile user.
Speaking of PDF editing or OCR files, Adobe is definitely the most professional solution. But its price tag is always the obstacle to install this program. So, it’s really a good news that its mobile version is free to users. Adobe Scan mobile app is available on both Android and iOS, helping turn scans under their mobile phone camera to copyable text. To yield high quality Adobe OCR result, it provides basic editing feature to optimize the photo scans.
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OS Platform: macOS
Our Rating: 3.5/5.0
Free Download LEADTOOLS OCR Software: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/leadtools-ocr/id604393629?mt=12
Best For: OCR software that is lightweight and export to Word, TXT, LTD, PDF, RTF, SVG, XML, HTM, MOB and ePub.
LEADTOOLS is a company offering fast OCR SDK technology for developers across all platforms, rather than providing end-user applications, but its LEADTOOLS OCR Application in Mac AppStore gives a chance for users to try its OCR technology. It supports OCR PDF and image to 10 formats, but according to my tests, it does the best on OCR files to text, while there are improvements needs to be done on OCR accuracy. Anyway, it is quite convenient to extract texts from files in the result window, instead of saving in a txt file.
OS Platform: Android, iOS, Web and Chrome
Our Rating: 3.5/5.0
Free Download Google Keep OCR Software: https://www.google.com/keep/
Best For: Free OCR software that is accurate.
OneNote alike, Google Keep is an application to take and manage notes online or on your mobile phone. Its built-in OCR feature can grab text directly from the image, then share to your Google contacts, or copy to Google Docs for further editing. It is not a piece of software exclusively designed to do OCR, you will benefit a lot when using it to create and manage your notes.
| Platform | Rating | Input Format | Output Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cisdem PDF Converter OCR | Windows and macOS | 5.0/5.0 | PDF, Image | Word, PowerPoint, Excel, iWork, Images, PDF/A, EPUB, HTML, RTF, TXT, XOD, XPS |
| SimpleOCR | Windows | 4.0/5.0 | Scan, PDF, Image | Word, Text |
| Capture2Text | Windows | 4.0/5.0 | Image | Text, Speech |
| PDF OCR X Community Edition | Windows and macOS | 4.0/5.0 | PDF, Image | Text, PDF |
| FreeOCR | Windows | 3.8/5.0 | Scan, PDF, Image | Word, Text, RTF; |
| Free OCR to Word | Windows | 3.8/5.0 | Scan, Image | Word, Text |
| SuperGeek Free OCR | Windows | 3.8/5.0 | Scan, Image | Word, Text |
| OneNote | macOS, Windows, iOS, Android | 3.8/5.0 | PDF, Image | Text |
| Adobe Scan Mobile App | Android and iOS | 3.6/5.0 | Scan, Image | PDF, Text |
| LEADTOOLS OCR Application |
macOS |
3.5/5.0 | PDF, Image | Word, TXT, LTD, PDF, RTF, SVG, XML, HTM, MOB and ePub |
| Google Keep | Android, iOS, Web and Chrome | 3.5/5.0 | Image | Text |
We spent 2 months researching this topic. At first, we have shortlisted 20 free OCR software but after the test we list the top 11 tools. This will make it convenient for you to choose the right solution.
Free OCR Software like Capture2Text, PDF OCR X Community Edition and OneNote are pretty good, But after months of testing free OCR software, our team reached this consensus: paid OCR software are usually better on account of all the extra features and accuracy they provide.
What’s more, paid OCR software also include better customer support, so you know you can get help on even complex condition files.
However, free OCR tools should suffice for those who are looking for a more economical way to convert scanned PDF or images into searchable and editable files.
For free OCR Software, many people will also find multiple free online tools available, but e don’t really recommend online sites. Here’s what dangers this might bring:
They may sell user data. What better way to make money than making you the product and selling your data?
Multiple Ads. Online sites also need money, so free online OCR tools also comes with annoying ads.
Limit on File Numbers and Sizes.
1. As a rule of thumb, make sure the scanned document is between 300 and 600 dpi for accuracy. If the font size is below 10pts then 400 dpi would be recommended.
2. When scanning, PDF, TIFF and PNG are recommended for uncompressed file formats. JPEGs will lose quality with each edit.
3. Make sure the source document is laid flat on the scanner. Skewed pages can lead to inaccurate OCR recognition.
4. For most of the free OCR tools text covering overly bright or dark graphics in the original document will not be recognized. If this is the problem, adjust the contrast or use a paid software instead.
As I believe, all the best free offline OCR software that worth a try is now on our top list, they are 100% free and safe to use offline. One thing for sure, all these free OCR software has their individual disadvantages, and that’s the reason why there are still a lot of users finally pick a paid OCR software: Cisdem PDF Converter OCR to recognize their file, they want better user experience and more accurate OCR result.
Connie has been writing for Mac productivity and utility apps since 2009. Each review and solution is based on her practical tests, she is aways energetic and trustworthy in this field.
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Thanks for the clarification it is truly an amazing clarification, thanks for writing it.