# Scan Hero vs PDF Maker

The clearest difference is update cadence: Scan Hero at every 10 days against PDF Maker's every 5 months. Scan Hero also leads on ratings volume (242K vs 85) and chart position (#38 vs unranked). PDF Maker's advantage is iOS requirement (12.0 vs 14.0). On price, rating, review sentiment and ads there is nothing between them.

Both are free to download. Scan Hero sells 11 in-app purchases, starting at $1.99 per 7 days and PDF Maker sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for Scan Hero against 4.7 for PDF Maker. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Scan Hero has 242K ratings behind it against 85, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 66% of Scan Hero's written reviews are positive against 61% of PDF Maker's.

Scan Hero ships an update every 10 days, PDF Maker every 5 months. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | Scan Hero | PDF Maker |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | [4.7 (242K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/scan-hero-pdf-scanner/id1017261655/reviews) | **[4.7 (85 ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-maker-scanner-and-convert/id1232567191/reviews)** |
| Number of ratings | **242K** | 85 |
| Positive reviews | **65.5% of reviews** | 61.4% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | Yes |
| Update frequency | **Every 10 days** | Every 5 months |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Best chart rank | **#38** | — |
| Size | 245 MB | 20 MB |
| Requires iOS | 14.0 | **12.0** |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Mosaic S.r.l.](https://appshunter.io/developer/570748343) | [Kruti Patel](https://appshunter.io/developer/1228160192) |

## What reviewers say

### Scan Hero

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/scan-hero-pdf-scanner/id1017261655)

**Currently charting:** #38 Top Grossing · Business (US App Store)

Scan documents, photos, and text on the go and manage your paperwork digitally. Edit, sign, and share your scans as PDFs or images. Offers OCR, HD quality, and secure file protection.

**Highlights:** Scan documents to PDF or image, Multiple camera modes for specific documents, Edit scans: re-crop, perspective, filters, Organize and reorder pages, OCR text extraction, Digital signatures, Secure files with Face ID/passcode

**Features:** Family Sharing, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (11)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Get Premium! | $1.99 | per 7 days |
| Premium Scanner App + OCR | $4.99 | per 3 months |
| Weekly Subscription | $9.99 | per 7 days |
| Weekly Sub with Free Trial | $9.99 | per 7 days |
| Scanner for Me - Plus | $10.99 | per month |
| Monthly Premium Subscription | $14.99 | per month |
| Document & Text Scanner + OCR | $16.00 | per month |
| Upgrade to Pro! | $16.00 | per month |
| Monthly Premium Subscription | $22.00 | per month |
| Upgrade to Pro! | $89.99 | per year |
| Scanner for Me Full Version | $6.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Easy to use
- 👍 Convenient scanning
- 🚀 Fast scanning
- 👍 Helpful for business/school
- 👍 Great for on-the-go scanning

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🐛 Inconsistent scanning quality
- 🔒 Difficult to cancel subscription
- 💰 Expensive subscription
- 🔒 Automatic subscription charges
- 🐛 Buggy/glitchy app

**Reported bugs**

- Scans not properly cropped
- Inability to rearrange scanned pages
- Crashes when editing/cropping documents

**Requested features**

- Ability to rotate scanned documents
- Option to save scans to cloud storage
- Improved OCR text recognition


### PDF Maker

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/pdf-maker-scanner-and-convert/id1232567191)

Easily transform your photos and scanned documents into professional PDF files. This app allows you to import images, scan documents with automatic edge detection, apply filters, and edit pages before sharing your creations via email and other platforms.

**Highlights:** Photo to PDF conversion, Built-in scanner with auto-cropping, Apply filters (B&W, Grayscale), Manual cropping, PDF page rotation and deletion, Insert pages into existing PDFs, Share PDFs via email

**Features:** macOS Compatibility, Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (1)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Upgrade to Pro | $2.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 👍 Easy to use
- 🚀 Fast and efficient
- 🆓 Free to use (mostly)
- 👍 Intuitive interface
- 👍 Good for creating PDFs

**What reviewers complain about**

- 👎 Poor quality/resolution
- 👎 Images are cut off/cropped
- 👎 App crashes/closes unexpectedly
- 👎 Unusable after purchase
- 👎 Poor German translation

**Reported bugs**

- PDFs are cut off
- App crashes after purchase
- Trial version issues after upgrade
- App closes by itself
- Images are cut off in exported PDFs

**Requested features**

- Option to delete PDFs
- Adjust size for letter format


## Frequently asked questions

### Is Scan Hero free?

Scan Hero is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Is PDF Maker free?

PDF Maker is free to download, with in-app purchases available.

### Which has better reviews, Scan Hero or PDF Maker?

PDF Maker is rated higher. Scan Hero averages 4.7 out of 5 from 242K ratings, while PDF Maker averages 4.7 from 85 ratings.

### Do Scan Hero or PDF Maker have ads?

Both Scan Hero and PDF Maker show ads.

### Which is updated more often, Scan Hero or PDF Maker?

Scan Hero ships an update every 10 days, and PDF Maker every 5 months. Most recently, Scan Hero was updated on October 30, 2026 and PDF Maker on October 29, 2026.

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*Compared by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/) from daily US App Store data. Review summaries are generated from verbatim App Store reviews.*