Comparison

Adobe Scan vs Basic Scan

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Adobe Scan

Transform your mobile device into a powerful document scanner. Easily convert paper documents, receipts, and IDs into professional-looking PDFs or JPEGs. Enhance scans with automatic straightening, stain removal, and editable text conversion.

Highlights
  • High-speed bulk scanning
  • Convert paper to PDF/JPEG
  • Automatic straightening
  • Magic eraser for cleanup
  • Extract pages
  • Image to text OCR
  • Organize into folders
Read full description

Adobe Scan is free to download and turns your mobile device into a powerful PDF and document scanner that helps you create, save, and organize your paper documents as digital files. 6 WAYS TO USE ADOBE SCAN 1) Save time with a fast document scanner: Use High-speed scan to bulk scan documents and turn stacks into PDFs in seconds. 2) Clean up scans with Magic eraser: Auto-detect and remove thumbs, shadows, stains and creases so your document scans look clear and professional. 3) Make a PDF with your phone: Convert paper documents or printed images into PDFs or JPEGs with the mobile PDF and photo scanner. 4) Use the Extract pages tool to choose the pages you need from any multi-page scan and save them as a new PDF. 5) Turn images to text: Use the image-to-text feature to make words in your scans searchable and editable with OCR. 6) Scan anything: Receipts, IDs, notes, recipes, photos, business cards, whiteboards – scan documents into PDF or JPEG files you can work with on your phone, tablet, or computer. CAPTURE WITH PRECISION • The Straighten tool fixes pages that come out curved or tilted while you scan, even if all four corners aren’t visible in the scan. • Advanced scanning technology detects borders, sharpens content, and makes your scans editable and searchable. ENHANCE YOUR SCANS • Edit in text lets you scan words, and handwritten text, to make it editable. • The Modify tool helps you crop, rotate, resize, and adjust colors in your scans. • Reorder pages and preview before saving. • Adjust the brightness and contrast of your scans in just a few taps. ORGANIZE YOUR DOCUMENTS • Scan paperwork and create custom folders for work documents, personal files, school forms, or ID scans. • Contact details are pulled straight from business cards so you can save them to your phone contacts in seconds. • Scans are automatically saved to Adobe Document Cloud for instant access and sharing. • Set a password to keep that important scan secure while you send it. SMART LIBRARY • This powerful doc scanner finds documents and receipts in your photo library and turns them into PDFs. • Touch up scans or photos directly from your camera roll. REUSE & SHARE • Open PDFs directly in Adobe Scan, without leaving the app. Then use tools like Modify, Edit, and Share. • Make high-quality PDFs that unlock text from images – from scanned contracts to study notes – so you can copy, edit, and reuse. • Export your scans to Word, Excel, or PowerPoint for new formats, then share. DO MORE WITH ACROBAT READER • Open your PDF scan in Acrobat Reader to comment, highlight, fill forms, and sign documents. • Access and share securely across Scan, Reader, and Acrobat on web and mobile. IN-APP PURCHASE • Subscribe for even more scanning power. Subscriptions work across Scan and Reader mobile apps and Acrobat on the web. • Combine scans into one file so you can take multiple scans and consolidate into one document. • Increase OCR capacity from 5 to 100 pages so that you can find text in multiple images. Download this free mobile scanner to convert important photos and documents into PDF and JPEG files to help you stay organized. Adobe Scan is the PDF converter trusted by millions worldwide. Terms & Conditions: Your use of this application is governed by the Adobe General Terms of Use http://www.adobe.com/go/terms_linkfree_en and the Adobe Privacy Policy http://www.adobe.com/go/privacy_policy_linkfree_en Do not sell or share my personal information www.adobe.com/go/ca-rights-linkfree

About

Basic Scan

Easily capture, scan, and share documents, receipts, and notes. Convert images to high-quality PDFs or PNGs, and extract text using OCR for easy searching. Sign documents and organize your scanned files efficiently.

Highlights
  • Document scanning with edge detection
  • Image filters for readability
  • OCR text recognition (20 languages)
  • Digital signature tool
  • Export as PNG, PDF, or TXT
  • Organize and manage scanned pages
Features
Read full description

Basic Scan is a simple way to capture and share your documents, letters, notes, business cards, receipts, sketches, homework, and more. Easily convert pictures to scanner quality images or PDFs, and extract text using OCR (optical character recognition) to search the document. Export the results as .png, .pdf, or .txt - try it out now! Use Basic Scan for: * Edge detection of document corners and edit the corners to get the perfect image crop. * Image filters to remove shadows and generate a readable result. * OCR Text Recognition to extract text from image. Now including support for 20 languages! * Sign pages with your signature in red, blue or black. * Share selected documents or pages as images, PDFs, or OCR text. * Add images by gallery or camera in batch mode or one-by-one * Organize, reorder, copy, move or delete selected pages and documents. * Search for keywords in the OCR results of all the documents and pages. Choose from 3 subscription options: - a 1-month subscription with a 3-day free trial period - a 3-month subscription - an annual subscription with a 7-day free trial period. Your free trial subscription will automatically renew to a paid subscription unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the free trial period. You can cancel your subscription in the App Store account settings at least 24 hours before the end of the free trial period. Subscription payments will be charged to your App Store account at confirmation of your purchase and upon commencement of each renewal term. Please note: any unused portion of a free trial period (if offered) will be forfeited when you purchase a premium subscription during the free trial period. You can cancel a free trial or subscription anytime by turning off auto-renewal through your iTunes account settings. This must be done 24 hours before the end of a free trial or subscription period to avoid being charged. The cancellation will take effect the day after the last day of the current subscription period, and you will be downgraded to the free service. Privacy Policy: https://sites.google.com/view/basic-scan-privacy-policy Terms of Use: https://sites.google.com/view/basic-scan-terms-conditions Got feedback? Please visit https://goo.gl/forms/8zLLRSSGQeB9hNXj1

Screenshots

Adobe Scan4 screens
Basic Scan4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is monetization model: Adobe Scan at free with in-app purchases against Basic Scan's subscription. Adobe Scan also leads on rating (4.9 vs 4.5) and ratings volume (1.6M vs 294). Basic Scan's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and review sentiment (95% vs 83%). On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Adobe Scan sells 12 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month and Basic Scan sells 6 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Adobe Scan holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Adobe Scan has 1.6M ratings behind it against 294, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 83% of Adobe Scan's written reviews are positive against 95% of Basic Scan's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Adobe Scan ships an update fortnightly, Basic Scan every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 29, 2026 and July 5, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Adobe Scan versus Basic Scan: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAdobe ScanBasic Scan
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (1.6M ratings) — better4.5 (294 ratings)
Positive reviews82.6% of reviews95.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings1.6M — better294
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 3 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterSubscription
Best chart rank#11 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size398 MB17 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdobe Inc.INWARD INSIGHT LLC

Customer experience

Adobe Scan

All ratings1,586,882 ratings
Positive97.6%
Neutral1.3%
Negative1.1%
Written reviews3,823 reviews
Positive82.6%
Neutral3.0%
Negative14.4%

Basic Scan

All ratings291 ratings
Positive88.3%
Neutral3.4%
Negative8.2%
Written reviews21 reviews
Positive95.2%
Neutral0.0%
Negative4.8%

Bugs and requests

Adobe Scan

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Scans not saving properly
  • Compatibility issues with older devices
  • Problems with multi-page document scanning

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add option to save scans locally without cloud sync
  • Improve edge detection and auto-cropping accuracy
  • Implement multi-language OCR support
  • Allow manual control over scan settings and adjustments

Basic Scan

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

12 purchases

Adobe Scan

Subscriptions12
  • Adobe Scan Premium$3.991 Month
  • Adobe Scan Plus - Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Adobe PDF Pack$9.991 Month
Show 9 more
  • Adobe Scan Premium - Monthly7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Adobe Scan Premium$9.991 Month
  • Scan premium - monthly$14.991 Month
  • Adobe Scan Plus - Yearly$19.991 Year
  • Adobe Scan Premium7 Days trial$29.991 Year
  • Adobe Scan Premium7 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Adobe Scan Premium7 Days trial$69.991 Year
  • Adobe Scan Premium1 Year trial$69.991 Year
  • Adobe PDF Pack$89.991 Year
6 purchases

Basic Scan

Subscriptions6
  • اشتراك Premium شهري3 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Basic Scan Premium3 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • اشتراك ربع سنوي$11.993 Months
Show 3 more
  • Basic Scan Premium$19.993 Months
  • اشتراك Premium سنوي7 Days trial$39.991 Year
  • Basic Scan Premium3 Days trial$59.991 Year

Questions

Is Adobe Scan free?
Adobe Scan is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Basic Scan free?
Basic Scan is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Adobe Scan or Basic Scan?
Adobe Scan is rated higher. Adobe Scan averages 4.9 out of 5 from 1.6M ratings, while Basic Scan averages 4.5 from 294 ratings.
Do Adobe Scan or Basic Scan have ads?
Adobe Scan shows ads; Basic Scan does not.
Which is updated more often, Adobe Scan or Basic Scan?
Adobe Scan ships an update fortnightly, and Basic Scan every 3 weeks. Most recently, Adobe Scan was updated on September 29, 2026 and Basic Scan on July 5, 2026.

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