Comparison

Adobe Scan vs PDF Scanner App

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

PDF Scanner App

Transform your phone into a powerful scanner. Capture documents, photos, and even old memories, then enhance, edit, and share them in various formats. Organize your digital life with ease.

Highlights
  • Scan documents and photos
  • Convert to PDF, JPG, TXT
  • Sign and edit documents
  • Enhance and colorize photos
  • OCR text recognition
  • Export and share scans
  • Organize documents into albums
Features
Read full description

Want to keep both your money & your scanner in your pocket? Get Scanner+ for free NOW & instantly start to SCAN, SIGN, and SHARE any document in PDF, JPG, or TXT formats. Scan any paper with your iPhone's camera: the Scanner+ app will automatically recognize the edges of your document, enhance it, and give you a perfectly scanned copy that's ready to share on your favorite platform! Scanner+ offers you 12 AMAZING FEATURES that other scanners won't: SCAN DOCUMENTS Scan multiple pages into one PDF document. Enjoy the Turbo Scan mode! Why waste hours on your computer when you can quickly do it with a tiny scanner in your pocket? SCAN & RESTORE PHOTOS Photo scan is the latest feature of Scanner+ that lets you scan and save your favorite printed photos using your phone’s camera. Don’t just take a picture of a picture. Create enhanced digital scans; the photo scanner auto-detects picture boundaries, crops, restores colors and saves them into a digital album. ENHANCE & COLORIZE PHOTOS Bring your scans to life with colorize & enhance features. Enhance old photos & fix blurs and turn them into high resolution digital versions. Colorize black & white old photos to bring back memories and share them with your loved ones. CREATE ALBUMS Scan an entire photo album in minutes. Back up your scans to keep them safe, searchable, and organized. CONVERT TO PDF Scanner+ is also a PDF Converter that turns photos & images into searchable digital documents! This way you can also ""CTRL+F"" across your documents! EXPORT & SHARE Export your scans as .PDF .DOCX or .TXT and share with iMessage, Adobe PDF, Email - Gmail - Outlook - Spark, Wi-Fi Printer, Box, Whatsapp, iCloud Drive, Facebook Messenger, Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, OneDrive, OneNote and any other app/platform! SIGN DOCUMENTS Sign PDF documents in less than a second. Transfer your signature across documents! SMART CROP (YOU'LL LOVE THIS!) Your docs will be automatically cropped from its edges right after you scan it. Don't waste your valuable time trying to crop every single document! RECOVER RUINED DOCUMENTS Spilled coffee to your doc? Your dog took a bite from your homework? Recover it with our scanner app using the Genius Scan mode and become a scan guru! HIGHLIGHT TEXTS Highlight important parts of your documents with Scanner+ doc scanner! Very useful while studying from your scanned textbook! EDIT DOCUMENTS HIDE and BLUR unwanted parts with Scanner+ document editor! This is a great feature for hiding confidential parts of your documents. Time to become a scanmaster! ADJUST THE BRIGHTNESS Need to scan documents in a dark room? No problem at all! TRANSLATE TEXTS TO 100+ LANGUAGES Not that you'll need to translate texts to Latin or Cambodian every other day, but in case you need it, Scanner+ got you covered! RECOGNIZE TEXTS WITH OCR Recognize texts from any scannable object with the OCR text scanner mode. And yes, you can even edit handwritten texts with Scanner+! KEEP YOUR DOCS ORGANIZED Scanner+ offers more than a powerful cam scanner, it also has a drag & drop file manager with smart tags. Never lose an important document again! == PRIVACY & SECURITY == All documents are stored locally on your iPhone, so ONLY YOU will be able to access your documents! Neither we nor any third parties will have access. == PRICING & LEGAL == Scanner+ is free to use, and it will always stay free. Should you choose to, you can subscribe to Scanner+ Premium to access more features. You can start a yearly subscription with a 3-day free trial. Subscriptions automatically renew unless auto-renew is turned off no later than 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage subscriptions, disable auto-renewal in the iTunes account settings. Privacy Policy: http://scannerplus.com/privacy-policy Terms & Condition - EULA : http://scannerplus.com/terms-conditions For any questions or inquiries about our mobile pdf scanner, reach out to us at scanner@codeway.co

Screenshots

Adobe Scan4 screens
PDF Scanner App4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: PDF Scanner App at none against Adobe Scan's shown. PDF Scanner App also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 18.0). Adobe Scan's advantage is review sentiment (83% vs 50%) and ratings volume (1.6M vs 4.9K). On price, in-app purchases, monetization model 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 PDF Scanner App sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per 7 days. 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 4.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Adobe Scan has 1.6M ratings behind it against 4.9K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of Adobe Scan's written reviews are positive against 50% of PDF Scanner App's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Adobe Scan ships an update fortnightly, PDF Scanner App every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 23, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Adobe Scan versus PDF Scanner App: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterAdobe ScanPDF Scanner App
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.9 (1.6M ratings) — better4.6 (4.9K ratings)
Positive reviews82.6% of reviews — better49.7% of reviews
Number of ratings1.6M — better4.9K
Update frequencyFortnightly — betterEvery 6 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
Best chart rank#11 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS18.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size398 MB201 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperAdobe Inc.Codeway Dijital Hizmetler Anonim Sirketi

Customer experience

Adobe Scan

All ratings1,586,882 ratings
Positive97.6%
Neutral1.3%
Negative1.1%
Written reviews3,809 reviews
Positive82.6%
Neutral2.9%
Negative14.4%

PDF Scanner App

All ratings4,911 ratings
Positive90.4%
Neutral3.5%
Negative6.1%
Written reviews175 reviews
Positive49.7%
Neutral4.0%
Negative46.3%

User reviews

Adobe Scan

From 1.6M App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Easy to use
  • 👍 Intuitive interface
  • 🚀 Quick scanning
  • 👍 Convenient for on-the-go
  • 🚀 High-quality scans

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes or freezes
  • 🐛 Issues with auto-cropping and alignment
  • 🔒 Privacy concerns around cloud storage
  • 💰 Expensive premium features

PDF Scanner App

From 4.9K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Great app
  • 🚀 Efficient scanning
  • 💡 Useful features

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Crashes frequently
  • 🔒 No cloud backup
  • 💰 Expensive subscription
  • 🤖 Poor customer support
  • 📤 Unable to send scans

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

PDF Scanner App

Reported bugs

2 issues
  • Blurry and grainy scans
  • Unexpected watermarks

Requested features

3 requests
  • Cloud backup integration
  • Free trial extension
  • Compatibility with more devices

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
10 purchases

PDF Scanner App

Subscriptions10
  • Scanner+ 1 Week Premium3 Days trial$3.997 Days
  • Scanner+ 1 Week Premium3 Days trial$4.997 Days
  • Scanner+ 1 Week Premium3 Days trial$6.997 Days
Show 7 more
  • Scanner+ 1 Month Premium$7.991 Month
  • Scanner+ 1 Month Premium2 variants$9.991 Month
  • Scanner+ 1 Month Premium3 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Scanner+ 1 Year Premium3 Days trial$19.991 Year
  • Scanner+ 1 Year Premium3 Days trial2 variants$39.991 Year
  • Scanner+ 1 Year Premium3 Days trial$49.991 Year
  • Scanner+ 1 Year Premium$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Adobe Scan free?
Adobe Scan is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PDF Scanner App free?
PDF Scanner App is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Adobe Scan or PDF Scanner App?
Adobe Scan is rated higher. Adobe Scan averages 4.9 out of 5 from 1.6M ratings, while PDF Scanner App averages 4.6 from 4.9K ratings.
Do Adobe Scan or PDF Scanner App have ads?
Adobe Scan shows ads; PDF Scanner App does not.
Which is updated more often, Adobe Scan or PDF Scanner App?
Adobe Scan ships an update fortnightly, and PDF Scanner App every 6 weeks. Most recently, Adobe Scan was updated on September 24, 2026 and PDF Scanner App on September 23, 2026.

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