# bunkoOCR vs SmoothOCR

The clearest difference is price: bunkoOCR at Free against SmoothOCR's $3.99. bunkoOCR also leads on update cadence (every 6 days vs fortnightly). SmoothOCR's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 3) and review sentiment (100% vs 78%). On ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

bunkoOCR is free to download; SmoothOCR costs $3.99 up front. bunkoOCR sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. SmoothOCR asks for nothing beyond the download.

bunkoOCR ships an update every 6 days, SmoothOCR fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 16, 2026 and August 6, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | bunkoOCR | SmoothOCR |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | **Free** | $3.99 |
| Positive reviews | 77.8% of reviews | **100.0% of reviews** |
| In-app purchases | Yes | **No** |
| Ads | No | No |
| Update frequency | **Every 6 days** | Fortnightly |
| Monetization | **Free with in-app purchases** | Paid |
| Size | 818 MB | 1 MB |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | **17.0** |
| Devices | **iPhone, iPad, Mac** | iPhone, iPad |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [ichiro NAKAHARA](https://appshunter.io/developer/1435691954) | [Shinya Saito](https://appshunter.io/developer/1716313060) |

## What reviewers say

### bunkoOCR

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/bunkoocr/id1611405865)

This app uses deep learning for on-device optical character recognition. It excels at recognizing horizontal and vertical text, particularly in Japanese and English, with a focus on pocket edition books.

**Highlights:** On-device deep learning OCR, Recognizes horizontal and vertical text, Optimized for Japanese and English, Works with pocket edition books, No data sent externally

**Features:** Vision Pro support

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Orange juice | $3.99 | one-time |
| Dinner | $17.99 | one-time |
| A day of GPU rent | $99.99 | one-time |


### SmoothOCR

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/smoothocr/id6476489172)

This application converts camera-captured text into editable digital text. It supports continuous scanning, multi-page management, and multilingual recognition, including Japanese vertical writing. Output options include text files, PDFs, and iCloud synchronization.

**Highlights:** Continuous text scanning, Multi-page management, Text editing, TXT and PDF file export, iCloud data synchronization, Multilingual support

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

**In-app purchases:** none


## Frequently asked questions

### Is bunkoOCR free?

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

### Is SmoothOCR free?

SmoothOCR costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.

### Do bunkoOCR or SmoothOCR have ads?

Neither bunkoOCR nor SmoothOCR shows ads.

### Which is updated more often, bunkoOCR or SmoothOCR?

bunkoOCR ships an update every 6 days, and SmoothOCR fortnightly. Most recently, bunkoOCR was updated on September 16, 2026 and SmoothOCR on August 6, 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.*