# CamScanner + | OCR Scanner vs Highlights

The clearest difference is price: Highlights at Free against CamScanner + | OCR Scanner's $0.99. Highlights also leads on ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 3 months). CamScanner + | OCR Scanner's advantage is review sentiment (83% vs 53%) and rating (4.9 vs 4.5). On in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Highlights is free to download; CamScanner + | OCR Scanner costs $0.99 up front. CamScanner + | OCR Scanner sells 7 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and Highlights sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

CamScanner + | OCR Scanner holds the better App Store score, 4.9 against 4.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: CamScanner + | OCR Scanner has 17K ratings behind it against 1.6K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 83% of CamScanner + | OCR Scanner's written reviews are positive against 53% of Highlights's.

CamScanner + | OCR Scanner ships an update every 3 months, Highlights fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 25, 2026 respectively.

## The numbers

| Metric | CamScanner + | OCR Scanner | Highlights |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Price | $0.99 | **Free** |
| Rating | **[4.9 (17K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/camscanner-plus-ocr-scanner/id388624839/reviews)** | [4.5 (1.6K ratings)](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833/reviews) |
| Number of ratings | **17K** | 1.6K |
| Positive reviews | **83.3% of reviews** | 53.3% of reviews |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Ads | Yes | **No** |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | **Fortnightly** |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Freemium |
| Best chart rank | **#7** | — |
| Size | 228 MB | 37 MB |
| Requires iOS | **12.0** | 15.0 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | **iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac** |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | [Linguan Data](https://appshunter.io/developer/1315906999) | [Jonas Myren Ribe](https://appshunter.io/developer/794854096) |

## What reviewers say

### CamScanner + | OCR Scanner

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/camscanner-plus-ocr-scanner/id388624839)

**Currently charting:** #7 Top Paid · Productivity (US App Store)

Transform your phone into a powerful scanner for documents, receipts, and notes. Optimize scan quality, extract text with OCR, and share files easily via email, cloud, or fax. Secure your documents with passcodes and sync them across all your devices.

**Highlights:** Mobile scanner for documents, Optimize scan quality, Extract text with OCR, Share PDF/JPEG files, Print via AirPrint, Fax documents, Secure important docs

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

**In-app purchases (7)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| CamScanner Premium | $4.99 | per month |
| CamScanner Premium | $49.99 | per year |
| CamScanner Premium | $49.99 | per year |
| One-page Fax | $0.99 | one-time |
| 600 cp + One chance to Draw | $0.99 | one-time |
| 3000 C-Points | $4.99 | one-time |
| Ten-page Fax | $8.99 | one-time |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Easy to use
- 👍 Convenient scanning
- 🚀 Efficient document management
- 👍 Great for receipts and documents
- 🚀 Reliable and stable

**What reviewers complain about**

- 🔒 Privacy concerns
- 💰 Expensive subscription
- 🐛 Bugs and crashes
- 🔒 Forced account creation
- 💰 Nickel-and-diming for features

**Reported bugs**

- Frequent crashes and freezes
- Sync issues leading to lost documents
- Unreliable faxing and emailing
- Compatibility problems with newer iOS versions
- Inconsistent scanning quality

**Requested features**

- Improved cloud storage integration
- Easier document organization
- Better OCR and text recognition
- Ability to edit/annotate scanned documents
- Automatic backup and restore functionality


### Highlights

[App page](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/highlights-pdf-reader-and-notes/id1498912833)

This app is a fast and lightweight PDF reader designed for research. It allows users to read, highlight, and annotate documents, and then extract this information into organized notes. Advanced features include table data extraction, text recognition, and smart copying of annotations into various formats.

**Highlights:** Read and browse PDF documents, Highlight, underline, and strikethrough text, Add comments and sticky notes, Extract annotations into organized notes, Convert table data and recognize text, Smart copy annotations to various formats (CSV, BibTex), Lookup citation metadata and DOI links

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

**In-app purchases (3)**

| Purchase | Price | Billing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Highlights Pro: Monthly | $4.99 | per month |
| Highlights Pro | $29.99 | per year |
| Highlights Pro: Legacy Upgrade | $29.99 | per year |

**What reviewers like**

- 🚀 Great for highlighting and annotating PDFs
- 🔍 Effective for research and note-taking
- 📚 Useful for academic and professional work
- 👍 Clean and intuitive user interface
- 🔗 Good integration with other apps and cloud storage

**What reviewers complain about**

- 💰 Subscription model is too expensive
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and bugs
- 🔍 Limited search functionality
- 🔒 Lack of customization options
- 🔧 Poor customer support and unresponsive developers

**Reported bugs**

- Highlights and annotations randomly disappearing
- Text selection issues, especially with footnotes
- Compatibility problems with certain PDF files
- Syncing issues across devices
- Export functionality not working as expected

**Requested features**

- Add handwriting and freeform annotation support
- Implement a table of contents or bookmarking feature
- Allow editing of notes directly in the app
- Provide a one-time purchase option instead of subscription
- Improve search capabilities with visual results and navigation


## Frequently asked questions

### Is CamScanner + | OCR Scanner free?

CamScanner + | OCR Scanner costs $0.99, and also offers in-app purchases.

### Is Highlights free?

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

### Which has better reviews, CamScanner + | OCR Scanner or Highlights?

CamScanner + | OCR Scanner is rated higher. CamScanner + | OCR Scanner averages 4.9 out of 5 from 17K ratings, while Highlights averages 4.5 from 1.6K ratings.

### Do CamScanner + | OCR Scanner or Highlights have ads?

CamScanner + | OCR Scanner shows ads; Highlights does not.

### Which is updated more often, CamScanner + | OCR Scanner or Highlights?

CamScanner + | OCR Scanner ships an update every 3 months, and Highlights fortnightly. Most recently, CamScanner + | OCR Scanner was updated on September 26, 2026 and Highlights on September 25, 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.*