Comparison

FineReader vs SCAN PDF

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

Head to head
About

FineReader

Transform your mobile device into a powerful scanner for documents and books. Extract text from images with advanced OCR technology, create editable digital copies, and share them easily. Organize and annotate your scanned files with intelligent features.

Highlights
  • Scan documents and books
  • Offline and online OCR
  • Extract text to TXT
  • Save as PDF and JPEG
  • Share to cloud storage
  • Annotate PDFs
  • Automatic document classification
Features
Read full description

ABBYY FineReader PDF - the first smart AI-powered scanner that turns your mobile device into an all-purpose tool to quickly capture docs and books, create electronic copies in PDF and JPEG, and extract texts from scans for further editing and sharing. FineReader PDF - the top mobile scanner for iPhone or iPad from ABBYY, a Digital Intelligence company. *** Ranked #1 Business application in 98 countries *** *** Winner of SUPERSTAR Award in the "Document Capture" category in the Mobile Star Awards *** Use FineReader PDF to scan paper documents, books, agreements, receipts, magazine articles, notes, recipes, charts, tables, slides, whiteboards, or even billboards on the street and get perfect digital copies. KEY FEATURES • PDF & JPEG. Scan any text and save scans to JPEG images or cross-platform PDF documents. • OFFLINE OCR. Quickly extract text from scans into TXT format on your device without an internet connection. • ONLINE OCR. Recognize text (OCR) on scans in 183 languages (including Latin, Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean alphabets) and choose from among 4 output formats. • SHARE & EXPORT. Send results by email, to FineReader PDF for Windows, save in cloud storages - iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, Yandex.Disk, Evernote, OneDrive for Business, and more. • LIVE TEXT. Make phone calls, send emails, follow the links, and more from scanned docs. • ABBYY NEURAL NETWORK. The smart gallery will automatically classify documents into 7 types: A4, books, business cards, handwritten, IDs, other docs, and receipts. • SEARCH TEXT ON PHOTOS. Type the text from a photo into a Search field in the gallery. FineReader PDF will find photos that have this text. • AR RULER. Define doc size in AR. It will be useful for non-standard documents and further printing them out in proper proportions. • SIRI SHORTCUTS. Open scans with Siri and set the flow of actions with scans using Shortcuts app. • ANNOTATE SCANS. Discover a set of easy-to-use tools to modify your PDFs: add your signature or a text box, use a highlighter, write with a pen, or conceal content with the redaction tool. • 3D TOUCH & SPOTLIGHT SEARCH SUPPORT. • PASSWORD ON PDF. Add a password for the image-only PDF files while exporting and sending via email. • MULTIPAGE DOCS. Create, edit, and enhance separate images or large multi-page documents without any additional selection on the viewfinder. • AUTO-CAPTURE AND FILTERS. Excellent visual quality with auto-capture of page boundaries and advanced image filters, which process scans in color, greyscale, or black-and-white versions. • BUILT-IN FILE STORAGE. Save scans inside the app with tags and search capabilities. • Transfer docs to your Mac or PC using Home Sharing. • AIRPRINT. Print out scans directly from your iPhone or iPad. Read us: abbyy.com/blog/mobile Facebook.com/ABBYYsoft Twitter @ABBYY_Software YouTube.com/ABBYYvideos Do you like FineReader PDF? Please leave a review!

About

SCAN PDF

Transform your phone into a powerful portable scanner. Easily capture documents, receipts, and images, then convert them to high-quality PDFs. Extract text with OCR, edit scans, and securely store or share your files to the cloud.

Highlights
  • Portable document scanning
  • Text extraction (OCR)
  • Cloud storage integration
  • Batch scanning
  • Digital signatures
  • Password protection
Features
Read full description

Scanner App is a free tool that turns your iPhone into a portable scanner. Using Scanner App, you can easily scan office documents in high quality. It lets you access or share documents from the cloud, edit scanned files, and recognize or extract text (OCR) from PDFs or images. Point your phone’s camera at the document, Scanner App will automatically recognize and scan the document. It allows you to scan notes, forms, documents, receipts, images, photos and convert them to PDF files. It is simple and effective to use and for most people it can completely replace a physical scanner or printer. MORE FEATURES - Fast document edge detection - Precise automatic crop - Batch-scanning mode for multi-page documents - Convert images to PDF, PNG, or Text files - Apply filters in color, grayscale, or black and white - Share multipage documents in high quality PDF - No watermarks - Sign or add a signature with one finger - OCR for more than 10 different languages - Reorder scanned pages - Protect private files with password - Rename files or folders - Sync, store or share files to cloud storage - Dropbox, Google Drive, and other cloud storage options UNLIMITED ACCESS MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTION – You can subscribe to get unlimited access to all app features – Subscriptions are billed weekly, monthly, or annually at the rate based on the subscription plan – Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase – Subscription renews automatically unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period – Account will be charged for renewal within 24 hours prior to the end of the current period. The cost depends on the selected plan – Subscriptions may be managed by the user, and auto-renewal may be turned off by going to the user's Account Settings after purchase – Any unused portion of the free trial will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription Privacy Policy: https://d3mf07uto46mw9.cloudfront.net/effscan/privacy.html Terms of Use: https://d3mf07uto46mw9.cloudfront.net/effscan/terms.html

Screenshots

FineReader4 screens
SCAN PDF4 screens

Verdict

The call

FineReader and SCAN PDF both sit at 4.7 stars, but that hides the real split: 71% of FineReader's written reviews are positive against 14% of SCAN PDF's. FineReader also leads on ads (none vs shown) and ratings volume (19K vs 33). SCAN PDF's advantage is update cadence (every 10 days vs monthly) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 15.0). On price, rating, in-app purchases and monetization model 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. FineReader sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and SCAN PDF sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per 7 days. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.7 for FineReader against 4.7 for SCAN PDF. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: FineReader has 19K ratings behind it against 33, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 71% of FineReader's written reviews are positive against 14% of SCAN PDF's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

FineReader ships an update monthly, SCAN PDF every 10 days. The most recent releases landed on October 16, 2026 and October 17, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
FineReader versus SCAN PDF: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterFineReaderSCAN PDF
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.7 (19K ratings)4.7 (33 ratings)
Positive reviews70.9% of reviews — better14.3% of reviews
Number of ratings19K — better33
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 10 days — better
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.011.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size130 MB90 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperABBYY USA Software House IncKam Hung Li

Customer experience

FineReader

All ratings19,332 ratings
Positive94.3%
Neutral2.9%
Negative2.8%
Written reviews444 reviews
Positive70.9%
Neutral5.6%
Negative23.4%

SCAN PDF

All ratings33 ratings
Positive93.9%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.1%
Written reviews21 reviews
Positive14.3%
Neutral0.0%
Negative85.7%

Bugs and requests

FineReader

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Frequent crashes when switching between apps
  • Unreliable auto-capture feature
  • Issues with sending scans via email

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to edit scanned documents
  • Support for multi-page PDF scanning
  • Improved edge detection for curved documents
  • Offline OCR processing option

SCAN PDF

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

FineReader

Subscriptions9
  • [ARCHIVE]Entry Premium monthly7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Scan PDF and documents7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • [ARCHIVE]Basic Premium monthly7 Days trial$3.991 Month
Show 6 more
  • ARCHIVE-Advanced Premium month7 Days trial$5.991 Month
  • PDF Scanner + OCR7 Days trial$5.991 Month
  • FineScanner Premium monthly7 Days trial$7.991 Month
  • PDF Scanner$9.991 Year
  • Photo Scanning app14 Days trial$20.991 Year
  • FineScanner Premium yearly$29.991 Year
One-time1
  • [ARCHIVE] No Ads$5.99
3 purchases

SCAN PDF

Subscriptions3
  • 1-week Premium3 Days trial$4.997 Days
  • 1-month Premium3 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • PDF Scanner App 1-year Premium3 Days trial$39.991 Year

Questions

Is FineReader free?
FineReader is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is SCAN PDF free?
SCAN PDF is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, FineReader or SCAN PDF?
FineReader and SCAN PDF are both rated 4.7 out of 5 on the App Store, from 19K and 33 ratings respectively.
Do FineReader or SCAN PDF have ads?
SCAN PDF shows ads; FineReader does not.
Which is updated more often, FineReader or SCAN PDF?
FineReader ships an update monthly, and SCAN PDF every 10 days. Most recently, FineReader was updated on October 16, 2026 and SCAN PDF on October 17, 2026.

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