Comparison

ExplainThisDoc vs Paperix

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

Head to head
About

ExplainThisDoc

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A letter from an authority. An invoice. A contract. A cancellation notice. A form. Documents mean work. What does this mean for me? Do I need to do something? By when? Do I need to pay, reply, or sign? And when I need the document again later – where was it? ExplainThisDoc is your digital document archive with a built-in assistant. It brings paper documents and PDFs together in one place, explains what they mean, identifies deadlines, tasks, and next steps, and helps you take action. No more piles of paper or PDFs scattered across different apps. Reading, understanding, organizing, and finding documents becomes easier: scan or import them, see what matters, edit and sign when needed – and quickly find them again later. Everything digital. Everything at hand. With an assistant that helps you understand what matters and get things done. UNDERSTAND WHAT MATTERS Long letters, complicated wording, important information buried in paragraphs: ExplainThisDoc turns documents into a clear, easy-to-understand overview. Depending on the document, the analysis can identify: • Summaries and key points • Tasks and next steps • Deadlines and appointments • Amounts and payment information • Obligations, risks, and important conditions • Potential cost traps • Addresses, locations, and contacts • Reference and case numbers • Open questions and important details See at a glance what a document is about, what affects you, and whether you need to take action. DON’T JUST UNDERSTAND. TAKE ACTION. Add recognized appointments to your calendar. Open addresses for directions and navigation. Use contact details for follow-up questions. Need to edit or sign a form or contract? Open the original and take care of it directly in the app. Deadlines, payments, and tasks are highlighted so important information doesn’t get overlooked. FROM PAPER TO A DIGITAL ARCHIVE Scan paper documents with your camera or import PDFs and other documents from Files, Mail, Downloads, and other apps. You can also add images and text from the clipboard. Review multi-page scans, add pages, or rescan individual pages. Text recognition is performed directly on your device. THE ORIGINAL STAYS WITH YOU The analysis and original document stay connected. Open the document in the built-in reader, search the recognized text, and check the exact wording at any time. Mark up or add content, edit the document, and sign it directly in the app. FIND ANYTHING QUICKLY Where was that invoice? Which letter contained the deadline? Search by content, titles, and recognized information, and filter by document type, date range, and other criteria. You don’t need to remember a filename or where you saved it. You can also link related documents such as a contract and invoice, a notice and reply, or a booking and ticket. YOU CHOOSE HOW TO ANALYZE Scan Only: Digitize and archive – without AI analysis. On-Device Analysis: Analyze document text directly on your device without sending it to an external AI provider. Available on supported devices. Pro Analysis: For more detailed explanations. You choose whether Mistral in the EU or OpenAI in the USA is used. PROTECTED AND AD-FREE Protect your archive with Face ID. Export and import let you back up and transfer your document collection. ExplainThisDoc contains no ads and no trackers. Original documents, PDFs, photos, and scans are not sent to Mistral or OpenAI for AI analysis. With Pro Analysis, only the extracted text is sent to your selected AI provider. With On-Device Analysis, the text stays on your device. AI-generated results may contain errors. Always verify important deadlines, amounts, obligations, and conditions against the original document. ExplainThisDoc takes the work out of documents: digitize, understand, act, archive, and find – all in one place.

About

Paperix

This app offers a free, on-device document scanner with OCR and AI capabilities. It allows for secure scanning, editing, and analysis of documents without subscriptions or cloud storage. Keep your sensitive information private and accessible only on your device.

Highlights
  • One-tap multi-page scanning with auto edge-detect
  • On-device OCR for searchable PDFs
  • AI-powered document analysis and Q&A
  • Sign, fill, and mark up documents
  • Import from Photos and Files
  • Organize with folders and sorting
  • Extract text from images
Features
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Paperix is a fully free document scanner that runs everything — scanning, OCR, and AI — on your iPhone. No subscriptions. No watermarks. No ads. No upsells. No accounts. No cloud. Stop paying a yearly fee just to turn paper into a PDF, and keep your documents on your own device. EVERY FEATURE OF THE PAID APPS — FOR FREE You shouldn't have to pay a recurring fee to turn paper into a PDF. Paperix matches the paid scanners feature-for-feature and charges $0 for any of it: - One-tap multi-page scanning with auto edge-detect and perspective correction - Black & white mode for receipts, faint print, signed contracts - Maximum-punch filter for the cleanest possible output - Reprocess any saved scan — switch Color / B&W / Max Punch later without rescanning - Auto-name scans from the largest text on the first page - Import from Photos or Files (PDFs, images, iCloud Drive, Dropbox) - Save to Paperix from any app's share sheet — send one photo or a whole stack and they land as cropped, scanned documents - Folders, sort, bulk select, swipe-to-share, 30-day Recently Deleted SEARCHABLE PDFs OUT OF THE BOX — NO PREMIUM TIER Every scan runs through on-device text recognition. PDFs are searchable in Paperix, in Preview on your Mac, in Adobe Acrobat, anywhere. Pull down the list to search across every doc and tap a result to jump straight to the highlighted phrase. No "OCR credits". No paywalled search. - Extract Text — Paperix: a share-sheet action that pulls the text out of any image with Copy and Share, without even opening the app — layout preserved, columns aligned SIGN, FILL, AND MARK UP — NO WATERMARK - Pen, Eraser, Undo, Redo, Clear in one toolbar - Real ink colors: true black, red, blue, green, yellow - Type text directly on a page — drag the dashed box anywhere, resize, pick size and alignment - One-tap presets drop today's date or your saved name for forms - Pinch-to-zoom canvas for tight signatures - Draw with finger or Apple Pencil - OCR re-runs on save so signed pages stay searchable ON-DEVICE AI — ON YOUR IPHONE, NEVER ON A SERVER Every word of AI inference runs on your iPhone's Neural Engine using Apple's Foundation Models. Nothing is uploaded. Nothing is logged. Nothing is ever seen by anyone but you. - ANALYZE a document — on-device Summary, Key Points, and per-doc Q&A - ASK PAPERIX — pose a question across every doc on your phone and get a sourced answer with tappable citations back to the exact page - Semantic search by meaning, not just keywords - AI surfaces hide cleanly on iPhones without Apple Intelligence; the rest of the app works the same The cloud scanners ship your private contracts, medical records, and bank statements to someone else's GPU. Paperix runs the same AI on your own phone. Your iPhone makes that possible — and free. SMART ACTIONS FROM A SCAN Paperix looks for contact info, appointment dates, addresses, and links in every scan. One tap adds the contact to Contacts, the appointment to Calendar, the address to Maps, or opens the link in Safari. EXPORT ON YOUR TERMS - Standard PDF for everyday sharing - Password-protected PDF for anything sensitive - AirPrint to any printer on your network - Standard iOS share sheet — Mail, Messages, AirDrop, Files, anywhere PRIVATE BY ARCHITECTURE Paperix literally has no network code. Not "encrypted in transit" — no transit at all. - No accounts, no sign-up - No cloud sync, no telemetry, no analytics, no SDKs - No ads, no upsells, no "premium tier" - Verifiable with Little Snitch / Lulu. Turn airplane mode on permanently and Paperix works exactly the same. REQUIREMENTS - iPhone running iOS 16 or later - Apple Intelligence-capable iPhone for AI features (iPhone 15 Pro and later); the rest of Paperix works on every iPhone with a camera

Screenshots

ExplainThisDoc4 screens
Paperix4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Paperix at none against ExplainThisDoc's 3. On price, update cadence, ads 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. ExplainThisDoc sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Paperix asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

ExplainThisDoc ships an update every 3 days, Paperix every 4 days. The most recent releases landed on October 15, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference · 8 level
ExplainThisDoc versus Paperix: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterExplainThisDocPaperix
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (4 ratings) — better
Number of ratings—4 — better
Update frequencyEvery 3 days — betterEvery 4 days
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
Monetization—Free
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS26.026.0
Further details — not scored
Size89 MB10 MB
Age rating12+4+
DeveloperJulian HegerAbhijit Bansal

In-app purchases

3 purchases

ExplainThisDoc

One-time3
  • 5 Credits$2.99
  • 50 Credits$24.99
  • 200 Credits$69.99
None

Paperix

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is ExplainThisDoc free?
ExplainThisDoc is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Paperix free?
Paperix is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do ExplainThisDoc or Paperix have ads?
Neither ExplainThisDoc nor Paperix shows ads.
Which is updated more often, ExplainThisDoc or Paperix?
ExplainThisDoc ships an update every 3 days, and Paperix every 4 days. Most recently, ExplainThisDoc was updated on October 15, 2026 and Paperix on October 8, 2026.

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