Docbase vs PDFiles
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side ā with what reviewers say about each.
Docbase
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Your paperwork, finally under control. Docbase turns your phone into a portable document scanner with built-in organization, intelligent search, and encrypted cloud backup. Whether it's tax returns, insurance policies, medical records, or invoices ā scan it once and find it instantly. SCAN & DIGITIZE Point your camera at any document. Docbase automatically detects edges, crops the page, and extracts text using on-device OCR ā no internet connection required. Import existing PDFs directly from your files or iCloud. ORGANIZE WITH SMART CATEGORIES Sort documents into predefined categories like Tax, Insurance, Housing, Health, Banking, Employment, Contracts, and Invoices ā each with detailed subcategories. Create your own custom categories with emoji icons to match your personal filing system. FIND ANYTHING INSTANTLY Search across all your documents by title, tags, category, or full-text content. Premium users can ask questions in natural language: "How much was my electricity bill in March?" and get answers drawn directly from their documents. AI-POWERED DOCUMENT ASSISTANT Chat with your documents. Ask questions, get summaries, and extract specific information from any scanned page or imported PDF. Powered by AI, available with up to 20 queries per day on Premium. SECURE CLOUD BACKUP Back up every document to your personal Google Drive using the restricted drive.file scope ā Docbase can only access files it created. Your documents never touch our servers. You stay in full control. BUILT FOR PRIVACY - On-device OCR: Text recognition runs entirely on your phone (Apple Vision on iOS) - GDPR compliant: No server-side access to your files - Data export: Download all your data anytime in JSON format - Account deletion: Remove everything with one tap - AI is optional: Document analysis requires your explicit consent MULTI-LANGUAGE SUPPORT Available in 9 languages: English, German, Turkish, French, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Italian, and Portuguese. The app automatically detects your device language. WHAT'S INCLUDED FOR FREE - Unlimited document scanning and PDF import - On-device OCR text extraction - Category organization with subcategories - Tags and custom metadata - Google Drive cloud backup - Search by title, tags, and category - Dark mode support PREMIUM FEATURES (7-day free trial) - Full-text OCR search across all documents - AI Document Q&A (20 questions/day) - AI semantic search in natural language - AI smart suggestions and auto-tagging PERFECT FOR - Tax season preparation - Managing insurance documents - Keeping medical records accessible - Organizing rental and housing paperwork - Archiving invoices and receipts - Storing employment contracts and payslips Stop losing important papers. Start scanning with Docbase. ---Subscription auto-renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in Settings > Subscriptions. Privacy Policy: https://docbaseapp.com/en/privacy Terms of Service: https://docbaseapp.com/en/terms
PDFiles
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Scan straight into the Files app. No subscription, no account, no tracking. PDFiles is a fast, private document scanner for iPhone. Pick a folder in Files once ā every scan lands there automatically as a clean PDF. No export maze, no folder picking before every scan. NEW IN 3.0 ⢠Magic Filter: finds every photo in your library that contains a document ā receipts, letters, notes. Analyzed on your iPhone, nothing is uploaded. ⢠Searchable PDFs: find any word of your scans in Files and Spotlight. ⢠Smart file names: "2026-10-31 Invoice City Power" instead of "Scan-ā¦" ā date, type and sender are detected automatically. ⢠Smarter scanner: recognizes real documents only, highlights them live and captures automatically when the page holds still. ⢠Import photos: turn photos of documents into clean PDFs ā several documents per photo. SCANNING THAT JUST WORKS ⢠Several documents in one shot ā receipts side by side become separate pages ⢠Auto capture, full-screen camera, macro focus for small receipts ⢠Edges are snapped to the paper for a clean crop ⢠Drag corners and edges, zoom in for precision, or circle a missing page ⢠Split double pages (books, sheet music) ā along the fold, whichever way the book lies ⢠Pages turn upright automatically ā based on the text, however you hold the phone ⢠Pages always keep their proportions ā never stretched ⢠Built-in flashlight for dim rooms ⢠No 25-page limit: scan documents as long as you need ORGANIZED IN FILES ⢠Scans go straight to your chosen folder ā iCloud Drive, On My iPhone or any provider in Files ⢠Several target folders with colors and symbols (Pro) ⢠A4, A3 and US Letter (Pro) ⢠Merge PDFs, reorder and rotate pages, compress large files PRIVATE BY DESIGN Everything runs on your iPhone. No account, no cloud upload, no tracking, no analytics. No account, no cloud upload, no tracking, no analytics. PRO ā ONE PURCHASE, YOURS FOREVER Searchable PDFs, smart file names, Magic Filter, multiple folders and page formats. Pay once ā no subscription, ever.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is device support: Docbase at 3 against PDFiles's 1. Docbase also leads on iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.2). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price Ā· Rating Ā· Positive reviews Ā· Number of ratings Ā· Update frequency Ā· Ads Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Monetization Ā· Best chart rank Ā· Devices Ā· Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Docbase sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month and PDFiles sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Docbase ships an update monthly, PDFiles every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 5, 2026 and November 15, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Docbase | PDFiles |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Update frequency | Monthly ā better | Every 2 months |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod ā better | iPhone |
| Requires iOS | 15.1 ā better | 26.2 |
| Further details ā not scored | ||
| Size | 67 MB | 7 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Gazihan Ilhami Isildak | Lukas Daniel Kofler |
In-app purchases
Docbase
- Monthly Premium Subscription$4.991 Month
- Yearly Premium Subscription7 Days trial$49.991 Year
PDFiles
- PDFiles Pro$6.99









