Comparison

Scanly vs PaperGuard

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

Head to head
About

Scanly

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Your documents. On your device. Only. Scanly turns your phone into a professional document scanner โ€” with no watermarks, no ads, and no account required. Your documents never leave your device unless you choose to back them up to your own Google Drive. HOW IT WORKS โ€ข Point your camera at any document โ€” ID, contract, invoice, receipt โ€ข Automatic edge detection and perspective correction โ€ข Export as a clean, high-quality PDF โ€” watermark-free โ€ข Sign directly inside the app โ€” no printing needed โ€ข Optionally back up to your own Google Drive (Pro) WHY SCANLY? Unlike other scanner apps, Scanly never uploads your documents to its own servers โ€” it doesn't have any. All scanning, OCR, and PDF processing happens entirely on your device. Your passport, ID, contracts โ€” they stay yours. When you choose to back up, your documents go to your own Google Drive account โ€” not to Scanly. You're always in control, and you can disconnect at any time. FEATURES โ€ข Smart edge detection & perspective correction โ€ข Filters: auto-enhance, black & white, grayscale, original โ€ข OCR text extraction โ€” copy text and search inside your documents โ€ข Digital signature โ€” draw it once, place it on any page. 3 free signings, unlimited with Pro โ€ข Multi-page PDFs with drag-and-drop reorder and rotate โ€ข Password-protect PDFs with real AES-256 encryption (Pro) โ€ข Batch scanning โ€” multiple documents at once โ€ข Import photos and PDFs from your gallery or Files โ€ข Share, print, or save to Files and Photos โ€ข Back up and restore with your own Google Drive (Pro) โ€” never Scanly's servers โ€ข Free up space: keep backed-up documents in Drive only and restore them anytime (Pro) โ€ข Works fully offline โ€” no internet needed to scan, sign, or export โ€ข Available in 20 languages PRIVACY Scanly does not collect, store, or transmit your document content. All processing is performed on-device, and we have no access to your scanned documents. No account is required to use the app. To improve Scanly, the app sends anonymous usage statistics and crash reports โ€” never document content, images, or text. You can turn this off anytime in Settings โ€บ App. SCANLY PRO Pro unlocks unlimited signing, password protection, and backup and restore with your own Google Drive โ€” plus Free up space, which keeps backed-up documents in Drive only. Choose a monthly or yearly subscription (yearly includes a free trial) or a one-time lifetime purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel anytime in your Apple ID settings. PERFECT FOR YOU IF... โ€ข You scan sensitive documents like IDs, passports, or contracts โ€ข You're tired of watermarks and aggressive upsells โ€ข You want your documents private โ€” not on someone else's server โ€ข You need to sign and return documents without a printer Scan your first document. No watermarks. No cloud. No catch. Privacy Policy: https://sites.google.com/view/scanly-pdf-privacy-policy/ana-sayfa Terms of Use: https://sites.google.com/view/scanly-terms/ana-sayfa

About

PaperGuard

Features
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Most scanner apps upload your ID, your lease and your payslips to someone else's server. PaperGuard has no server to upload them to โ€” scanning, OCR and document intelligence all run on your iPhone. Free forever for unlimited scans, with no watermark and no ads. TURN PAPER INTO CLEAN PDFs Point the camera and PaperGuard finds the page edges, straightens the perspective and cleans up the result. Scan a single page, a whole contract, or use Batch Scan to shoot page after page without stopping. Reorder, crop and retake before you save, then export a sharp multi-page PDF. IT READS WHAT IT SCANS On-device text recognition turns every scan into searchable text. PaperGuard also recognizes what kind of document it is looking at โ€” invoice, receipt, contract, ID โ€” and pulls out the amounts and dates that matter. Ask a plain question about a document and get the answer straight from the page. No cloud AI is involved at any point. SIGN WITHOUT PRINTING Draw your signature once, then place it on any document with a tap. Annotate, highlight and fill in what you need, then send a finished PDF. The printer stays in the closet. LOCKED BEHIND FACE ID Turn on the Vault and PaperGuard asks for Face ID before showing anything โ€” after a restart, after switching apps, every time. Content blurs the moment you leave the app. Face ID is handled by iOS itself; if it fails, your device passcode gets you in. FINDS THINGS AGAIN Folders, tags and full-text search across everything you have scanned, right inside the app. Documents show up in iPhone search by their title as well, and you can optionally have their text appear as a preview in the result. Identity cards and passports never leave the title, whatever you choose. PRIVACY THAT IS ARCHITECTURE, NOT A PROMISE There is no account, no login and no server. Your documents, images, recognized text and settings never leave your device, because there is nowhere for them to go. No analytics, no advertising, no tracking SDKs. Put your iPhone in airplane mode and every feature above still works โ€” that is the test we would like you to run. FREE Unlimited scanning, no watermark, no ads. PDF export, one folder, one saved signature, three tags and a preview of recognized text. PAPERGUARD PRO Full recognized text and search inside your scans, Document Intelligence, Quick Answers, unlimited folders, signatures and tags, and batch export. Yearly at USD 14.99 with a 7-day free trial, or monthly at USD 2.99. Prices in your local currency are shown in the app. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation. A subscription renews automatically unless it is cancelled at least 24 hours before the current period ends; manage or cancel it in iOS Settings, Apple Account, Subscriptions. Any unused part of a free trial is forfeited when a subscription is purchased. Privacy Policy: https://bytechimera.com/apps/paperguard/privacy Support: https://bytechimera.com/apps/paperguard/support

Screenshots

Scanly4 screens
PaperGuard4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is iOS requirement: Scanly at 15.0 against PaperGuard's 17.0. On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price ยท Rating ยท Positive reviews ยท Number of ratings ยท Update frequency ยท Ads ยท In-app purchases ยท Monetization ยท Best chart rank ยท Devices ยท Requires iOS

CostPrice ยท In-app purchases ยท Ads ยท Monetization

Both are free to download. Scanly sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and PaperGuard sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

Scorecard1 real difference ยท 5 level
Scanly versus PaperGuard: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterScanlyPaperGuard
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyFortnightlyโ€”
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPod โ€” betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.0 โ€” better17.0
Further details โ€” not scored
Size116 MB5 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperOZLEM KAYAPrzemyslaw Bocer

In-app purchases

3 purchases

Scanly

Subscriptions2
  • Scanly Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Scanly Pro Yearly3 Days trial$14.991 Year
One-time1
  • Scanly Pro Lifetime$39.99
2 purchases

PaperGuard

Subscriptions2
  • PaperGuard Pro Monthly$2.991 Month
  • PaperGuard Pro Yearly7 Days trial$14.991 Year

Questions

Is Scanly free?
Scanly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PaperGuard free?
PaperGuard is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Scanly or PaperGuard have ads?
Neither Scanly nor PaperGuard shows ads.

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