Comparison

Scanly vs PDF Online Tools

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

Head to head
About

Scanly

Features
Read full description

Turn any paper document, receipt, ID card, or whiteboard into a clean, searchable PDF - right on your iPhone. Scanly scans, sharpens, signs, organizes, and recognizes text entirely on-device. Nothing is ever uploaded. FAST, SHARP SCANS - Capture pages with the camera, or import existing photos and PDFs. - Automatic edge detection and perspective correction straighten every page. - Manual crop editor with draggable corners, loupe magnifier, and pinch-to-zoom for pixel-perfect framing. - Enhancement filters clean up lighting and boost contrast for crisp, readable results. - Multi-page documents in one tap - reorder, retake, or delete pages before saving. - ID & card mode scans both sides of a card onto a single page. SEARCHABLE TEXT WITH ON-DEVICE OCR Scanly reads the text in your scans using Apple's on-device Vision engine - in multiple languages - and adds a searchable text layer to every PDF. Find any document later by the words inside it. QR codes in your scans are detected and ready to open or copy. SIGN & ANNOTATE Draw your signature once and place it on any page. Highlight, draw, and mark up scans with built-in annotation tools - everything stays in the PDF. ORGANIZED, PROTECTED, YOURS - Folders and tags keep hundreds of scans tidy; search finds them instantly. - Lock the app with Face ID so only you can open your documents. - Password-protect sensitive PDFs, compress large ones, or split a document into parts. - Print with AirPrint or save straight to the Files app. SMART EXTRAS - Scan a business card and add it to Contacts in one tap. - Turn a stack of receipts into a CSV you can open in Numbers or Excel. - Scanly works with Shortcuts, home-screen widgets, and the share sheet - send images or PDFs from any app straight into your library. NO WATERMARK. EVER. Your exported PDFs are clean and professional, with no stamps or watermarks - even on the free tier. Share to Mail, Messages, Files, or any app. 100% PRIVATE - BY DESIGN Everything runs locally. There is no account, no sign-in, no analytics, and no tracking. Scanly contains zero networking code - your documents and their contents stay on your device, always. HONEST, ONE-TIME PRICING Scanly is free to use and genuinely useful on its own. The free tier lets you keep up to 5 saved documents. Want unlimited documents and the full toolkit? Unlock Scanly Pro with a single one-time purchase - yours forever. No weekly subscriptions, no recurring charges. So many "scanner" apps charge every single week for the same on-device work. We think that's wrong. Pay once, scan forever. DESIGNED FOR EVERYONE - Full Dark Mode and Dynamic Type support - VoiceOver labels throughout - Reduce Motion support and gentle haptics - Works without a camera via Photos and Files import Scan it. Sign it. Search it. Keep it private. That's Scanly.

About

PDF Online Tools

Features
Read full description

PDF Online Tools is a fast, private PDF utility app for everyday document work. Scan paper documents to PDF, compress large files, convert images into PDFs, sign documents, add initials, watermark files, rotate pages, split or extract pages, and read PDFs from one simple mobile interface. Built for quick document tasks, PDF Online Tools helps with receipts, forms, school files, office paperwork, contracts, invoices, notes, and image-based documents. The app is designed to be clean, minimal, and easy to use on iPhone. Key features: - Scan documents to PDF with your camera - Compress PDFs for sharing and storage - Convert images to PDF - Sign PDFs with typed or drawn signatures and initials - Add watermarks to documents - Split, extract, rotate, delete, and organize PDF pages - Read and preview PDF files - Work with files directly on your device PDF Online Tools focuses on practical, browser-based and mobile-friendly PDF workflows so you can finish document tasks without complicated desktop software.

Screenshots

Scanly4 screens
PDF Online Tools4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: PDF Online Tools at none against Scanly's 1. PDF Online Tools also leads on device support (3 vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). Scanly's advantage is ads (none vs shown). On price 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 1 one-off in-app purchase. PDF Online Tools asks for nothing beyond the download.

Scorecard4 real differences ยท 2 level
Scanly versus PDF Online Tools: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterScanlyPDF Online Tools
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyDailyโ€”
AdsNo โ€” betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo โ€” better
DevicesiPhoneiPhone, iPad, iPod โ€” better
Requires iOS17.015.0 โ€” better
Further details โ€” not scored
Size4 MB7 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSahil JainNavarius

In-app purchases

1 purchases

Scanly

One-time1
  • Scanly Pro$2.99
None

PDF Online Tools

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Scanly free?
Scanly is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is PDF Online Tools free?
PDF Online Tools is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Scanly or PDF Online Tools have ads?
PDF Online Tools shows ads; Scanly does not.

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