Comparison

PDF Scanner AI vs Docsmith

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

Head to head
About

PDF Scanner AI

Features
Read full description

PDF Scanner AI is a document scanner app for your iPhone. Scan documents to PDF, clean up blurry or shadowy photos, fill and sign forms, and translate them. Made for receipts, tax forms, leases, school forms, and notes. SCAN TO PDF • Document scanner: point your camera at a page. The edges are found and the page is straightened for you. Scan many pages into one PDF. • Image to PDF (JPG to PDF): turn photos from your photo library into one PDF. Pages are straightened, and you can drag the 4 corners. • ID card scanner (front and back on one page), book scanner, and QR and barcode scanner. FILTERS AND PAGE FIXES (NEW) When you scan to PDF, give each page a look from 9 filters, like Auto, B&W, Gray, and Perfect, which evens out shadows and makes the paper white. Adjust brightness and contrast, and retake, crop, or rotate a page before you save. The Eraser wipes stains and marks off scanned pages. BLURRY PHOTO IN, CLEAN PDF OUT Layout PDF reads your page with AI and rebuilds it: • Remove Background: the text is retyped in the same layout on a clean white page. • Sharpen Text: your real page (paper, colors, signatures, handwriting) with blurry print made sharp. • Keep Background: your original photo with searchable text. Works best on printed pages. AI TEMPLATES (NEW) Snap a handwritten estimate, notes, or a resume, and AI types it up: Estimate / Invoice, Resume, Typed Notes, Meeting Notes, Recipe Card, or Clean Document. It even flags totals that don't add up. Save it as a PDF (most templates also save as Word). FILL AND SIGN WITHOUT A PRINTER Add text and your signature (drawn with your finger) to any PDF. Fill in a school form or sign a lease, then send it right away. FIX A TYPO WITHOUT RESCANNING Scan with Layout PDF, tap Edit text, and change a line. The page is rebuilt in place. IMAGE TO TEXT (OCR) Text Recognition reads the words in your photo in 24 languages. Copy them, search them, or save them as a TXT file, and get a searchable PDF too. Needs an internet connection. TRANSLATE PDFS AND SCANS Translate a scan, a PDF with text, or a Word or TXT file into any of 24 languages, like Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese. Save the translation as TXT or Word. PDF TO WORD Turn a scan into an editable Word file (.docx). Tables, headings, bold text, and alignment carry over. BILL REMINDERS (NEW) Scan a bill to track it and get reminded before the due date. See what's due this month, mark bills as paid, and get weekly and monthly summaries. OPEN THE PDFS YOU ALREADY HAVE Open a PDF from Mail, Files, Google Drive, or your browser, search for any word (even in photos of printed pages), and use every tool on it. Save any document to the Files app in one tap. PDF TOOLS AND SHARING See your pages two to a row and drag them into order, add pages to any document, or delete one. Compress a PDF to email it, merge PDFs, split out the pages you need, and lock a PDF with a password. Share as PDF, Word, TXT, images, or a ZIP file. Compress, merge, and split run on your iPhone, so those files are not uploaded. FREE AND PREMIUM Free: 3 scans a week, up to 5 pages each (a short ad adds 3 more pages). After that, a short ad unlocks each extra scan. AI templates read 1 page. You get 1 free try of Translate or AI bill reading. Adding bills by hand is always free, and your scans have no watermark. Premium: unlimited scans up to 20 pages each, no ads, the Perfect filter, Translate, AI templates up to 20 pages, and AI bill reading (up to 30 bills a day). Premium is a subscription (weekly, monthly, or yearly). Cancel anytime in your Apple Account settings. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Docsmith

Features
Read full description

Edit the text inside a PDF — right on your iPhone, with nothing sent to a server. Docsmith is a complete PDF workbench that runs 100% on your device. No account. No cloud. No ads. Your files never leave your iPhone. Reading and marking up are always free; editing, scanning and the core tools are free every day, and Pro removes all limits. EDIT PDF TEXT — FOR REAL • Tap a line, or a whole paragraph, and simply retype it • Docsmith matches the original font, size and colour • The text stays real and searchable — it is not a sticker placed on top • Works in 40 languages, including right-to-left Arabic and Hebrew SCAN & MAKE SEARCHABLE • Scan paper with the camera into a clean, sharp PDF • On-device OCR turns any scan into searchable, selectable text • Nothing is uploaded — the recognition happens entirely on your iPhone SIGN & FILL • Draw, type or photograph your signature • Your signature is stored only in your Keychain, never on a server • Fill in forms and flatten them when you are done 20+ TOOLS IN ONE PLACE • Merge several PDFs, or split one apart • Compress to shrink file size • Convert PDF to images, or pull out the text and images • Add page numbers or Bates numbering • Redact sensitive areas, then flatten to bake them in • Add a watermark • Set or remove a password • Compare two PDFs side by side • Run the same tool across many files at once ANNOTATE & REVIEW • Highlight, underline and strike through • Draw with ink, add free text, sticky notes, shapes, images and stamps PRIVATE BY DESIGN • 100% on-device — no servers, no account, no tracking, no ads • Docsmith collects nothing; your documents stay yours • Lock the app behind Face ID • Seal a finished PDF, then let anyone verify it has not been changed FREE & PRO Free every day: • Read and annotate as much as you like • Edit PDF text, sign documents and scan pages within a generous daily allowance • One free run of each core tool (merge, split, compress, convert and more) per day Docsmith Pro unlocks: • Unlimited text editing — rewrite any line or paragraph, as often as you want • Unlimited runs of every tool, with all daily limits removed • OCR to make scans searchable • Batch the same tool across many files • Redaction, passwords, watermarks, Bates numbering and flattened copies • The full annotation kit: shapes and stamps • Unlimited signing and scanning WORKS WITH THE SYSTEM • Shortcuts and Siri: merge or compress from an automation • Home-screen widgets for one-tap scan and import • Open PDFs straight from Files, Mail or any share sheet No account. No cloud. No ads. Just a fast, private PDF workbench. — Docsmith Pro is offered as a weekly, monthly or yearly subscription; the yearly plan begins with a 7-day free trial. Payment is charged to your Apple Account. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the current period ends; manage or cancel any time in Settings. Terms of Use: https://sites.google.com/view/docsmith/terms Privacy Policy: https://sites.google.com/view/docsmith/privacy

Screenshots

PDF Scanner AI4 screens
Docsmith4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: Docsmith at none against PDF Scanner AI's shown. On price, update cadence, in-app purchases and device support 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

CostPrice Ā· In-app purchases Ā· Ads Ā· Monetization

Both are free to download. PDF Scanner AI sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per 7 days and Docsmith sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and September 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard1 real difference Ā· 5 level
PDF Scanner AI versus Docsmith: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterPDF Scanner AIDocsmith
PriceFreeFree
Update frequencyFortnightlyFortnightly
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesYes
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size17 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperPSSD LimitedSerhii Tykhonenko

In-app purchases

3 purchases

PDF Scanner AI

Subscriptions3
  • Weekly Premium$2.997 Days
  • Monthly Premium$9.991 Month
  • Annual Premium$79.991 Year
3 purchases

Docsmith

Subscriptions3
  • Monthly$4.991 Month
  • Yearly Offer$24.991 Year
  • Yearly3 Days trial$34.991 Year

Questions

Is PDF Scanner AI free?
PDF Scanner AI is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Docsmith free?
Docsmith is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do PDF Scanner AI or Docsmith have ads?
PDF Scanner AI shows ads; Docsmith does not.
Which is updated more often, PDF Scanner AI or Docsmith?
PDF Scanner AI ships an update fortnightly, and Docsmith fortnightly. Most recently, PDF Scanner AI was updated on October 14, 2026 and Docsmith on September 24, 2026.

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