OCR software for business documents
Scans, PDFs and phone photos in; named fields and intact tables out, each with a confidence score. For teams processing thousands of documents a month.
Just need one PDF searchable? A free tool will do, and we'll point you to one. Free options ↓
- 99% field-level accuracy on 250+ document types
- 95%+ processed straight through
- SOC 2 Type 2, HIPAA and GDPR
- Vendor
- Northwind Packaging Co.99%
- Invoice number
- INV-2093199%
- Invoice date
- 2026-08-0499%
- Line items
- 3 rows · $1,596.0098%
- Total due
- $1,768.7899%
- PO number
- 4471Not in open POs
Docsumo is an intelligent document processing (IDP) platform. Its OCR reads printed and handwritten text in scans, PDFs and phone photos, then goes past the text: it sorts each document by type, extracts named fields and multi-page tables, checks them, sends only the fields it's unsure about to a person, and posts the data to your systems by API.
Trusted by 10,000+ mid-sized and enterprise teams, including
- Grid Finance
- Hitachi
- PayU
Which OCR software do you need?
Three jobs get called OCR. Two of them don't need Docsumo.
- One file at a time
Make a PDF searchable
A free or desktop tool does this well.
Free options ↓ - Developers
Build OCR into an app
A cloud OCR API returns text and layout as JSON.
Compare APIs ↓ - Operations teamsDocsumo
Get checked data at volume
Fields, tables, checks and a review queue, sent to your systems.
How it works ↓
OCR reads the page. Docsumo returns the data.
OCR tells you what the page says. Docsumo tells you what each value is, how sure it is, and whether it adds up.
NORTHWIND PACKAGING CO. lNVOICE 2140 Commerce Way, Unit 4 lnvoice #: INV-20931 Nashua, NH 03062 Date: 08/04/2026 PO: 4471 BILL TO SHIP TO Harbor Street Bakery LLC Harbor Street Bakery LLC 118 Harbor St 118 Harbor St Portland, ME 04101 Portland, ME 04101 DESCRIPTION QTY UNIT PRICE AMOUNT Kraft bakery box 10x10x5 1,2OO 0.84 1,008.00 Cake board 10" round 800 0.36 288.00 Printed cup sleeve 2,500 0.12 300.00 Subtota1 1,596.00 Sales tax 5.5% 87.78 Freight 85.00 TOTAL DUE $1,768.78 Terms: Net 30 Due 09/O3/2026 Thank you for your business!
- No field names: which number is the total?
- Columns run together; the table is gone
- Misreads (O for 0, 1 for l, marked) pass silently
| Vendor | Northwind Packaging Co. | 99% |
|---|---|---|
| Invoice number | INV-20931 | 99% |
| Invoice date | 2026-08-04 | 99% |
| Due date | 2026-09-03 | 97% |
| PO number | 4471 | Not in open POs |
| Description | Qty | Unit | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kraft bakery box 10x10x5 | 1,200 | 0.84 | 1,008.00 |
| Cake board 10" round | 800 | 0.36 | 288.00 |
| Printed cup sleeve | 2,500 | 0.12 | 300.00 |
| Subtotal | 1,596.00 | ||
| Sales tax 5.5% | 87.78 | ||
| Freight | 85.00 | ||
| Total due | $1,768.78 | ||
- Line items add up to the subtotal
- Subtotal + tax + freight = total
- Vendor matched to your vendor list
- PO 4471 not in open POs: sent to review
Illustrative example. Field names and the output schema are configurable.
Five steps between a scan and your system.
- 01
Collect
Email, upload or API.
Collection agent - 02
Classify and split
Each document found and labeled.
Classification agent - 03
Extract
Fields and tables, each scored.
Extraction agent - 04
Validate
Math, master data, other documents.
Verification agent - 05
Review and send
People see only the exceptions.
Review queue · API
Every document becomes a row, every field a column. Filter by asking a question, then export or send it on.
Values are illustrative.
Built for the documents that break plain OCR.
Clean PDFs are easy. These decide how much manual work is left.
- Confidence on every field
Phone photos and poor scans
Unsure values go to a reviewer, who sees the source line highlighted.
- Printed or handwritten
Handwriting
Filled-in forms and handwritten amounts. Bring your own samples to the demo.
- Joined into one table
Tables across pages
Page four's rows land under page one's headers, as on bank statements.
- Split and labeled
Mixed packets
A 60-page PDF becomes the documents inside it, each read on its own.
- No templates
New document types
Name the fields you want; no training set needed.
Pre-trained on 250+ document types.
And any other document, by naming the fields you want.
- Accounts payable
Invoices →
Every line item, matched to vendors and POs.
- Lending
Bank statements →
Every transaction, joined across pages.
- Insurance
ACORD forms →
Certificates and applications, field by field.
- Income
Pay stubs →
Employer, period, gross, net and YTD.
- Tax
W-2 forms →
Every box, from scans and photos.
- Tax
IRS tax forms →
Sorted by form in mixed packets.
- Debt settlement
Settlement letters →
Creditor, balance, offer, deadlines.
- Logistics
Bills of lading →
Shipper, consignee, items, weights.
The best OCR software, sorted by the job.
Nine tools across four kinds. Docsumo is ours, so it's labeled.
| Tool | What you get | Best for | Published price |
|---|---|---|---|
| DocsumoOur productDocument platform | Checked fields and tables by API, with a review queue | Operations teams at volume | Free trial, 1,000 pagesPaid plans quoted |
| NanonetsDocument platform | Extracted data through workflows | Building your own document workflows | From $100 / month$50 free credits |
| Google Document AICloud OCR API | JSON: text, layout, tables, entities | Developers on Google Cloud | $1.50 / 1,000 pagesOCR; Form Parser $30 |
| Amazon TextractCloud OCR API | JSON blocks with confidence scores | Developers on AWS | $1.50 / 1,000 pagesText; tables $15, forms $50 |
| Azure Document IntelligenceCloud OCR API | JSON and searchable PDFs | Teams on Azure | $1.50 / 1,000 pagesRead; 500 free pages a month |
| Mistral OCRCloud OCR API | Markdown with tables and layout | LLM and retrieval pipelines | $4 / 1,000 pages$2 in batch |
| Adobe Acrobat ProDesktop app | Searchable, editable PDFs | Making scans searchable | $19.99 / monthAnnual plan |
| ABBYY FineReader PDFDesktop app | PDF, Word, Excel in 198 languages | Scans in many languages | $99 / yearStandard, Windows |
| TesseractOpen source | Plain text, hOCR, searchable PDF | Self-hosted OCR of clean print | FreeOpen source |
As stated on each vendor's own site, checked September 2026; confirm on the linked page. All 14 tools with strengths and limits: the best OCR software compared · the best OCR APIs.
Free OCR for one-off jobs.
Making one PDF searchable doesn't need Docsumo. These do it free.
- Adobe Acrobat online ↗Scanned PDF in, searchable PDF out
- Google DriveOpen a PDF with Google Docs
- Windows PowerToys ↗Text Extractor copies text on screen
- Mac and iPhoneLive Text in photos and screenshots
- Tesseract ↗Free engine you run yourself
Copying values from the text into another system every day? That's when to try Docsumo free on 1,000 pages.
What changes when OCR output stops needing a person.
“Docsumo's self-learning capabilities and the accuracy of the invoice line-item data capture made it stand out for us.”
Jussi Karjalainen, Founder & Managing Partner, Valtatech- Lending<1 minper complex bank statement, at 94%+ accuracy
“The accuracy and service have been amazing since day one, and the team is still incredibly responsive a year later.”
Mark Bentley, Deputy Head of CreditRead the Grid Finance story → - Insurance compliance99%accuracy, and 3,000+ hours saved every month
“We love Docsumo for its ease of integration and the flexibility it provides with API and webhook callbacks.”
Howard Leiner, CTORead the Arbor story →
Data in your systems, not in a text file.
Audited, access-controlled, and every approval on record.
SOC 2 Type 2Independently audited controls
HIPAAFor protected health data
GDPRFor EU personal data
JSON by API and webhook
Every field with its confidence score, posted to your system.
A review queue you control
Thresholds per field; reviewer corrections improve the model.
A test environment
Your engineers validate changes before production.
Audit log and permissions
Access by role, team and document type; every approval recorded.
What teams ask about OCR software.
What is OCR software?
OCR (optical character recognition) software reads the text in scans, photos and image-only PDFs and turns it into characters a computer can search, copy or process. Desktop apps turn that text into searchable PDFs and Word files; APIs and document processing platforms return it, or the fields in it, to other software.
Is there free OCR software?
Yes. Adobe's online OCR tool, Google Drive (open a PDF with Google Docs), the Windows Snipping Tool and PowerToys Text Extractor, and Apple's Live Text are free for one-off jobs. Tesseract is a free open-source engine for developers. Docsumo has a free 14-day trial for up to 1,000 pages, for teams testing OCR on business documents at volume.
What is the best OCR software for business?
It depends on what you need after the text. To make scans searchable, a desktop app such as Adobe Acrobat Pro or ABBYY FineReader PDF. To build OCR into an app, a cloud API such as Google Document AI, Amazon Textract or Azure Document Intelligence. To get checked data out of invoices, bank statements or forms at volume, a document processing platform such as Docsumo.
What's the difference between OCR and IDP?
OCR turns a page image into text. Intelligent document processing (IDP) uses OCR as its first step, then classifies the document, extracts named fields and tables, checks them and sends them to other systems, with a person reviewing only uncertain fields. Docsumo is an IDP platform.
Can OCR read handwriting?
Modern OCR can read handwriting, though accuracy depends heavily on the writer. Docsumo reads handwritten text as well as printed text, and any handwritten value it isn't sure about goes to a reviewer. We don't publish a handwriting accuracy figure; test it on your own samples.
How accurate is OCR on scanned documents?
Clean, typed scans are read almost perfectly by any modern engine; phone photos, faxes, stamps and handwriting are where tools differ. Character accuracy also isn't what an operations team measures: what matters is whether each field is right. Docsumo reaches 99% field-level accuracy in production and puts a confidence score on every field, so unsure values are checked by a person.
Is there an OCR API?
Yes. Google Document AI, Amazon Textract, Azure Document Intelligence and Mistral OCR are OCR APIs priced per 1,000 pages. Docsumo also has a REST API and webhooks: send documents in, get named fields and tables back as JSON with a confidence score on each. The free trial includes API and webhook access.
Can OCR extract tables from PDFs?
Plain OCR usually returns table rows as loose lines of text. Table-aware tools rebuild the rows and columns. Docsumo extracts tables as tables and joins a table that runs across pages into one, with the headers mapped, which matters for bank statements and long invoices.
Can we test Docsumo on our own documents?
Yes. Book a demo and bring your hardest documents, and we'll run them live. Or start a free trial: 1,000 pages over 14 days, with pre-trained models, API and webhooks, and no training data needed.
Bring your worst scan to the demo.
A phone photo, a fax, a 40-page packet with tables across pages. We run it live and show every field, every confidence score and every check.