OCR Software Reviews

Best OCR Software Reviews

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software comes in many shapes and forms. Some software packages are specialized in converting digital images such as PDF files or specific images into text, while others focus on the conversion of hard copy documents into searchable electronic files. Op top of this, many of the best OCR software boast a range of other exciting features outside of the main OCR option.

As a consumer with little or no knowledge of these types of software, it can be difficult to differentiate between the various options out there. That’s why we have comprehensively reviewed the top five OCR programs out there. We have found OmniPage Standard to be the best OCR software of 2018 due to its advanced word recognition and excellent multi-application support. On the second place, the equally potent ReadIris convinced us of its great file-compression and bulky reading. 

Learn More Below
  • Omnipage Standard
  • ReadIris Pro
  • Wondershare PDF Converter Pro
  • Acrobat Standard
  • iSkysoft PDF Converter

Omnipage Standard

Nuance is an internationally recognized company with 35 offices around the world. Omnipage Standard is one of there many applications designed to facilitate very specific value. It is this niche orientation that shines through in their OCR specialization. Ominipage delivers on accuracy in character recognition, multi-application support and its user-friendly interface.

Due to its great precision and timesaving innovations, Omnipage Standard is deservedly the winner of AlwaysReview Gold in the category best OCR Software of 2018.  

ReadIris Pro

We have tried and compared and reviewed many OCR, and found ReadIris Pro be a very strong contender for the number five positions. A product of I.R.I.S, an international organization found in Belgium, is a renowned producer of other digital scanning devices such as card scanners, digital pens, pen scanners, mobile scanners and so on.  ReadIris Pro was specifically designed for large organizations that want to convert loads of non-editable forms and then enter it into their existing databases.

In our review of the best OCR Software of 2018, ReadIris Pro takes the second place due to its great accuracy in comparison to some of the top OCR options out there. 

Wondershare PDF Converter Pro

Wondershare is a product of the DigiDoc Studio. The company has produced many creative desktop PDF solutions like PDF converter pro is. The OCR Software of Wondershare stands out for accurate PDF reading capabilities, multi license option and value-for-money. Even though the Wondershare PDF Converter Pro, like the name suggests, only works for PDF documents it does convert to a wide file range and comes at a very interesting price. In conclusion, Wondershare PDF Converter Pro is not the best OCR program in our list due to its one-sided functionality. 

Acrobat Standard

Adobe Standard is an OCR product of Adobe, an international market leader in the production of digital marketing solutinos and media product. Adobe is known to have many products that enable the consumer to make innovative digital content and set it out across different media devices. The Adobe Standard is just one of the top OCR products it has.

The product cannot be expected to match other OCR software tools we rated highly on this page as they use modern OCR techniques.  It is a scanning and formatting software application and therefor suited for only the basic transcription capabilities.

iSkysoft PDF Converter

The iSkysoft PDF Converter is a product of the iSkysoft Studio. Created by a fairly new company, founded in 2004, it is impressive to see the quality of the character recognition technology they have been able to develop since. A fairly one-sided product, allowing you to convert only pdf files. However, it is an incredibly clever application that will not only do the conversion tasks. It will as well help you protect your converted PDFs with passwords and permissions for access.  All in all, it deserves its place in the top 5 OCR programs of 2018. 

Best OCR Software

What is OCR Software?

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software plays crucial roles in document conversion. It transforms scanned copies, images and PDF files into readable and searchable electronic texts. Instead of re-creating files by typing, you can simply convert them into the format you want with the best OCR software. The journey to create these products, also called Text Recognition Software or Word Recognition Software, began in the beginnings of 1990s. Almost two and half decades later, software developers have mastered the art of creating applications that will alter anything in the original data file layout with incredible accuracy. When used along with other business software applications, the OCR program removes data from photocopied documents and then keys in that data in into a database for future reference.

What is the best OCR software?

There are many different of text recognition software packages out there, which make the decision which to pick a tough one. From our extensive testing we can conclude that the best OCR Software of 2018 is the Omnipage Standard. It is a robust and powerful tool that has proven its accuracy over a wide range of tests. Second in our comparison of the OCR of 2018 is ReadIris. It is less user friendly but it still powerful enough to meet all your transcription needs.

How to choose the best OCR Software

To pick the best software, you would advise you to examine the points mentioned below.

Performance

Although text recognition in 2018 may have numerous features, it can’t pass as a great consumer product if it cannot serve the purpose it was made for. If it was created to convert images or PDF files into electronically searchable documents, it should do just that. We therefore gave performance the first priority in our review.

Features

When picking any type of software, it is always wise to explore the range of features included. That’s why each of the top rated OCR programs we have listed will be described in terms of the features it has.

Customer-friendliness

OCR software was designed to ease your work. In order to that, a user-friendly interface is key. Customer-friendliness or ease of use is therefore something we must consider when drafting this review.

Customer support and Help

The best OCR manufacturer will aim to create a lasting relationship with you, the customer. They will offer a 24-hour support and help system that will give live technical assistance to customers in addition to how to manuals, FAQs and tutorials.

Customer tips

We would like to warn you that software features like the money-back guarantees, limited warranties and trial periods among other freebies are short-lived. If required, you have to capitalize on them when you still have the chance.