Freemium
NewOCR
NewOCR is a free online OCR service that pulls editable text out of images, scans and PDFs in 122 languages. It needs no account and does not cap uploads.
FreeBeginnerWeb
Overview
NewOCR is a free OCR service built on Tesseract, the widely used open-source recognition engine. OCR reads the text inside a scan or a photo and turns it into text you can copy and edit. It handles printed documents, screenshots and photographs of text in 122 languages, and it also recognises mathematical equations. You can scan only part of a page, rotate a sideways one, and switch on layout analysis for multi-column material like newspapers.
It runs in a web browser and reads images, multi-page PDF and DjVu files, and DOCX, ODT and ZIP archives, returning plain text, a Word document or a PDF. It is completely free. You do not need an account, uploads are unlimited, and there is no paid tier.
Key features
✓Reads text from images, scans & PDFs
✓122 recognition languages
✓Recognises mathematical equations
✓Select part of a page to scan
✓Page-layout analysis for columns
✓Rotates sideways pages
✓Outputs TXT, Word & PDF
✓Reads PDF, DjVu, multi-page TIFF, DOCX, ODT & ZIP
✓No account, unlimited uploads
When to use
Use NewOCR if:
- You have a scanned document or a photo of a page and want editable text from it.
- You need text in a language other than English, since it covers 122 and reads equations too.
- You want the result as a Word file or a PDF, not only plain text.
- You have many files to run. Uploads are unlimited, you do not need an account, and there is no paid tier.
- You have a multi-column page like a newspaper, where its layout analysis keeps the columns from running together.
When NOT to use
Skip NewOCR if any of these describe you:
- You need the exact original layout kept, with columns, tables and spacing intact. OCR recovers the words well, but the formatting has to be rebuilt afterwards.
- Your file is private or confidential. It uploads to NewOCR's servers, so an OCR tool you run on your own computer keeps the document to yourself.
- You want handwriting read. Tesseract targets printed and typed characters, so handwritten notes are unreliable.
- You want a different recognition engine to compare against. Browse the image to text category for other options.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. It is completely free. You do not need an account, and there is no limit on the number of files you upload. There is no paid tier to unlock features.
122 recognition languages, including English, Spanish, French, Chinese, Arabic and Japanese, and it can also detect mathematical equations. You pick the language before running the scan.
It reads JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP and TIFF images, multi-page PDF and DjVu files, and DOCX, ODT and ZIP archives. You can download the recognised text as a plain text file, a Word document, or a PDF.
Not exactly. It recovers the words well, and it has a layout-analysis option for multi-column pages. The formatting, tables and spacing may still not match the original. Expect to tidy up the layout yourself.
It is built for printed text. It uses the Tesseract engine, which targets typed and printed characters, so handwritten notes are unreliable. It also copes with low-resolution or poorly scanned pages, but clean scans are read more accurately.
Your file is uploaded to NewOCR's servers to be processed. The vendor states that uploaded files are removed from the server after use. For confidential documents, an OCR tool you run on your own computer keeps the file to yourself.
Alternatives to NewOCR
Freemium
Image to Text
Free OCR that pulls the text out of an image, built on the open-source Tesseract engine, with no signup.
BeginnerWeb
Paid
Freemium
