Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

OpenScan VS OwlOCR

Compare OpenScan VS OwlOCR and see what are their differences

OpenScan logo OpenScan

FOSS Document Scanner

OwlOCR logo OwlOCR

OwlOCR offers simple optical character recognition of text in PDF files, images or on-screen and converts that to plain text.
  • OpenScan Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-01
  • OwlOCR Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-15

OpenScan features and specs

  • Open-Source
    Being open-source promotes transparency and community-driven improvements, ensuring the software remains up-to-date and secure.
  • Cost-Effective
    Since it's available for free, both individuals and organizations can use the software without incurring licensing fees.
  • Community Support
    The open-source nature allows for a large community of users and developers who can provide support, share tips, and contribute to feature enhancements.
  • Customizability
    Users have the ability to modify the code base to better fit their specific needs, offering high levels of customization.
  • Wide Platform Support
    OpenScan may support multiple platforms, making it versatile for use on different operating systems.

Possible disadvantages of OpenScan

  • Technical Expertise Required
    Users may need significant programming knowledge to install, customize, and troubleshoot the software effectively.
  • Limited Official Support
    There is often no official customer support, making it potentially difficult for users to resolve issues without community assistance.
  • Documentation
    Documentation might be lacking or not up to professional standards, which can create challenges in understanding and utilizing all features.
  • Potential for Bugs
    As with many open-source projects, the software might contain bugs or be less rigorously tested compared to commercial alternatives.
  • Dependency Management
    Ensuring all dependencies are correctly installed and compatible can be a challenging and time-consuming process.

OwlOCR features and specs

  • Accuracy
    OwlOCR provides high accuracy in text recognition, making it a reliable tool for converting images and PDFs into editable text.
  • User-friendly Interface
    The application has an intuitive and easy-to-use interface, which allows users to quickly navigate and utilize various features without a steep learning curve.
  • Multiple Language Support
    Supports recognition of text in multiple languages, enhancing its usability for international users and diverse document types.
  • Integration Options
    OwlOCR offers seamless integration with other applications and workflows, allowing users to efficiently incorporate the tool into their existing processes.

Possible disadvantages of OwlOCR

  • Limited Platform Availability
    The application might be available only for specific platforms, limiting access for users on unsupported systems.
  • Premium Features
    Some advanced functionalities may only be accessible via a paid plan, which could be a disadvantage for users seeking a completely free solution.
  • Performance on Complex Layouts
    While it excels at simple text extraction, its performance might decline with documents that have complex layouts or mixed content types.
  • Internet Dependency
    Certain features or updates may require an internet connection, which can be a limitation in offline scenarios or in areas with unstable connectivity.

Analysis of OpenScan

Overall verdict

  • OpenScan is generally considered good, particularly for users who value open-source software and are looking for a powerful scanning tool that can be tailored to their needs. Its functionality and strong community support make it a competitive choice in the field of document scanning.

Why this product is good

  • OpenScan, an open-source project available on GitHub, is widely appreciated for its versatility and ease of use in scanning and digitizing physical documents. It offers a range of features, including document correction, perspective transformation, and automatic cropping. Users often highlight its high quality of scanned outputs and customizability due to its open-source nature. Additionally, the active community and frequent updates contribute to its reliability and feature enhancements.

Recommended for

  • Individuals who need a reliable, open-source document scanning solution.
  • Developers and tech enthusiasts interested in customizing and contributing to open-source projects.
  • Students and professionals requiring efficient tools for converting physical documents to digital formats.

OpenScan videos

OpenScan Pi - 3D Scanner control interface

More videos:

  • Review - OpenScan Cloud 3D Scanning - early version
  • Review - OpenScan - Large Version

OwlOCR videos

OwlOCR - Extract Text from Screen on Big Sur

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to OpenScan and OwlOCR)
OCR
67 67%
33% 33
Tool
100 100%
0% 0
Productivity
0 0%
100% 100
Office & Productivity
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, OwlOCR seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 4 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

OpenScan mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of OpenScan yet. Tracking of OpenScan recommendations started around Mar 2021.

OwlOCR mentions (4)

  • Would an app loose Editors Choice awards if enough users complain + very bad recent reviews ?
    If you own a Mac, you can just export all files into PDFs and use a free OCR tool called OwlOCR to make your pdf readable. Import it to other apps and voilà, you have all your notes that are ready to go. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Scan text into Mac
    I use a free app, OwlOCR, for OCRing image files on Mac. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • What are your favorite hidden gem Mac apps?
    OwlOCR ($13.99) - OCR for images, pdfs, QR code, and anything on screen. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • After 14 years, I am saying Goodbye to Evernote.
    Data structure and customised database was more paramount for me than OCR search. Hence, I went with Notion. But If I need OCR I use OwlOCR. https://owlocr.com/. Source: over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing OpenScan and OwlOCR, you can also consider the following products

GImageReader - gImageReader is a simple Gtk/Qt front-end to the Tesseract OCR Engine.

TextSniper - Instantly extract any text from your Mac's screen

Adobe Scan - Scan anything into a PDF using your mobile device.

Nanonets - Worlds best image recognition, object detection and OCR APIs. NanoNets’ platform makes it straightforward and fast to create highly accurate Deep Learning models.

Tesseract - Tesseract is an optical character recognition engine for various operating systems

Nanonets OCR - Intelligent text extraction using OCR and deep learning