OCR a scanned PDF in seconds
OCR scanned PDFs to searchable text. Tesseract 5 LSTM, 80+ languages, ISO 32000-2:2020 + PDF/A-2, Hetzner Falkenstein EU. Free with watermark, 0 AI Deep Detect, no Adobe Pro.
Upload your PDF
Drop your scanned file — language is auto-detected by Tesseract 5 LSTM across 80+ scripts.
AI runs OCR
Text recognition runs across every page at 500 dpi (FBI EFTS grade), layout and tables preserved.
Download searchable PDF
An ISO 32000-2:2020 PDF where every word is selectable, copy-pasteable and indexable — PDF/A-2 archival on demand.
Why choose iFillPDF
Tesseract 5 LSTM, 80+ languages
Apache 2.0 open-source engine (Tesseract 5.x LSTM neural net) covering English, Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified + Traditional), Japanese, Russian, Hindi and 70+ more — auto-detected per page.
ABBYY-grade accuracy on printed scans
Independent benchmarks place LSTM-OCR at 95%+ character accuracy on clean printed scans (vs Adobe Acrobat at 88.6% on handwritten print) — confidence score returned per page so you know what to re-scan.
Layout, tables and ICC color preserved
Text overlays the original scan with no visual change, tables become structured data (export-ready for Excel), and ICC sRGB IEC 61966-2.1 color profile is kept at FBI EFTS 500 dpi.
ISO 32000-2:2020 + PDF/A-2 archival output
Standard searchable PDF (ISO 32000-2:2020) by default, plus optional ISO 19005-2 PDF/A-2u archival format for US PACER CM-ECF filings, IRS 26 USC §6001 7-year retention and EU eIDAS qualified archives.
Hetzner Falkenstein EU, anti-Cloud Act
PDFs processed in Hetzner Falkenstein (EU TADPF) — outside US Cloud Act 50 USC §3024 + FISA 702 reach. AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit, 24h auto-purge, no AI training on your scans.
HIPAA + ESIGN Act ready
PHI scanning compatible with HIPAA 45 CFR §164.316(b)(2) audit-trail rule; output PDFs accepted under ESIGN Act 15 USC §7001 for US e-signature workflows.
Turn image-only scans into searchable, copy-pasteable text using a Tesseract 5 LSTM engine (80+ languages, Apache 2.0) tuned against ABBYY FineReader benchmarks (95.2% on printed scans). Outputs ISO 32000-2:2020 searchable PDF plus optional ISO 19005-2 PDF/A-2 archival, with ICC sRGB IEC 61966-2.1 color preserved at FBI EFTS 500 dpi. Hosted in Hetzner Falkenstein (EU TADPF, anti-Cloud Act 50 USC §3024 + FISA 702) — ready for US PACER CM-ECF filings, IRS 26 USC §6001 retention and HIPAA 45 CFR §164.316(b)(2) PHI workflows.
Go further with lifetime access
E-signature proof log, business templates, no watermark. $8.99, one payment, for life — no subscription.
Frequently asked questions
Is it really free, or is OCR a Pro-only feature like Adobe Acrobat?+
Genuinely free with a watermark and 0 AI Deep Detect, no credit card, no Adobe ID. For comparison: Adobe Acrobat Pro locks OCR behind its $19.99/mo plan, Smallpdf charges $9/mo for OCR Pro, iLovePDF Premium is $7/mo for OCR access, ABBYY FineReader is $199/yr (one-off desktop license), Nanonets is pay-per-page, OnlineOCR free is capped at 15 pages/hour. iFillPDF Start is $8.99/mo for 8 AI Deep Detect/mo — no per-page metering surprise.
Which OCR engine does iFillPDF use, and how does its accuracy compare to ABBYY FineReader?+
A Tesseract 5.x LSTM engine (Apache 2.0, open-source, 80+ languages) tuned with custom training data. Independent benchmarks (Unstract 2026, ABBYY vs Adobe vs Readiris) put Tesseract 5 LSTM around 95% character accuracy on clean printed scans, vs ABBYY FineReader at 95.2% on printed and 91.7% on cursive handwriting, and Adobe Acrobat at 88.6% on handwritten print and 79.3% on cursive. For mixed-quality batches, ABBYY remains best-in-class on cursive; for printed contracts, invoices, court filings and invoices the gap is negligible.
Where are my scans processed, and is the workflow HIPAA-compatible?+
In Hetzner Falkenstein (eu-central, Germany) — outside the reach of US Cloud Act 50 USC §3024 and FISA 702 (anti-extra-territorial transfer). PDFs are AES-256 encrypted at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit, auto-purged after 24h. The audit log + access controls satisfy HIPAA 45 CFR §164.316(b)(2) for PHI scanning workflows; output PDFs are accepted under ESIGN Act 15 USC §7001 for downstream US e-signature.
Will the output be accepted by US PACER CM-ECF, the IRS or eIDAS archives?+
Yes. Default output is ISO 32000-2:2020 searchable PDF (the format US PACER CM-ECF requires for federal court filings). Toggle ISO 19005-2 PDF/A-2u for archival: this is the format the IRS accepts for 26 USC §6001 7-year retention and that EU eIDAS qualified archives mandate. Both modes preserve the ICC sRGB IEC 61966-2.1 color profile at FBI EFTS 500 dpi.
How does iFillPDF compare to PDF24, iLovePDF, Smallpdf and OnlineOCR for free OCR?+
PDF24 (rank #1 US SERP) is fully free + 100+ languages but no named OCR engine, no compliance disclosure and EU-hosting is unclear; Adobe rank #2 paywalls OCR behind Acrobat Pro $19.99/mo; iLovePDF rank #3 caps OCR on Premium ($7/mo); Smallpdf rank #5 charges $9/mo for OCR Pro; OnlineOCR free is rate-limited to 15 pages/hour without registration. iFillPDF gives you everything free with a watermark and 0 AI Deep Detect, named Tesseract 5 LSTM engine, ISO 32000-2:2020 + PDF/A-2 output, Hetzner EU hosting (TADPF) and HIPAA-compatible audit log — none of the others combine all four.
Does OCR work on handwritten scans, low-resolution scans or non-Latin scripts?+
Printed text at 300+ dpi: 95%+ accuracy. Handwritten print: ~85% (use the preview to validate before batch). Cursive handwriting remains hard for any open-source engine — ABBYY FineReader $199/yr is the gold standard for cursive (91.7%). Non-Latin scripts (Arabic, Chinese Simplified + Traditional, Japanese, Hindi, Cyrillic) are fully supported via Tesseract 5 LSTM trained models. Below 300 dpi or compressed JPEG scans we recommend re-scanning at 500 dpi (FBI EFTS standard) for best accuracy.
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