Disclosure. We make Paperlock, which appears in the table below, and the free browser scanner on this site. For most people the best free document scanner is one that's already on their iPhone, and we say so first.
What “free” means on a scanner app
Every scanner app in the App Store is free to download. The real price shows up in one of six places, and it is usually the second time you open the app:
- An account. Some apps won't scan until you sign in, because the scan is going to their cloud. That's not a charge, but it is a trade.
- A page or document limit. Free until a certain number of scans, or a certain number of pages per document, then a paywall.
- Export limits. You can scan all you like, but saving as PDF, sharing, or getting a high-resolution copy is the paid part.
- A watermark. The free export carries the app's name across the bottom of your rental application. Landlords notice.
- Ads. Odd in an app holding your tax return.
- Where the scan goes. Free cloud scanning often means your document is stored on someone's servers. Read are scanner apps safe? if that question hadn't occurred to you.
A genuinely free scanner fails none of those tests, or tells you plainly which one it fails. Several do.
The seven free options, compared
| Notes and Files (built in) | Google Drive scanner | OneDrive scanner | Adobe Scan | Free tiers of commercial scanners | Our browser scanner | Paperlock free tier | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Account needed | No extra account | Your Google account | Your Microsoft account | Adobe ID, per Adobe | Varies; check | No | No |
| Where the scan is saved | Your phone, or any Files location you pick | Your Google Drive | Your OneDrive (no local saving, per Microsoft) | Adobe Document Cloud, per Adobe | Varies; often their cloud | Your device; never uploaded | Encrypted on your phone |
| Searchable text | Check on your iOS version | Saves searchable PDFs, per Google | Check in the app | Yes, per Adobe | Often a paid feature; check | No (image PDF) | Yes, and it answers questions |
| Watermark | No | Check your export | Check your export | Check your export | Check your export | No | No |
| Page or document limit | None | Counts against your Drive storage | Counts against your OneDrive storage | Check the app | Usually; check | No hard page limit | 25 documents, 5 questions a month |
| Subscription to keep going | No | Not for scanning; check storage | Not for scanning; check storage | Optional, for extra PDF tools | Yes, for the full app | No | Optional Plus |
“Check” means those details change; test them rather than trust a number copied last spring.
1. Notes and Files: the honest answer for most people
If you have an iPhone, you already own a good free document scanner. In Notes, tap the attachment button and choose Scan Documents; in Files, tap the More button and choose Scan Documents, then pick where to save. It finds the page edges, captures automatically, lets you drag the corners, and handles many pages in one go. No account beyond the one your phone already has, no watermark, no page limit, no ads.
Where it stops: scans in Notes are a little buried, and nothing names or files them for you. Our step-by-step guide on how to scan documents on iPhone shows both routes, and making a PDF on iPhone covers getting a clean file out the other end.
2 and 3. Google Drive and OneDrive: free, if you live in that cloud
Google Drive's scanner sits behind the Add button: tap it, choose Scan, adjust the crop, add pages, name the file and save. Google says it saves scans as searchable PDFs in your Drive, and you can pick the folder first. If your documents already live in Google, it's the obvious pick. The trade is that the scan goes to your Google account rather than staying on the phone; our Paperlock vs Google Drive scan page goes deeper on that.
OneDrive's scanner is now Microsoft's only scanning answer on iPhone. Microsoft retired Microsoft Lens in 2026 and points people to OneDrive, which saves scans to your OneDrive; Microsoft says it doesn't support saving them locally on the device. If you work in Microsoft 365, that's a feature. If you came here looking for Lens, the Microsoft Lens page explains what changed.
Both are free to use with the account you already have; scans count against that account's storage. Export one test page to confirm what the file looks like.
4. Adobe Scan: free with an account
Adobe says Adobe Scan is free to download, turns scans into searchable PDFs, and stores them in your Adobe Document Cloud storage, with sign-in through an Adobe ID. Extra PDF tools, such as combining files or converting formats, sit with Acrobat's paid plans. Choose it if you already use Acrobat on a computer; skip it if you don't want an account for a scan. Our Adobe Scan comparison covers it in more detail.
5. Free tiers of commercial scanner apps
Genius Scan, Scanner Pro, SwiftScan, CamScanner and their neighbors are commercial apps with a free way in. Some are excellent, with better batch scanning and more export options than the built-ins. The free part is where the rules live, and they move. We won't quote limits we haven't checked today; run the test below instead. If one of them earns your money, that's a fine outcome, and the Genius Scan alternatives page compares the field honestly.
6. Our free browser scanner: no app at all
The free document scanner on this site runs in any browser, on any phone or laptop. You photograph the page, it suggests the corners, you fine-tune them with a magnifier, pick a document, grayscale or original filter, add pages, and download one PDF. No account, no watermark, no hard page limit, and the photo is never sent to a server: the processing happens on your device.
The honest limit: it makes an image PDF, like a photocopy, so you can't search the text inside. If you need that, our image to searchable PDF tool adds a text layer, also in the browser.
7. Paperlock's free tier: scanning is the doorway
Paperlock is a different kind of app, and we'd rather say that than pretend it's a scanner. It scans with auto-crop, straightening and multiple pages, then reads what it scanned: what the document is, who it's from, the dates, the amount, the expiry. It titles and files it for you, and you find it later by asking, as in "when does my passport expire?", with the document attached to the answer. Documents sit encrypted on your phone behind Face ID.
The free tier holds 25 documents and answers 5 questions a month, with no time limit, no account and no credit card. Asking questions needs an internet connection, and the reading happens partly on our servers, which process a page just long enough to answer and don't keep it. There's no Android or web version, and no folders. How it works has the details. If you scan forty things a week for work, a scanner app fits better; if you scan a few important papers and need to find them in two years, this is the job it does.
How to test a free tier in five minutes
Before any free scanner app holds anything that matters, run it through this:
- Install and open it. Does it ask for an account before the first scan?
- Scan a three-page document. Something real but harmless, like an old utility bill. Did it stop you at page two or three?
- Export it as a PDF and open the PDF. Look at every page edge for a watermark. Check the resolution by zooming in on small print.
- Share it to Files or email. Is sharing free, or does a paywall appear?
- Search for a word on page three. If nothing comes back, text search is either paid or missing.
- Find the privacy label on its App Store page. Look at “Data Linked to You” and whether your documents are stored in the company's cloud.
- Count the ads and the upgrade prompts. Three prompts in five minutes tells you how the next year will go.
- Check how to get everything out. If you stop using the app, can you export all your scans in one go?
An app that passes all eight is genuinely free. One that fails a step may still be worth paying for, if you know what you're paying for.
Which free scanner to choose
- You have an iPhone and want a clean PDF: Notes or Files.
- Your files already live in Google or Microsoft: that company's scanner.
- You use Acrobat on a computer: Adobe Scan.
- You're on someone else's phone or a laptop: our browser scanner.
- You want to find the document again by asking: Paperlock's free tier.
- You scan a lot and want the best capture: test a commercial free tier, then pay for the one that passes. Our best scanner app for iPhone guide compares the paid side.