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We researched over 50 scanners and spent weeks scanning thousands of pages using 10 of today's best scanners. We found the best model to digitize your documents, receipts, and old photos. We carefully evaluated each model's scan quality, speed, and ease of managing the resulting digital files. Whether you're just looking to digitize a few receipts here and there, have a stack of old photos you want to preserve digitally, or have mountains of documents to save for posterity, our testing results will help you choose the best model for you.
Pages Per Minute: 17 | Automatic Document Feeder Capacity: 50
REASONS TO BUY
Easy to use and super convenient app
Can queue up a lot of papers to be scanned
REASONS TO AVOID
Has to be plugged into a computer to transmit
If you are looking for the best scanner on the market and wouldn't mind saving a hundred bucks without giving up much in performance, check out the Canon ImageFORMULA R40. Compared to the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600, it had better optical character recognition. It also performed better in terms of software quality and ease of use. While Canon calls this an entry-level device, they have continually upgraded its performance. Due to firmware updates and hardware upgrades, the latest iteration has faster scanning speeds, better text recognition software, and improved image quality.
On the negative side, it doesn't support wireless scanning, and it simply can't compete with the incredible 67-page-per-minute speed exhibited by Fujitsu products like the ScanSnap iX1600. The good news is you can have equal scanning performance, better OCR, and a more user-friendly experience at a lower price. If 17 pages per minute is fast enough for your needs, the ImageFORMULA R40 is perfect.
Pages Per Minute: 4 | Automatic Document Feeder Capacity: N/A
REASONS TO BUY
Great scan quality
Very small and portable
Simple operation
Good OCR
REASONS TO AVOID
Not great for long (10+ page) documents
For most, the ideal scanner can quickly and conveniently digitize a short document or receipt whenever needed and then easily be stored. If you're one of these users, it's hard to beat the Brother DS-640. In our tests, this model consistently produced high-quality PDFs that looked nearly identical to the originals, almost perfectly used optical character recognition that made documents completely text searchable, and offered simple and easy-to-use document management. The most important and impressive feature is its size. The scanner is about the size of a standard power strip, weighs just over one pound, and powers over USB. All this means you can quickly plug it into your laptop when needed and then easily hide it away when not in use. You can even toss it in your backpack next to your laptop if you need to scan documents on the go. It's an ultra-compact and robust scanner at a relatively low price. This product was released in 2019 and has not changed much physically. However, it has had several driver and software updates and now supports Linux.
The only real downside to this model is its speed. Because you must manually feed each page, digitizing page after page of a document can be a slow and cumbersome process. The process gets even more time-consuming due to the lack of a duplex scanning feature, meaning you must feed every double-sided page twice. For reference, it took us two and a half minutes to digitize five double-sided pages with the Brother DS-640. This task takes 30 seconds with automatic document feeders. If you consistently scan documents over ten pages, this won't be the model for you. Still, for many people, the Brother DS-640 offers the convenience of size and simplicity at a price that won't gouge your wallet. If you want more speed and scanning performance, check out the Epson Perfection V39. It scored only a few points lower and is often available at a much lower price. For a truly low price, check out the Scanner Pro App — it's free.
The Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600 is our top recommendation for those who have any job or small business that demands high quality, speed, and ease of use. Thanks to a large automatic document feeder and fast pace, this model turns a 50-page document into a PDF in a flash with a single push of a button. The resulting PDF looks great because this machine can accurately and crisply render everything from tiny text to detailed graphics. The user experience is also simple, as the iX1600 offers a large LCD touchscreen with an intuitive interface that makes both setup and daily use a breeze. Fujitsu has dominated the high-speed scanning game for years and kept updating the iX1600. While the scanning speeds have not dramatically changed, and it's not clear that anyone needs it to scan faster, the software and driver updates have allowed higher scanning resolutions and improved text recognition.
This model suffered from some errors in optical character recognition, but this is a common problem for many scanners. With that in mind, the only serious downside is the premium price. Some users may not scan enough to justify the hefty price tag. However, if scanning is a major part of your workflow, the investment is well worth the time and effort you'll save and the superior-quality scans you'll receive. For a high-speed, easy-to-use, high-quality machine, look no further than the iX1600. If you scan less frequently and just want an affordable option that you can tuck away in a drawer when not in use, look to the Brother DS-640.
Among the scanners our team has tested, the Fujitsu Fi-8170 stands out as one of the top performers. Its impressive speed sets it apart, making it an excellent choice for efficient scanning. Additionally, a high-capacity design that can handle 100-page documents means it will easily handle large volumes and make short work of big tasks. Moreover, its overall scanning quality and user-friendly interface make it well-suited for demanding scanning tasks requiring dialing in scanner settings.
Unfortunately, the Fujitsu Fi-8170 isn't perfect. It is best suited for business tasks, like text documents and receipts, and its photo scanning performance could have yielded better results. It's also many times more expensive than others in the field. Nonetheless, the Fi-8170 is a great scanner for those who require the ability to scan large documents quickly and easily. If you want a better balance of great performance and price, our top recommendation is the Canon ImageFORMULA R40, which has a 60-page document feeder and scores high across all our test metrics.
Pages Per Minute: 8 | Automatic Document Feeder Capacity: N/A
REASONS TO BUY
Great for portability
Can go up to 1200 dpi
Wireless
REASONS TO AVOID
Slow
No feed tray or output tray
Epson hit it out of the park with the Epson WorkForce ES-60W. It is light, fast, compact, incredibly mobile, and easy to use. Not only is it amazing for those who need scanning on the go, wireless scanning, or scanning to the cloud, but its performance also rivals some of the best desktop and flatbed-style scanners on the market today.
Unfortunately, the Workforce ES-60W is slower to operate without a feed or output tray. Larger stacks of documents can be a lengthy and even tedious chore, requiring manually feeding each sheet into the device. If you don't typically need to digitize multi-page documents and want great performance and robust features on the go, there is no better choice than the ES-60W. If you scan infrequently, the Brother DS-640 is an even more affordable portable scanner with above average scan quality.
Pages Per Minute: N/A | Automatic Document Feeder Capacity: N/A
REASONS TO BUY
Inexpensive
High-quality scans
Great text recognition
REASONS TO AVOID
Slow and laborious for multi-page documents
For only a few bucks, the Scanner Pro App provides all the firepower needed if your scanning needs are ordinarily just a few receipts or a 1-2 page document per week. This app uses powerful software to turn your smartphone's camera into a high-quality scanner. If you have a flat, relatively monochrome surface against which to snap an image, the scans are automatically cropped and appear surprisingly crisp. Since the resulting files end up on your phone, it is effortless to attach them to emails or texts or upload them to the cloud storage service of your choice. It even offers optical character recognition, rivaling the software's accuracy on dedicated scanning devices.
Relying on your phone's camera to scan documents has some inherent drawbacks. The process is relatively slow due to the need to frame each shot. It's not a big deal when working with one or two pages, but it can quickly become a time-consuming task when scanning multiple-page documents. You must also be careful not to cast shadows on the materials you're scanning, or the result may look smudged. Still, the Scanner Pro App is an incredibly inexpensive way to scan receipts and short documents on the go and can likely replace a dedicated model for many people.
It takes about 20 seconds to scan and save a document using the Scanner Pro App.
Credit: Chris McNamara
Compare Products
We used speed tests and side-by-side comparisons to help us determine which scanner had the best overall performance.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Why You Should Trust Us
To bring honest and unbiased results, we buy and hands-on test each product in this list. Our review process comprises over 150 hours of setup, software installation, file management, spot-checking optical character recognition, and scanning paper documents, IDs, and passports. We put each model through more than 20 different tests and used each one in just about every way possible. The most important metric here is Scanning Performance, which accounts for 35% of the overall score. To gauge performance, we divide it into two main sections: Black and White Scanning (text) and Color Photo Scanning. Whether you're seeking a powerhouse to turn giant stacks of paper into text-searchable PDFs or need an efficient way to digitize your receipts, we can help you find the perfect device.
We use four rating metrics in our hands-on tests:
Scanning Performance tests (35% of overall score weighting)
Speed tests (30% weighting)
Software tests (20% weighting)
User Friendliness tests (15% weighting)
Steven Tata and Max Mutter began testing home office products in 2016. In the intervening years, they've used and analyzed hundreds of scanners, printers, shredders, and Chromebooks. That experience has given them a unique understanding of evaluating the quality of printed and digital text and images and the common pitfalls of software controls for common desktop devices. Their knowledge allows them to accurately assess whether a scanning device can do everything it needs without creating too many complications or annoyances for the user. Matt Spencer, who has a background in engineering and has tested hundreds of household items, also assisted in testing these devices.
We've tested dozens of scanners over the years of all shapes and sizes to help you find the best fit for your needs.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Analysis and Test Results
Despite an increasingly digitized world, some institutions still use paper documents to communicate important information. That's where a scanner comes in, allowing you to digitize the vital information on those scattered scraps into an easily organizable, searchable, and savable format. Since scanning is an essential and annoying task, we focused most of our scoring on how well and quickly each model can digitize documents. If you're not sure how to narrow down the options here, we outline the most important features to look for and how to ensure a scanner aligns with your daily usage expectations.
Value
When it comes to digitizing documents, you're mostly paying for two things: speed and scan quality. High-priced models like the Fujitsu iX1600 ScanSnap or Fujitsu Fi-8170 get crystal clear text and can tear through pages in a flash. A more inexpensive model like the Canon ImageFormula R40 or the Brother DS-640 can still provide impressive scan quality at slower speeds. The Epson Perfection V39 offers a reasonable value for scanning photos, but you again sacrifice the ability to scan long documents.
Scanning Performance
A scan is useless if it isn't legible, making scanning performance the most important metric in our tests, weighing 35% of the overall scores. Our first step in finding the best model is to assess the quality of each model's scans. Our testing focuses on printed type, handwritten notes, and receipts. In this round of tests, we found that every model could generally produce great-looking text, with a few exceptions. However, differences were apparent regarding how well each model could render color documents. These days, it is more common to want to print a digital photo, but occasionally, you need to digitize a printed photograph. Document scanners haven't traditionally been ideal for photos, but we still test their capabilities by scanning some images to see how well each model performs in that capacity. We then grade each model based on the scan clarity and color accuracy.
The Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600 shared the top ranking in our scan quality tests. It produces crystal clear characters on an entirely white background, renders text documents and graphs to near perfection, and does a surprisingly good job scanning photos and maintaining accurate colors and composition. It didn't earn a perfect score because it can occasionally make some images look oversaturated.
The Canon ImageFORMULA R40 shared the highest ranking for near-perfect black-and-white scanning and above-average color scanning performance. Although the sharpness of the digitized photos was nearly as good as the original, there was some minor over-darkening of dark areas and overly brightened light areas. In contrast, other models maintained more true light and dark distinctions.
The iX1600 produced the highest quality scans in our testing.
Credit: Steven Tata
The above-average Workforce ES-60W and the Brother DS-640 challenge other top models. The scanning performance from the compact and portable ES-60W was surprisingly good and challenged the notion that only traditional desktop or flatbed style scanners can offer premium performance.
The Brother DS-640, despite its relatively low price tag, also earned high scores on our scan quality scoreboard. Throughout our tests, it rendered PDFs with clear text and accurate colors. It even did a decent job of scanning photographs (though we wouldn't feed treasured old photos through it for fear they'd be bent — a flatbed model is still best for this application).
Even as a budget model, the Brother DS-640 produced some of the most quality scans of our test group.
The two Epson flatbed models that we tested ranked slightly lower. Although they did not score as high, both produce excellent-quality photo scans and are more than up to the task of digitizing your family albums. The V600 can even scan film negatives, something the V39 cannot do. They both create great-looking digital copies of text documents, but much more slowly than the dedicated document models.
The Epson Perfection V39 creates great scans of everything from photos to book pages.
The Epson Perfection V600 also creates great photo scans with a slightly higher resolution than those from the V39.
The Scanner Pro App performed impressively in our scan quality testing, much better than expected. This app allows you to create high-quality and text-searchable PDFs with no extra hardware by turning the camera on your phone into a scanner. The resulting scans are nearly flawless if you find the perfect lighting. However, it is easy to get shadows on the corners of the document. While this doesn't detract from the scan's usefulness, it can look odd.
The Scanner Pro App, which uses your smartphone's camera to create PDFs, created the best some of the best color scans in our testing.
Speed
Let's face it: nobody likes the scanning process, so the faster you can get it over with, the better. We scanned a double-sided, 10-page document on each model to test speed and timed how long it took from loading the first page to opening a complete PDF and gave the results a 30% weighting in the overall scores of each product. We then converted these times into page-per-minute (ppm) figures. Models with automatic document feeders were much faster than those that required loading each page individually.
The Fujitsu is an exceptionally speedy scanner.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
The Fujitsu iX1600 ScanSnap is the fastest model we tested; it blew through our 10-page duplex document in seconds. Its automatic document feeder aided this speed, which can handle up to 50 pages, allowing you to buzz through mid-length documents quickly.
Whether big or small, black-and-white or color, the Fujitsu Fi-8170 makes swift work of any task.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
The Fujitsu Fi-8170 performed slightly slower than its iX1600 sibling. While its page-per-minute average speed of 21 is slightly behind its sibling's speed, it has a much larger 100-page automatic document feeder. The automatic feeder allows you to blaze through a 100-page document in just a few minutes, a feat that would require slowing down to reload the document feeder of the iX1600 and nearly all other scanners we tested. The capacity of the Fi-8170 earned it recognition for being one of the best high-volume scanning devices you can put in your home office.
Large document capacity and speed are key features of the Fi-8170.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
The Canon ImageFORMULA R40, while not nearly as fast as the ScanSnap scanners, is a very fast model. It was able to handle an average of 17 pages per minute, and with a large feed tray, it can make quick work of larger tasks with no compromises in scanning quality.
The DS-640 is great for individual documents. The need to hand-feed it makes it slow for larger documents.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
One of the lower-scoring scanners, the Scanner Pro App, requires that you place each page you want to scan onto a monochrome surface, frame it within the camera on your phone, and snap a picture. This process takes more time than feeding a piece of paper into a machine, but with that said, we were surprised by how quickly the app could scan a document. It can automatically recognize the edges of the paper, so you don't have to fuss too much about perfect framing. Combining these features allowed us to scan three double-sided pages in a minute.
The Xerox Duplex Combo, although only an average to above-average model, is a flatbed style scanner that also incorporates a feed tray and is reasonably fast. It is an interesting hybrid that is fairly run-of-the-mill but might be an okay option for those seeking a more versatile device.
The manually-fed Brother DS-640 is slower, but quite affordable and much more portable.
Credit: Laura Casner
Flatbed Speed
Since all the flatbeds we tested are geared for photo scanning, they take much longer to scan text pages than their document-oriented counterparts. Scan times were somewhat variable, but on average, the Epson V600 took 40 seconds to scan a single text page, while the Epson V39 was slightly faster at around 30 seconds. Neither of these models are great for scanning long documents.
The painfully slow scanning speed of the Plustek ePhoto Z300 is a real let down.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Software
A device's software can easily make or break your scanning experience. Ideally, you want software that makes installation simple, offers intuitive file management, and can make scanned documents text-searchable using Optical Character Recognition (OCR). We installed our scanners' software packages onto multiple Macs and PCs, managed thousands of files with each OS, objectively rated OCR accuracy to find the best software, and gave this metric a 20% weighting in the overall scores.
Regarding optical character recognition, there are two new contenders in town, and neither is our overall top-rated model. The Canon ImageFORMULA R40 and the Epson WorkForce ES-60W outperformed every other device we've tested to date, giving the manufacturer of the most premium scanners a wake-up call.
The ES-60W is great for scanning individual receipts.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
We were surprised by the software capabilities offered by the simple Scanner Pro App. It spits out PDF files that you can easily manage within your phone's native file system and transfer directly into an email or text message or save to cloud services like Google Drive. It also has optical character recognition that is about 95% accurate. Finally, you can change all of its various options via a familiar mobile touchscreen interface, which is much easier than sifting through the PC-based software packages of the other models we reviewed.
Thanks to great optical character recognition, the Brother DS-640 also ranked highly in our software tests. The OCR is backed up with easy installation, operation, and file management, whether using a PC or Mac.
Some of the models we tested offered a range of software packages from just good to great.
Credit: Chris McNamara
Although it is the all-around best scanner in our product lineup, the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX600 does a less than stellar job when it comes to accurate and reliable character recognition and has a significant amount of room for improvement.
The Epson Perfection V600 performed poorly for its included software. We feel like we spent more time than necessary wading through clunky menus before getting the scan settings we wanted. The software also did not seem to run well on any of our Mac devices, often freezing or crashing. The Epson Perfection V39 has very similar software, with a couple of extra features, like automatically recognizing that you're scanning two photos at once and creating two separate files.
In addition to incredible speed and a large capacity, the Fujitsu Fi-8170 software package is well-designed and a good interface makes it easy to operate.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
User Friendliness
User-friendliness is the last metric we test for, and it has a 15% weighting in the overall scores. Initial setup, including unboxing, calibrating, and getting a scanner to communicate to its associated software, can either be a simple and straightforward task or one so frustrating that it makes even the slickest model not worth buying. Additionally, small touches like how easy it is to load and unload paper and a clean user interface can make a model feel user-friendly or like it's been sent to turn your office chores into a never-ending purgatory. We connected each of our models with multiple different devices. We spent hours scanning various documents, receipts, ID cards, and more to uncover all the minor annoyances that might leave you wishing you'd bought a different model.
Luckily, most of our models were relatively easy to use, with multiple models sharing some great scores for the ease of use test metric. No model is perfect, but these top-performing models generally provide an easy setup and good user experience. The Canon ImageFORMULA R40 is one of those models. It took less than 10 minutes to set up and is incredibly easy and intuitive to use. It ranks slightly higher than the overall top model in this regard, giving the top model a serious run for its money.
Scanning receipts with the Canon ImageFORMULA is easy due to its intuitive design that's built for all kinds of paper materials.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Another notably easy-to-set-up, easy-to-use, and incredibly convenient model we tested is the Epson WorkForce ES-60W. It took only 10 minutes to set up. Still, other factors like IOS compatibility, a compact format, wireless scanning, and battery-powered operation make it stand out. Its user-friendliness does suffer a little due to the requirement of manual feeding, as it lacks a feed tray, but that is an understandable trade-off for a scanner you can fit into a laptop case.
The Epson is quick and compact.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
The Fujitsu iX1600 ScanSnap took us 15 minutes to get up and running, including a firmware update, and it was easy to get it to communicate with both Mac and PC devices. The automatic document feeder is easy to load, and the single-button interface keeps everything simple. Finally, the relatively large touchscreen controls provide a much more intuitive interface than any other model.
A good document feeder and paper tray, like on the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i pictured here, can make life much easier.
The slim and portable Brother DS-640 offers a generally good overall user experience.
Both the Epson V600 and V39 flatbed models have easy-to-understand controls and talk to both Macs and PCs without any fuss. However, they do lack some of the convenient features of the document-oriented models, namely an automatic document feeder, which can make scanning long text documents quite cumbersome.
The Canon ImageFORMULA is highly adjustable.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Features like loading trays, a cumbersome interface, or overly advanced settings can add a lot of complication to a scanner. The Plustek ePhoto Z300 has none of those complications, and while it is underwhelming overall, it is a fairly easy model to use and deserves mention for its straightforward design.
No trays, duplex features, manual feeding, and no interface to speak of, make this one of the simplest scanners to operate.
Credit: Abriah Wofford
Conclusion
They may not be the most exciting devices, but finding the right scanner can improve organization in your life, help preserve memories, and even increase productivity. Even if your job doesn't explicitly require one, having a quick and easy way to digitize documents, photos, and receipts can keep things tidy, permanently preserved, and more organized. We hope that our detailed testing results will help you choose the model that is best for your home or small office needs.
