Document scanner comparisons and how-tos
Compare free document scanner apps (CamScanner, Adobe Scan, Microsoft Lens alternatives) and learn to scan, sign, and compress PDFs offline on Android.
Comparisons
- A free CamScanner alternative with no watermark, no ads, and no account — Looking for a CamScanner alternative? Scanly is a free Android document scanner with no watermark, no ads and no account. It works offline and is open source.
- The best free document scanner app for Android, compared fairly — Compare the best free document scanner app for Android: Scanly, Adobe Scan, Google Drive, CamScanner and Genius Scan, on price, ads and accounts.
- A Microsoft Lens alternative for Android now that Lens is retired — Need a Microsoft Lens alternative? Lens is retired. Scanly is a free Android scanner with no account, ads or watermark, and scans stay on your phone.
- An Adobe Scan alternative that works without an Adobe account — Need an Adobe Scan alternative with no account? Scanly is a free Android scanner with no ads, no watermark and no sign-in. Scans stay on your phone.
- A Google Drive scanner alternative for scanning without Drive — Want a Google Drive scanner alternative that doesn’t need a Google account? Scanly is free, works offline, and keeps scans on your phone.
How-to guides
- How to scan a document to PDF on Android — Learn how to scan a document to PDF on Android with Scanly. It is free and offline, with edge detection, filters, multi-page scans and no watermark.
- How to sign a PDF on Android for free, offline — Sign a PDF on Android (free, offline) with Scanly. Draw or import a handwritten-style signature, place it on any page, and keep the original file unchanged.
- How to copy text from a scanned document on Android, offline — Copy text from a scanned document on Android, offline (OCR). Scanly reads pages on your phone with ML Kit, so you can search and copy text without uploading.
- How to compress a PDF on Android offline — Compress PDF on Android offline with Scanly: pick High, Balanced or Smallest, see before and after sizes, and keep your original file untouched.
Scan anything
- A free PDF scanner app for Android that keeps your documents on your phone — Scanly is a free PDF scanner app for Android. Scan paper to PDF, edit and export, then merge, compress or sign PDFs on your phone. No ads, no account.
- An offline document scanner for Android that works without internet — An offline document scanner for Android. Scanly scans, edits, reads text and exports PDFs on your phone, so it works with no internet connection.
- A scanner app without watermarks or ads, free on Android — Scanner app without watermark or ads: Scanly is free on Android, never stamps your PDFs and needs no account. It is open source (AGPL-3.0).
- A receipt scanner app for expense claims, tax records and reimbursements — Receipt scanner app for Android. Scan receipts to PDF, find them later by store name, group them by month or trip, and export as PDF or ZIP.
- An ID card scanner for Android that puts both sides into one PDF — ID card scanner for Android. Scan both sides of an ID card into one PDF, keep the scan on your phone, and add a password or a KYC watermark.
- An open source document scanner for Android you can read and verify — Scanly is an open source document scanner for Android, licensed AGPL-3.0, with its code public on GitHub. Read the code and check how your scans are handled.