ZeroFee Tools
Free OCR tool extracting text from images, screenshots and PDFs
← ZeroFee Tools

🔎 Free OCR - Image to Text

ZeroFee Tools' free OCR tool is an online image-to-text converter that extracts text from photos, screenshots and PDFs right in your browser. Free and unlimited in 11 languages: no signup, no hourly caps, 100% private.

🔒 100% private - recognition happens on your device.

1. Choose an image or PDF

🖼️

Drop an image or PDF here or click to choose

JPG, PNG, WebP or PDF. Clear, high-contrast scans give the best results.

Frequently asked questions

Is this OCR tool really free and unlimited?

Yes. No signup, no hourly caps (unlike OnlineOCR's 5-files-per-hour guest limit), no watermark. The recognition engine (Tesseract) runs entirely in your browser.

How accurate is the text extraction?

Very good on clear printed text: sharp scans, screenshots and high-contrast photos. Accuracy drops on blurry, skewed or low-contrast images. Straighten and brighten photos first for best results.

Does it work on handwriting?

Unreliably. This engine is trained for printed text. Neat handwriting sometimes works, but do not depend on it.

Which languages does the OCR support?

English works immediately. 10 more languages (Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Urdu, Hindi, Chinese Simplified) are one click away: their language data downloads once, then is cached.

Can it read multi-page PDFs?

Yes: pick any page from the dropdown and extract its text. Each page is processed separately.

Are my files uploaded anywhere?

No. Images and PDFs are processed on your device only. Nothing is sent to any server.

How do I extract text from an image for free?

Short answer: Choose your image or PDF above, select the language, and click extract. The Tesseract engine reads the text right in your browser and shows it in an editable box for copying. There is no signup, no hourly cap and no watermark, and your file is never uploaded to a server.

For best accuracy, use sharp, straight, high-contrast images. Straighten and brighten phone photos before extracting; blurry or skewed images drop accuracy noticeably.

Can free OCR read handwriting or scanned PDFs?

Short answer: Scanned PDFs, yes: pick any page from the dropdown and extract its text, with each page processed separately. Handwriting is unreliable: the engine is trained for printed text, so neat handwriting sometimes works but you should not depend on it. English works immediately; 10 more languages are one click away.

Language data for the extra languages downloads once and is then cached. If your document mixes languages, extract with the dominant language selected for the cleanest result.

How to use the OCR tool step by step

  1. Choose an image (JPG, PNG, WebP) or a PDF file.
  2. Preview it and select the text language (11 supported).
  3. Click extract and wait for on-device recognition to finish.
  4. Review the extracted text and fix any errors.
  5. Copy the text or download it for your documents.

📖 Read the step-by-step guide for this tool

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