Deciding on one of the best scanner in your particular day-to-day scanning wants is difficult. Most flatbed and sheetfed scanners in the present day are geared towards on a regular basis workplace duties or picture picture seize, however they arrive in numerous varieties and sizes, some fine-tuned for various sorts of scanning. Doc, picture, receipt, and movie scanners: That checklist is only a begin, and we’re right here to assist. PCMag specialists have been reviewing scanners for many years, and we have outlined right here the highest scanners we now have examined by class and consumer state of affairs. Our greatest total picture scanner for most individuals is the Epson Perfection V39 II, and for doc scanning, it is the Fujitsu SnapScan ix1600, however we stand behind all our suggestions. “Scan” our decide checklist for the form of work you do, then learn on for a deeper dive into scanner specs and the way to decide on the precise mannequin for what, precisely, you scan.
Deeper Dive: Our Prime Examined Picks
Greatest Flatbed Photograph Scanner
Epson Perfection V39 II
Most nonprofessional photographers cannot afford a devoted picture scanner. That is why the flatbed Epson Perfection V39 II doubles properly at scanning doc pages and turning them into editable textual content, though to be sincere you may desire a higher-priced scanner with an automated doc feeder (ADF) for dealing with greater than occasional multipage jobs. The V39 II saves desk area with a vertical kickstand and comes with spectacular picture scanning and touch-up software program. It could possibly even sew collectively a number of scans of photographs too huge for its scanning space.
The V39 II captures vibrant colour and crisp element and ably serves a single small-office PC linked by way of USB. (It lacks wired networking or Wi-Fi for cell gadgets.) Contemplating its inexpensive value, it is an incredible answer for light-duty photo-quality scanning.
Most Optical Decision
4800 pixels
Mechanical Decision
4800 pixels
Most Scan Space
8.5″ x 11.7″
Study Extra
Epson Perfection V39 II Overview
Greatest Desktop Doc Scanner (Properties and Small Workplaces)
Ricoh ScanSnap iX1600
It would not have Ethernet, as a result of it is not constructed for a company community—only for connection to a single PC or handheld in a small workplace by way of USB or Wi-Fi—however in any other case the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1600 is just about a mannequin desktop doc scanner. This sheetfed unit gives an easy-to-use colour contact display, a 50-page automated doc feeder, and a hefty 6,000-scan day by day responsibility cycle. (To overwork it, you’d should load the ADF to capability greater than 120 occasions a day.) Better of all, it comes with first-class scanning, workflow-profile, and optical character recognition (OCR) software program.
In case you juggle a wide range of pages, the iX1600 mechanically acknowledges and organizes paperwork, receipts, and enterprise playing cards—and even gadgets with completely different orientations and colour settings—in the identical batch. It is a excellent manner for a house workplace or small workplace to get a deal with on piles of papers.
Most Optical Decision
1200 ppi
Mechanical Decision
600 ppi
Most Scan Space
8.5″ x 14″
Study Extra
Ricoh ScanSnap iX1600 Overview
Greatest Desktop Doc Scanner (Excessive-Quantity, for Workplaces)
Brother ADS-4900W
Brother’s scanners maintain up effectively in a extremely aggressive, crowded market. That truth is greater than sufficient to render the ADS-4900W our present favourite mid- to high-volume sheetfed doc scanner for small to medium-size workplaces, workgroups, and enterprises. It stands out not due to any ground-breaking options or firsts, however as a result of this can be a terrific, rock-solid machine.
A whopping 9,000-scan day by day responsibility cycle means you may should have a very decided paper-feeding particular person (and a few actually huge jobs) to emphasize this scanner out. It is correct, environment friendly, and fairly priced (effectively beneath a grand) for what it’s.
For medium- to heavy-volume scanning in all however the largest workplaces, the Brother ADS-4900W serves as an industrial-strength desktop choice. Some rivals from the likes of Raven function by way of huge contact screens, however should you simply want dependable, fundamental bulk doc digitization for your corporation, this mannequin is a good choice.
Most Optical Decision
1200 dpi
Mechanical Decision
1200 dpi
Most Scan Space
8.5″ X 197″
Study Extra
Brother ADS-4900W Overview
Greatest Desktop Enterprise Scanner (for Oversize Paperwork)
Epson DS-30000
The Epson DS-30000 laughs at your mere letter- and legal-size pages—this enterprise-class doc supervisor and archiver can deal with tabloid (11-by-17-inch) sheets, regardless of taking little extra room than a normal sheetfed desktop scanner. Its automated doc feeder holds as much as 120 letter- or 60 A3-size pages, and its day by day responsibility cycle is a juggernaut 30,000 scans. Epson backs it with a three-year guarantee with next-business-day substitute and bundles it with state-of-the-art document-management and scanner-interface software program. The latter not solely scans to a plethora of file codecs and cloud and archiving websites, however it gives pleasant Dwelling, Workplace, and Skilled modes for various ranges of consumer experience.
It’s miles from low cost at $2,499, however the DS-30000 is just half the price of among the copy-machine-size company scanners it competes with. In fact, it is overkill for a small and even midsize workplace, however it stands nearly alone as a high-volume, large-format desktop doc scanner.
Most Optical Decision
1200 ppi
Mechanical Decision
1200 ppi
Most Scan Space
8.5″ x 220″
Study Extra
Epson DS-30000 Overview
Greatest Flatbed/Sheetfed Combo Scanner
HP ScanJet Professional 3600 f1
Compact, simple to make use of, and correct at OCR, the ScanJet Professional 3600 f1 is a successful hybrid flatbed/sheetfed design. As a flatbed, it could digitize photographs, ebook or journal pages, or fragile gadgets that may not survive a visit by way of a sheet feeder; with its roomy 60-page auto-duplexing ADF, it is able to course of prolonged paperwork lickety-split. You should use it and management it from a PC, or scan straight to flash drives or different USB drives with out one.
Physician’s workplaces, actual property or journey businesses, banks, and different small organizations and workgroups that want to remain on prime of the ebb, stream, and occasional tidal wave of paper will discover the ScanJet invaluable. Plus, its assist for scan profiles and workflows makes repetitive scan duties simple.
Most Optical Decision
600 pixels
Mechanical Decision
1200 pixels
Most Scan Space
8.5″ x 120″
Study Extra
HP ScanJet Professional 3600 f1 Overview
Greatest Excessive-Pace Snapshot Scanner
Epson FastFoto FF-680W
The FastFoto has been available on the market for a while, however this speedy, compact unit continues to be one in all a form. In case you have stacks of previous household snapshots, or comparable card-size gadgets to be scanned in bulk, the FastFoto can course of them with pace and care. It is mild on photographs and might even scan either side of a print with out flipping it over, capturing doable date information or back-scrawled notations with the picture. It could possibly additionally pinch-hit as a wonderfully workable doc scanner for digitizing payments and people previous tax data.
Scrapbookers, household archivists, or people seeking to reproduce or digitize picture albums to the cloud will discover the FastFoto a godsend. It could possibly course of a stack of snaps in mere minutes, and even tweak them on the fly and identify them based on filename sequences that you just specify within the software program. It is probably not low cost, however it is going to pay for itself in time financial savings many occasions over for giant scan jobs.
Most Optical Decision
600 ppi
Mechanical Decision
1200 ppi
Most Scan Space
8.5″ (large)
Study Extra
Epson FastFoto FF-680W Overview
Greatest Moveable Doc Scanner
Brother DSmobile DS-940DW
With no automated doc feeder, the Brother DSmobile DS-940DW obliges you to feed pages manually, so it is higher suited to one- or two-page paperwork as an alternative of prolonged studies or stacks of sheets. However in any other case, it is the very mannequin of helpful scanning on the street, full with a chargeable battery and the power to scan to a microSD card for later switch to a PC, so you do not even must convey your laptop computer—simply throw the 1.5-pound scanner into your briefcase and also you’re all set. The Brother is rated for 100 scans a day and comes with software program for neatly managing enterprise playing cards and receipts.
It is clearly not a high-volume, heavy-duty doc supervisor, however the DSmobile DS-940DW’s comfort, pace, and accuracy make it a standout in a crowded subject of single-sheet transportable scanners. Do not go away the workplace with out it.
Most Optical Decision
1200 ppi
Mechanical Decision
600 ppi
Most Scan Space
8.5″ x 72″
Study Extra
Brother DSmobile DS-940DW Overview
Greatest Entrance-Desk Doc and Card Scanner
Fujitsu fi-800R
A cross between a desktop and a transportable sheetfed doc scanner, the Fujitsu fi-800R takes solely about 12 by 4 inches of desk area however delivers sturdy efficiency due to distinctive Return Scan and U-Flip Scan applied sciences that transfer paperwork out and in with out requiring a number of slots or paper trays. Its Energetic Skew Correction enables you to be careless about putting paperwork within the feeder, and its pace and 4,500-scan day by day responsibility cycle are nearer to its desktop than transportable rivals (although its 20-sheet ADF is on the skimpy facet).
The fi-800R is just a little expensive contemplating it helps solely a USB as an alternative of community connection and lacks a battery for transportable scanning, however it fills a nifty area of interest as a front-desk doc supervisor for dealing with buyer and consumer paperwork. Its PaperStream Seize software program is simply the ticket for digitizing IDs, passports, and miscellaneous pages.
Most Optical Decision
600 ppi
Mechanical Decision
1200 ppi
Most Scan Space
8.5″ x 14″
Study Extra
Fujitsu fi-800R Overview
Greatest Receipt Scanner
Epson RapidReceipt RR-600W
The Epson RapidReceipt RR-600W is a robust desktop doc scanner with an automated doc feeder (ADF) that allows you to seize as much as 100 two-sided paperwork in a single batch; it helps USB and Wi-Fi, and has a port for scanning on to USB flash drives. Plus, its 4.3-inch graphical contact display makes it simple to entry scanning choices or workflow profiles. However you are not going to purchase a tool named RapidReceipt for general-purpose scanning—you are going to make the most of its ScanSmart Accounting Version software program that will get extra clever as you employ it, studying to establish recurring information like vendor names and month-to-month bills. The app acknowledges data, saves it to the suitable fields in its built-in database, and exports to QuickBooks, TurboTax, or Excel-compatible CSV recordsdata.
As we stated, the RR-600W is a positive selection for any form of workplace doc administration, with respectable pace, spectacular accuracy, and a sturdy 4,000-scan day by day responsibility cycle. But when receipts and invoices are your organization’s bread and butter, it is a greater than positive selection.
Most Optical Decision
1200 ppi
Mechanical Decision
600 ppi
Most Scan Space
8.5″ x 240″
Study Extra
Epson RapidReceipt RR-600W Overview
Greatest Overhead E-book and Journal Scanner
CZUR ET24 Professional
Overhead scanners are specialised gadgets with elevated cameras for scanning ebook or journal pages. The CZUR ET24 Professional comes with a foot pedal or desk button that frees your palms for turning ebook pages or putting new content material (as much as tabloid dimension) on the scan platform. It additionally options automated focus and page-turn detection, and you may even use the system in a Visible Presenter mode, with an HDMI port for taking part in video captured by the CZUR on to displays or HDTVs or livestreaming.
In some ways, the CZUR ET24 Professional and its ilk resemble old school overhead projectors. Capturing ebook and journal pages, nonetheless, is only one of many doable makes use of, starting from capturing objects for shows to classroom or on-line educating. Its on a regular basis ebook or journal scanning pace relies upon extra in your placement and page-turning hustle than its {hardware}, however the ET24 Professional is good for small and midsize workplaces, presenters, academics, and others in want of its very particular abilities.
Most Optical Decision
320 pixels
Mechanical Decision
320 pixels
Most Scan Space
11″ x 17″
Study Extra
CZUR ET24 Professional Overview
Shopping for Information: The Greatest Scanners for 2025
Step one in scanner shopping for comes right down to a easy factor: what type or sorts of media you may be scanning. Understanding what (and the way typically) you count on to scan will inform you all the things you want to know concerning the options you may want.
Photographs, unbound paperwork, receipts, and enterprise playing cards are the obvious issues to scan, however you may also must scan certain books, magazines, movie (slides and negatives), or simply broken originals like postage stamps. Considerably much less widespread are objects corresponding to cash or flowers.
You also needs to think about particulars corresponding to the utmost dimension of the originals and whether or not you may must scan either side of doc pages. It will inform you the form of scanner you ought to be : a traditional flatbed, a mannequin with a sheet feeder, or one thing else.
Do You Want a Flatbed Scanner, or an Overhead Scanner?
For photographs or different simply broken originals, certain materials, and 3D objects, you want a flatbed scanner, which has a big glass platen on which you place the paperwork, photographs, books, or gadgets. (Once we discuss scanning objects, right here we’re speaking about scanning three-dimensional objects to two-dimensional photographs. 3D scanners—which digitize objects to particular 3D recordsdata for show or printing on a 3D printer—are a distinct beast totally.)
Books, magazines, and objects thicker than a sheet of paper or driver’s license are good candidates for an overhead scanner, which resembles an old school overhead projector with an illuminated scanning head that appears down on a flat floor. These work like cameras, snapping footage of things and feeding them to appropriate software program for optical character recognition (changing photographs to editable textual content) or flattening the curve close to the backbone of a ebook.
Delicate originals corresponding to photographs and stamps can undergo a sheet feeder, however you threat damaging them. If you want to scan this form of unique solely now and again, you might be able to get by with a sheetfed scanner that comes with a plastic provider to guard the originals. Bear in mind, nonetheless, that even brand-new, unscratched plastic carriers can degrade scan high quality considerably. Direct-to-glass is at all times higher.
(Credit score: Xerox)
Scanner fashions have a tendency to remain available on the market for a very long time between iterations, and that is very true of flatbed picture scanners. We recurrently replace our Greatest Scanners roundup, so do you have to encounter an “oldie however goodie,” it merely implies that no comparable mannequin that we have reviewed has but surpassed it.
Does Your Scanner Want a Sheet Feeder?
In case your most important scanning want is scanning paperwork regularly—notably these longer than one or two pages—you nearly definitely desire a document-centric scanner outfitted with a sheet feeder. Having to open a flatbed lid and put a web page on the glass is a minor chore, however having to repeat the method 10 occasions for a 10-page doc is tiresome. Some sheetfed scanners also can deal with thick originals corresponding to ID playing cards.
(Credit score: Fujitsu)
In case you’ll primarily be scanning one or two pages at a time, a handbook sheet feeder might be all you want, or you will get by simply positive with the scanning functionality of an all-in-one (AIO) printer. In case you’ll be scanning longer paperwork regularly, nonetheless, you may need an automated doc feeder (ADF) that may scan a complete stack of pages unattended. Decide an ADF capability primarily based on the variety of pages within the typical doc you count on to scan. In case you sometimes have a doc that’s extra pages than the ADF capability, you’ll be able to add extra pages through the scan because the feeder processes them. Some ADFs also can deal with stacks of enterprise playing cards simply.
Do You Want Duplex (Two-Sided) Scanning?
Duplex scanning means scanning either side of a web page. In case you typically count on to scan paperwork which might be printed on either side, you may desire a duplexing scanner, a duplexing ADF, or a scanner with a driver that features a manual-duplex function.
The most effective, swiftest duplexing scanners have two scan parts, to allow them to scan either side of a web page on the identical time. A design like this will probably be quicker than a scanner with a easy duplexing ADF, however it is going to probably additionally value extra. A extra unusual duplexing ADF will simply scan one facet, flip the web page over mechanically, after which scan the opposite.
In distinction, a scanner with a driver that helps handbook duplexing will allow you to scan one facet of a stack after which prompts you to flip and re-feed the stack to scan the opposite facet, with the scanner driver mechanically interfiling the pages. Handbook duplexing within the driver is probably the most economical different, and it’s a good selection should you do not scan two-sided paperwork fairly often otherwise you’re on a good finances.
What is the Proper Decision for Your Scanner?
For many scanning, having a excessive sufficient decision at your disposal for the job at hand is not a problem. For, say, tax paperwork, even a 200-pixel-per-inch (ppi) scan offers you ok high quality for many functions. A 300ppi scanning decision is nearly at all times adequate, and it is onerous to discover a scanner in the present day that maxes out at lower than 600ppi. For photographs, until you intend to zoom in on a small a part of the picture or print the picture at a bigger dimension than the unique, 600ppi is greater than sufficient.
(Credit score: Canon)
Some sorts of originals, nonetheless, require greater decision. In case you’re scanning 35mm slides or negatives, or one thing small and finely detailed like a postage stamp, you may want a scanner that claims an optical decision of not less than 4,800ppi.
Then there’s the difficulty of the utmost scan dimension you’ll be able to take. Choosing a scanner that may deal with the scale of the originals you want to scan looks as if an apparent level, however it’s simple to miss. For instance, most flatbeds have a letter-size platen, which will probably be an issue should you sometimes must scan legal-size pages. Most flatbeds with ADFs will scan legal-size pages by way of the ADF, however not all do, so you’ll want to examine. You too can discover scanners with bigger flatbeds, however they’ll, after all, take up extra desk area.
Really helpful by Our Editors
What Software program Will You Use?
Most scanners include fundamental scanning software program. Relying on what you intend to scan, among the options to search for embody optical character recognition (OCR), textual content indexing, picture enhancing, and the power to create searchable PDF paperwork. The times of platform-specific scanners are over; any trendy scanner will work seamlessly with each macOS and Home windows, and lots of of them also can scan to your telephone or a cloud drive.
Specialised scanners have software program with specialised capabilities. Receipt scanners include accounting software program for organizing your monetary information. Scanners that deal with enterprise playing cards can normally extract the cardboard information right into a contact database (assuming the playing cards aren’t too ornately designed for the OCR software program to learn).
In case you’re planning to scan photographs or different photographs after which edit them in a program corresponding to Adobe Photoshop, search for a scanner with TWAIN drivers that may scan immediately into your picture enhancing app.
Do You Want a Particular-Objective Scanner?
Lastly, think about whether or not you want a special-purpose scanner. Among the many commonest special-purpose selections are scanners for enterprise playing cards (small and extremely transportable) and receipts (small and outfitted with specialised software program). Specialised slide scanners are smaller than flatbed scanners, however they’re no higher at scanning slides than flatbed scanners with equal options.
(Credit score: Epson)
In case you journey typically, you may want a transportable scanner that is sufficiently small to slot in your laptop computer bag, or a handheld scanner that you just maintain and hint over textual content. Some transportable fashions can function with out a pc hooked up, scanning to a reminiscence card or smartphone. You too can discover some that operate as each transportable and desktop doc scanners by combining a transportable scanner with a docking station that features an ADF.
Relying on what you want to scan, any one in all these could also be a sensible choice, both as your solely scanner or as a complement to a general-purpose scanner. We have highlighted a number of of our favourite particular scanners within the picks above.
Able to Purchase the Proper Scanner for You?
We belief our recommendation and product picks have clarified your potential buy determination. All-in-one or multifunction printers have built-in scanners, almost all outfitted with a flatbed and lots of with ADFs. Which may be adequate for mild scanning wants. Nevertheless, you may most likely need to get a single-function scanner to get probably the most out of your scanning. The fashions listed below are one of the best we have examined, however for extra centered recommendation, try our roundup of the prime scanners for photographs, in addition to our information to the greatest all-in-one printers, if having a scanner hooked up to your printer is extra interesting. (Lastly, after you’ve got digitized all that paper, take a look at one of the best shredders we have examined.)
