Six tools scan receipts free, and they split into two groups: one that extracts the data (Zoho Expense, Veryfi) and one that only makes the image readable (Adobe Scan, Google Drive, Smart Receipts, Wave). Most paid receipt-OCR vendors — Shoeboxed, Taggun, Mindee — offer no free tier at all, and Expensify’s free scan quota could not be verified this month. Prices are USD and were checked on 22 October 2026. How we score · All Kurums Free lists
TL;DR — the free receipt scanner that fits
- Small team that needs receipts turned into expense lines: Zoho Expense Free — 20 autoscans per user a month, three users, reports and approvals included.
- Developer building receipt extraction into an app: Veryfi Free Forever — 100 documents a month through the API; the next step is $500 a month.
- Just need receipts as searchable PDFs: Adobe Scan — free, no stated caps, OCR to searchable PDF, no field extraction.
- Occasional text pull from a receipt photo: Google Drive — open the image with Google Docs; 2 MB file limit.
Which receipt scanning & ocr apps tools have a free plan in 2026?
“Receipt scanning” means two different things and the free tiers sort by which one they do. Structured extraction — merchant, date, total and tax pulled into fields — is what Zoho Expense and Veryfi offer free. Image OCR — making the receipt text searchable without structuring it — is what Adobe Scan and Google Drive do free. Smart Receipts and Wave sit in between: free manual logging with the OCR sold as an upgrade.
The limits are scan counts (Zoho 20 per user a month, Veryfi 100 documents a month), file size (Google 2 MB) or the absence of extraction altogether. We excluded Shoeboxed (trial charges a card), Taggun and Mindee (no free tier on their current pages; Mindee’s old 250-free-pages offer is gone) and could not verify Dext, Klippa, Microsoft Lens or Expensify this month.
The table shows what each tool extracts, its cap and the Free Score. Open a row for the full Scorecard.
| Company | Free as | Key limit | Card | Free Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Z |
Free forever | 20 autoscans/user/mo · 3 users | No | 84 | Scorecard ↓ |
| V |
Free forever | 100 docs/mo · API only | No | 72 | Scorecard ↓ |
| A |
Free forever | No caps stated · no data extraction | No | 68 | Scorecard ↓ |
| G |
Free forever | 2 MB file · text only | No | 58 | Scorecard ↓ |
| S |
Free forever | Manual entry · OCR paid | No | 52 | Scorecard ↓ |
| W |
Free forever | Receipts add-on paid | No | 48 | Scorecard ↓ |
Free tiers verified 22 October 2026 on each vendor’s pricing page (third-party sources named in the Scorecard where the vendor page was silent). Order is by Free Score only; sponsorship never changes it.
What do the free receipt scanner plans actually include?
Open any row for the eight-field Scorecard. The “Why it ranks here” note under each row explains the score in plain terms.
1Z
Zoho ExpenseIndia · receipt autoscan into expense lines, with reports and basic approvals, free for three usersFree forever20 autoscans/user/mo · 3 usersNo card84⌄
- What’s free
- Free plan: receipt autoscan, expense tracking, expense reports, mileage, basic approvals, 5 GB receipt storage
- Hard limits
- 3 users · 20 receipt autoscans per user per month · 5 GB storage · prices exclude local taxes
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- More than three users or more than 20 autoscans per user in a month
- Cheapest paid step
- Standard $3/user/month billed annually ($4 monthly)
- Best free for
- A micro-team that wants scans to land as expense lines, not just images
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · zoho.com/expense/pricing
2V
Veryfi APIUS · a Free Forever API plan for receipt and invoice OCR, 100 documents a month; next step is $500 a monthFree forever100 docs/mo · API onlyNo card72⌄
- What’s free
- Free Forever API plan for receipt and invoice data extraction
- Hard limits
- 100 documents per month · developer product, no end-user app in the free plan
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated for the free plan; the trial banner says no card.
- Upgrade trigger
- The 101st document in a month — Starter has a $500 monthly minimum
- Cheapest paid step
- Starter $500/month minimum; receipts $0.08 and invoices $0.16 each
- Best free for
- A developer prototyping receipt extraction inside their own software
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · veryfi.com/pricing
Why it ranks here. Best-in-class extraction for free up to 100 documents, but it is an API and the cliff after it is the steepest on any Kurums Free list. Scored for what a builder gets, not a bookkeeper.
3A
Adobe ScanUS · free scanner app with OCR that turns receipts into searchable PDFs; no fields extractedFree foreverNo caps stated · no data extractionNo card68⌄
- What’s free
- Free scanner app producing editable, searchable PDFs with OCR
- Hard limits
- No usage caps stated · iOS 15+ or Android 8+ · no structured receipt fields
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No. The page states the app is completely free to download; the Acrobat Pro trial is optional.
- Upgrade trigger
- Combining, converting or password-protecting PDFs (Acrobat Pro)
- Cheapest paid step
- Acrobat Pro — price not stated on the page
- Best free for
- Keeping a searchable PDF archive of receipts for an accountant
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · adobe.com/acrobat/mobile/scanner-app
Why it ranks here. Unlimited and free, but it digitises rather than extracts: you still type the total into your books. High capacity, low core job.
4G
Google Drive OCRUS · open a receipt image or PDF with Google Docs and Drive converts it to editable textFree forever2 MB file · text onlyNo card58⌄
- What’s free
- Convert PDF, JPEG, PNG or GIF to editable Google Docs text from inside Drive
- Hard limits
- File 2 MB or smaller · text at least 10 pixels high · tables, lists and columns are usually lost
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- No. A Google account; no cost mentioned.
- Upgrade trigger
- None; the page links to Workspace but there is no OCR upsell
- Cheapest paid step
- None
- Best free for
- An occasional text pull when you already live in Drive
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · support.google.com/drive
Why it ranks here. Already on every phone with a Google account and good enough for one receipt at a time. The 2 MB limit and lost layout make it a last resort for volume.
5S
Smart ReceiptsUS · free mobile plan for manual receipt logging and basic expense reports; AI receipt recognition is ProFree foreverManual entry · OCR paidNo card52⌄
- What’s free
- Free mobile plan: manual receipt entry, basic expense reports, no ads, support
- Hard limits
- Mobile only · AI receipt recognition not in the free tier · no web access
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- Wanting receipt recognition or web access
- Cheapest paid step
- Pro $99.99/year ($12.99 monthly)
- Best free for
- A traveller who logs receipts by hand and exports a report
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · smartreceipts.co
Why it ranks here. A clean free logger whose scanning is the paid feature — the opposite of what the category name promises. Listed for the reports; not for OCR.
6W
WaveCanada · free accounting and invoicing; receipt capture is sold as an add-on or in ProFree foreverReceipts add-on paidNo card48⌄
- What’s free
- Starter at $0: accounting, invoicing, estimates, manual records — receipt capture not included
- Hard limits
- Receipt capture requires the add-on or Pro · single user
- Time limit
- None
- Card required
- Not stated.
- Upgrade trigger
- Scanning the first receipt
- Cheapest paid step
- Receipts add-on shown as $11/month ($96/year) and also $8/month ($72/year); Pro $19/month or $190/year
- Best free for
- A Wave user who will attach receipts by hand until the add-on is worth it
- Verified
- Oct 2026 · waveapps.com/pricing
Why it ranks here. Free accounting, paid receipts — included so Wave users know the scan button costs money. The add-on price appears two ways on the page; we quote both.
Which free receipt scanner has no credit-card requirement?
Adobe Scan and Google Drive state they are free with no card. Veryfi’s trial banner says no card and its free plan does not say otherwise. Zoho Expense, Smart Receipts and Wave do not state a requirement. None of these converts to a paid plan automatically.
The vendors that do take a card at sign-up are the ones we excluded: Shoeboxed charges the card when its 30-day trial ends, and Taggun and Mindee offer trials rather than free plans. If a receipt-OCR tool asks for a card before showing you a scan, it is not on this list for a reason.
When does the free plan stop being enough?
Kurums Match: which free receipt scanner fits your situation?
Team of three, modest receipt volume
Zoho Expense Free.
Building receipt capture into an app
Veryfi Free Forever, then budget $500 a month or switch.
Solo, want a searchable archive
Adobe Scan.
One receipt now and then
Google Drive, open with Docs.
Traveller filing manual expense reports
Smart Receipts free.
Already on Wave
Attach receipts manually, or add the $8–11 add-on.
How we score free tiers
Duration (30): free forever scores 30, a 30-day-plus trial 15, a trial of 14 days or less 8, credit-based tiers 12. Capacity (30): whether the limits carry a team of three for twelve months. Core job (25): whether the free tier does the category’s main work — here, photographing a receipt and extracting merchant, date, total and tax into a usable record. Friction (15): no card 15; card but no auto-charge 8; auto-charge 0; self-hosting deducts for setup and maintenance.
Each free tier was checked on the vendor’s pricing page on 22 October 2026; where the vendor page was silent, the Scorecard names the third-party source used. Free tiers change, so this list is re-verified every quarter and a discontinued free plan stays listed for one month with a notice. Order is by Free Score only. Kurums Free sells no placement; sponsorship, affiliate links and vendor requests never change a score, a rank or a label. Vendors can submit corrections through the Update your free tier form.
How did we verify these free tiers?
We opened each vendor’s pricing or product page and recorded the free tier, scan caps, extraction capability and the paid step. Shoeboxed’s page states it is not free and that the trial charges a card; Taggun and Mindee list trials only, and the 250-free-pages offer previously attributed to Mindee is not on its current page. Dext, Klippa and Microsoft Lens pages returned errors; Expensify’s pricing page returned no plan data. All four are marked for re-verification rather than listed on a third-party source.
Prices are USD. We did not scan test receipts to measure extraction accuracy; “extracts fields” reflects the vendor’s own description.
Frequently asked questions
Which receipt scanner app is free and actually extracts data?
Zoho Expense (20 autoscans per user a month, three users) for businesses, and Veryfi’s API (100 documents a month) for developers. Adobe Scan and Google Drive make receipts searchable but do not pull out fields.
Does Expensify scan receipts for free?
Expensify’s Submit tier is described as free for individuals, but its pricing page returned no plan data to our check and the SmartScan quota is unverified. We will add it when the page is readable.
Is Shoeboxed free?
No. Shoeboxed’s own page states it is not free; the 30-day trial charges a card and plans start at $9 a month.
What is the free scan limit on Zoho Expense?
20 receipt autoscans per user per month on the free plan, with manual entry unlimited and 5 GB of receipt storage.
Can I OCR a receipt in Google Drive?
Yes — right-click the image or PDF and open it with Google Docs. The file must be 2 MB or smaller and layout such as tables is usually lost.
Which free tool works for an app I’m building?
Veryfi’s Free Forever API plan, 100 documents a month. Above that the Starter plan has a $500 monthly minimum.
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