Find the Right OCR Tool for Your Team

Accuracy, speed, pricing, integrations—every OCR vendor claims to be the best. Test Lido’s AI extraction on your own documents and compare results yourself.

50 free pages No credit card required All features included
How it works

Three steps from document to structured data

Upload or forward

Drag and drop files, connect a cloud drive, or set up email auto-forwarding. Any file format works—PDF, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, or digital documents.

AI reads and extracts

The AI identifies fields by context and meaning, not fixed coordinates. Names, dates, amounts, and custom fields are extracted automatically.

Export anywhere

Get structured output in Excel, Google Sheets, CSV, or JSON. Use the REST API for direct integration into your systems.

What teams are saying

“We evaluated six OCR vendors for our RFP. Most needed weeks of template setup. This one processed our test batch on the first upload with better accuracy than tools we had been configuring for months.”
NR
Nadia R.
IT Project Manager
“The free trial was what convinced us. We uploaded our 20 hardest documents—the ones that broke every other tool—and it handled 18 of them perfectly. The other two just needed a quick manual check.”
DS
David S.
Solutions Architect
“Total cost of ownership was the deciding factor. The per-page price looked similar across vendors, but the template maintenance costs on other platforms added up to three times the subscription fee.”
EW
Emily W.
VP of Operations
Security

Your data stays private

SOC 2 Type 2

Audited controls over a sustained period, not a point-in-time check.

AES-256 encryption

Bank-grade encryption at rest and TLS 1.2+ in transit.

24-hour deletion

Documents deleted within 24 hours. No copies retained.

How to evaluate OCR tools without wasting months on pilots

Comparing OCR tools effectively requires testing them on your own documents rather than relying on vendor demos or published accuracy benchmarks. Every OCR vendor reports high accuracy on clean, well-structured test documents, but real-world performance depends on how the tool handles your specific mix of layouts, image quality levels, and edge cases. The most reliable evaluation method is uploading a representative sample of your hardest documents during a free trial.

The biggest differentiator between modern OCR tools is template dependency. Template-based tools require you to define extraction zones for each document layout—a process that can take hours per template and must be repeated whenever a vendor changes their format. AI-based tools read documents contextually, understanding field labels and table structures regardless of where they appear on the page. This architectural difference affects not just initial setup time but ongoing maintenance costs that rarely appear in pricing comparisons.

Integration capabilities are the second critical evaluation axis. An OCR tool that produces accurate extractions but outputs only in a format your downstream systems cannot consume creates a new manual step. Look for tools that support your required output formats natively—whether that is Excel for finance teams, CSV for ERP imports, JSON for API pipelines, or direct Google Sheets integration for collaborative workflows. Lido supports all of these plus a REST API with field-level confidence scores for programmatic quality control.

Finally, evaluate security and compliance certifications before uploading sensitive documents to any platform. SOC 2 Type 2 compliance means the vendor’s security controls have been audited over a sustained period, not just at a single point in time. HIPAA eligibility matters for healthcare documents. Data retention policies—specifically whether uploaded documents are deleted promptly after processing—should be verified in writing, not assumed from marketing claims.

Frequently asked questions

What criteria matter most when comparing OCR tools?

The five most important criteria are extraction accuracy across varying layouts, template dependency versus layout-agnostic processing, output format options, integration capabilities with your existing systems, and total cost of ownership including per-page fees and setup time.

What is the difference between template-based and AI-based OCR?

Template-based OCR requires you to define extraction zones for each document layout. AI-based OCR reads documents contextually, understanding that a value next to the word “Total” is a total regardless of position. Lido uses AI-based extraction that works on any layout without templates or training data.

How do I test OCR accuracy before committing to a vendor?

Upload your own documents during a free trial rather than relying on vendor-reported accuracy. Use a representative sample that includes your most common document types and your most challenging edge cases. Lido offers 50 free pages so you can test on your actual documents.

Do OCR tools charge per page or per month?

Pricing models vary. Some tools charge per page, others offer monthly plans with a page allowance, and enterprise contracts use annual commitments with volume discounts. Lido starts at $29 per month for 100 pages, with scale plans at $7,000 per year for up to 42,000 pages.

Can OCR tools integrate with my existing accounting or ERP system?

Most modern OCR tools offer CSV and Excel export for import into any system. Advanced tools provide REST APIs, webhook notifications, and native connectors. Lido supports Excel, Google Sheets, CSV, JSON export plus a REST API with field-level confidence scores.

Simple, transparent pricing

Start free with 50 pages. Upgrade when you’re ready.

Standard
$29 /month
100 pages per month · 1 user
  • Any file type supported
  • Excel, CSV, JSON export
  • Email auto-forwarding
  • AI columns for custom fields
  • SOC 2 Type 2 compliant

Built on Lido’s OCR engine

Enterprise
Custom
From $30,000/year
  • Everything in Scale
  • Custom ERP integrations
  • Dedicated account manager
  • Live onboarding
  • BAA for HIPAA
Talk to sales

Built on Lido’s OCR engine