How much does OCR add to document scanning costs?

Basic automated OCR adds 1-2p per page. Enhanced OCR with human verification adds 2-5p per page for 99%+ accuracy. Full data capture (extracting specific fields into databases) adds 5-30p per page. For most business documents, basic OCR at 1-2p is sufficient and well worth the cost.

Is OCR worth the extra cost when scanning documents?

Almost always yes. OCR adds just 1-2p per page but transforms scanned documents from unsearchable images into fully searchable files. It enables full-text search across your archive, supports GDPR compliance (finding personal data quickly), and makes document retrieval instant rather than manual. The only exceptions are purely visual content like photographs.

Does OCR (Searchable PDF) Increase Scanning Costs?

Yes, OCR adds a small cost to document scanning — typically 1-3p per page. But it is almost always worth the investment. Without OCR, a scanned document is just a picture — you can see it but you cannot search it, copy text from it, or do anything with the content except look at it. With OCR, the full text becomes searchable, selectable and extractable. The difference in usability is transformative.

What OCR Does

OCR (Optical Character Recognition) is software that analyses the scanned image of a page and identifies the text characters on it. The output is a searchable PDF — a file that looks identical to the scanned image but has an invisible text layer behind it. You can search for words and phrases, select and copy text, and use full-text search across your entire archive.

Without OCR, finding a specific document in a digital archive means either knowing the exact file name or opening files one by one until you find what you need — essentially the digital equivalent of searching through filing cabinets.

How Much OCR Adds to the Cost

The cost of OCR depends on the processing method and the volume:

Basic OCR (automated, no verification): 1-2p per page. The software processes each page automatically with no human checking. Accuracy is typically 95-98% on clean, typed documents
Enhanced OCR with correction: 2-5p per page. A human operator reviews the OCR output and corrects errors. This achieves 99%+ accuracy but adds significant time and cost
Full data capture: 5-30p per page. Going beyond OCR to extract specific data fields (names, dates, reference numbers, amounts) and enter them into a structured database. This is data entry as much as OCR

For most business documents, basic automated OCR at 1-2p per page is sufficient. The 95-98% accuracy means that occasional words are misrecognised (particularly handwritten notes or poor-quality prints), but text search works well and the vast majority of content is accurately captured.

What Affects OCR Accuracy

OCR works best on clean, high-contrast typed text. Several factors reduce accuracy:

Handwriting: OCR struggles with handwritten text. Even the best OCR software achieves only 60-80% accuracy on handwriting, making it unreliable for handwritten notes and annotations
Poor print quality: Faded text, dot-matrix printouts, carbon copies and documents printed on coloured paper all reduce OCR accuracy
Complex layouts: Tables, columns, forms with boxes and mixed text/graphics confuse basic OCR engines. More advanced software handles these better but at higher cost
Small text: Text below 8pt is often misrecognised, particularly at lower scanning resolutions
Non-standard fonts: Unusual typefaces, very old typewriter text and decorative fonts can cause errors

Scanning at 300 DPI (the standard for most professional scanning) provides sufficient resolution for good OCR accuracy. Lower resolutions (200 DPI) reduce accuracy noticeably, particularly on smaller text.

OCR and Compliance

For some applications, OCR is not just convenient — it is practically necessary. Data Subject Access Requests under UK GDPR require you to locate all personal data relating to an individual. Searching a digital archive with OCR makes this feasible. Without OCR, you would need to manually review every document — which could take weeks and cost far more than the OCR processing ever would.

Similarly, if you need to locate specific documents for litigation, regulatory audits or due diligence exercises, full-text search through OCR-processed files saves enormous amounts of time.

When OCR Is Not Needed

There are limited scenarios where OCR adds no value:

Photographs and images with no text content
Engineering drawings where text is embedded in complex graphics
Documents you will never need to search — purely archival records stored for retention compliance with no expectation of retrieval
Handwritten documents where OCR accuracy would be too low to be useful

For everything else — and particularly for any document you might need to find by keyword search — OCR at 1-2p per page is one of the best value additions in the scanning process.

Get a Free Quote

Every project is different, so the best way to understand your costs is to get in touch with our team. We provide clear, no-obligation quotes — usually within the same day.

Call us on 01691 650355 or use the form below.