OCR.space vs Zamzar API

OCR.space converts images and PDF documents into editable text through an online OCR service and API, and can create searchable PDFs. The web service accepts JPG, PNG, GIF, and PDF files without registration; its free web uploads are limited to 5 MB per document. The API returns extracted text in JSON and supports images and multi-page PDFs. It offers three OCR engines: Engine 2 is the default, while Engine 3 supports handwriting, tables, and more than 200 languages. An `isTable` option is recommended for receipts, invoices, and other table-structured documents. The free plan is free, with 25,000 monthly requests and a searchable-PDF watermark; Engine 3 has an additional 2,500 conversions, but cannot produce searchable PDFs. PRO costs $30 a month, PRO PDF costs $60 a month, and Enterprise starts at $999 a month. OCR.space Local runs offline in self-hosted environments; its license price is available from sales.

Zamzar API is a REST-based HTTP service for adding file conversion to mobile, web, or desktop applications. It supports more than 1,100 conversion types across documents, video, images, audio, eBooks, CAD, 3D, and compressed files. Files can come from a user's machine or be reachable through HTTP, FTP, SFTP, or Amazon S3. Zamzar says its cloud service can handle demand from one file to 10,000. Developers can use official Java, PHP, and Python SDKs, plus code samples for C#, cURL, Node.js, and other languages. The free Test plan costs nothing, requires no card, and includes 100 credits, a 1 MB maximum file size, one-day file storage, and a three-day support response. Paid plans start at $25 /month. Successful conversions use at least one credit, and unused monthly credits do not roll over. Zamzar describes the API as a conversion service, not a CDN; converted files should be retrieved through the API. Accounts include free sandbox testing subject to file-size and job-count limits.