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Need to extract Arabic text from documents so that it can be edited and stored? An Arabic OCR software can help you achieve just that.
The Arabic language is written in a script that differs from the Western alphabet. Extracting text from Arabic documents presents specific challenges; hence, any Arabic OCR software needs to be designed with these challenges in mind.
Any Arabic OCR tool that you select should be able to overcome these challenges and be able to extract data to a high accuracy, and even be able to automate your document extraction processes.
This blog will examine the top 10 Arabic OCR software in 2024. We will look at the pros and cons of each Arabic OCR tool and cover both free and paid Arabic OCR options. We will also cover the best Arabic OCR apps for Android and iOS mobile phones.
Best Arabic OCR Software
In a rush? We’ll quickly sum up our recommendations for you to save time. Here are our suggestions based on the business use case –
- Best Arabic Online OCR tool: Nanonets
- Best Arabic OCR tool for one-time use: i2OCR
- Best Arabic OCR tool for Companies: Nanonets
- Best Arabic Offline OCR tool: Sakhr OCR
Read on to gather more in-depth knowledge on these Arabic OCR software and their pros and cons.
Top 10 Arabic OCR Software in 2024
#1. Nanonets [Start your free trial]
Nanonets is an easy-to-use OCR software that supports over 120+ languages, including Arabic, Japanese, Hindi, Chinese, Russian, and many more. Nanonets can easily and accurately extract Arabic text from any document.
Information from any type of Arabic document, including invoices, bills, receipts, ID cards, passports, and more, can be extracted using Nanonets.
You can expect Arabic OCR accuracy to be over 95%, higher than most OCR tools. Moreover, you can connect Nanonets with Google Drive, Email, Outlook, CRMs like Salesforce, and 800+ more apps via Zapier.
You can create a free account with Nanonets to process your Arabic documents and convert Arabic pdf-to-text easily.
Capterra rating: 4.9
G2 rating: 4.9
How to use Nanonets Arabic OCR software?
Step 1: Create a free account on Nanonets and log in.
Step 2: Select the model of your choice and upload the document.
Step 3: Check the extracted Arabic data in the document.
Invoice taken from MSOfficeGeek
Step 4: Once all the data is selected, you can download the extracted data or send the data to the software of your choice.
Pros of using Nanonets
- Easy to use
- Free Trial Version
- 95%+ Arabic OCR accuracy
- Modern user interface
- <15 minutes to create a custom model
- No hidden pricing
- Store your documents online
- Create workflows to process documents automatically
- Works with 120+ languages
- Easy integrations with Zapier and API
- 24×7 customer service
- Best for Arabic PDF to Word Tool
Cons of using Nanonets
- Cannot convert into different languages
Get started with Nanonets’ pre-trained Arabic OCR models, or build your own custom OCR models. You can also schedule a demo to get a free product tour!
#2. Sakhr OCR
Sakhr OCR is an offline OCR Arabic software. It is highly accurate while detecting Arabic text.
The software is based on ABBYY and Sakhr OCR technology and has four libraries that match Arabic characters. The OCR settings for Arabic text can be changed manually.
Since there are no automation features, this Arabic OCR can’t be used for document automation.
Pros of using Sakhr OCR
- Easy to use
- Supports many languages
- Automatically converts scanned images into digital text
Cons of using Sakhr OCR
- Slow OCR Arabic scanning process
- It can’t be used for document automation
- It only supports images with solid backgrounds
- It doesn’t have advanced features
- Requires Java Runtime Environment
#3. Tesseract OCR
Tesseract OCR tool can help you convert any Arabic image to black and white and remove any noise. You can also optimize the quality of the input image by scaling it, eliminating noise, and cropping it. Image_deskew() and image_rotate() will help you make the text horizontal or vertical and crop out any white space from the margins and text size.
The LSTM OCR engine in Tesseract supports more than 100 languages. The new version of Tesseract also supports more languages, including ideographic languages and right-to-left writing. Many libraries based on Tesseract like PyPDF2, can work as a data extraction tool.
Capterra rating: 4.0
G2 rating: 4.4
Pros of using Tesseract OCR
- Building a training set is easy
- Very lightweight library
- Accurate
Cons of using Tesseract OCR
- Lack of batch OCR
- PDF documents are not supported.
- No automation features
Get started with Nanonets. Extract Arabic data with 95%+ accuracy. Start your free trial today. No credit card required.
Amazon Textract can be used as an Arabic OCR tool. It is an easy-to-use, web-based application that analyzes scanned documents to extract text and information. It works with any document type, including text, forms, and images.
The tool automatically saves the scanned copy in its Data Lake after analysis.
Capterra rating: 4.3
G2 rating: 4.5
- Inability to Extract Custom Fields
- No Fraud Checks
- Language Limit
- Ability to define table header
Automate Arabic document processing with Nanonets. Process 50k+ documents on 10x faster. Upload your documents now. No credit card is required.
#5. i2OCR
i2OCR is a free online Arabic OCR software.
It is a free tool that allows you to upload Arabic documents and extract information from the documents. Even though it enables exporting files in editable formats like Word, the formatting is severely compromised.
Pros of using i2OCR
- Support for more than 60 languages is a plus.
- Upload an image from a URL or computer
- Edit in Google Docs or directly translate in Google/Bing
Cons of using i2OCR
- Ineffective formatting
- Only allow picture uploads
- Only enable text extraction from images; to use the text, copy it, and then paste it into your favorite word editor.
- 75% to 80% OCR accuracy
#6. Convertio
Convertio is free online Arabic OCR software that can extract Arabic text from uploaded images and documents. It provides relatively high accuracy and allows you to upload documents from your computer, Google Docs, Dropbox, or even a URL. You can also select additional languages that might be present in the document.
Pros of using Convertio
- Capable of recognizing different fonts, languages, and layouts
- Supports multi-language OCR
- The interface is simple and easy to use
Cons of using Convertio
- Only allows 10 pages for free without signup
- The maximum file size is 100 MB
- Does not support workflow automation
Automate Arabic document processing with Nanonets. Process 50k+ documents on 10x faster. Upload your documents now. No credit card is required.
#7. ABBYY FineReader
ABBYY Finereader is a reliable Arabic OCR software that can extract Arabic text from documents with a high degree of accuracy. Since it allows batch processing, this Arabic OCR is ideal for businesses needing to digitize many Arabic documents. It also provides multi-language support and can extract text from documents and images.
Capterra rating: 4.7
G2 rating: 4.3
Pros of using ABBYY FineReader
- Speed and Ease of Use
- Multilingual Support
- Supports batch processing
- Simplifies the Process of Capturing, Storing, Syncing, and Converting Data
Cons of using ABBYY FineReader
- UI is not user-friendly
- Invoice reading is complicated
- Machine learning models are a little bit difficult to configure
- Difficult to operate
- You can’t merge several files into one
- Pricing can be prohibitive
#8. Google Docs
Google Docs offers free web-based Arabic OCR software that can turn Arabic text contained within PDF files into editable text on a Google Doc. Google Docs supports many languages, such as Arabic, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and more. Although batch processing is impossible, this is a great Arabic OCR tool for a one-time use case. You can convert your PDF with Arabic text to editable text format in 3 quick steps:
- Upload your PDF with Arabic text onto Google Drive.
- Right-click on the uploaded file and select Open > Google Docs
- Google Docs will automatically import the file, recognize and OCR Arabic text on a new document.
Pros of using Google Docs
- It is easy and free to use
- Supports multiple languages
Cons of using Google Docs
- Does not support batch processing
- The original formatting of the document will be lost
- Google Drive has limited space; you need to purchase more if required
#9. Text Fairy (OCR Text Scanner) for Android
Text Fairy is a good mobile OCR application for Android phones. It supports over 50 languages, including Arabic.
Text Fairy can easily convert screenshots and images containing Arabic text into editable text. The text can then be copied and sent to the required location or exported as a PDF. You can also crop and straighten text in an image before exporting the text.
Pros of using Text Fairy
- Can easily convert Arabic text from images on Android phones
- Converted Arabic text can be copied and sent to other apps
Cons of using Text Fairy
- Good for one-time use cases or when you need to convert on the go
- Cannot automate processes or run a large number of files together
#10. IRIScan PDF Scanner for iOS
IRIScan is a great PDF scanner app for iOS. It supports Arabic and multiple other languages and can quickly convert them to editable text.
IRIScan allows users to upload images from camera or upload images or PDFs. You can export the converted Arabic text in text or a searchable PDF format. It also allows easy sharing of the editable text into other apps or to the cloud.
Pros of using IRIScan
- It is a great app for iOS to convert Arabic text on the go using mobile
- Supports multiple languages and is fairly accurate
Cons of using IRIScan
- Good for one-time use cases or when you need to convert on the go
- Cannot automate processes or run a large number of files together
Need OCR software for image-to-text extraction or PDF data extraction? Looking to convert PDF to the table or PDF to text?
Check out Nanonets in action! No credit card is required.
Since the Arabic language uses a script different from the Western alphabet, it can be tricky for OCR software as it is written from left to right, and the characters can be difficult to detect. But, we’ve looked at the 10 best Arabic OCR software in the market.
Although we have mentioned the pros and cons of each Arabic OCR software, we will try to select the best one for each use case –
- Best Arabic Online OCR tool: Nanonets
- Best Arabic OCR tool for one-time use: i2OCR
- Best Arabic OCR tool for Companies: Nanonets
- Best Arabic Offline OCR tool: Sakhr OCR
The accuracy of all Arabic OCR tools varies according to document quality and OCR models. Nanonets’ OCR models evolve with time, hence continuously improving the accuracy of OCR models.
Nanonets’ online OCR & OCR API have many interesting use cases that could optimize your business performance, save costs, and boost growth. Find out how Nanonets’ use cases can apply to your product.
Need to extract text from languages other than Arabic? Read about the best OCR software for other languages:
16 May 2024: This blog was updated with fresh content on 16 May 2024.