About
OCR.space Free OCR API is a web and API service for converting images and PDF documents into text. It supports POST and GET endpoints, multipart file upload, URL-based submission, and Base64 input, with JSON responses that include parsed text, overlay coordinates, and optional searchable PDF output.
The free offering is aimed at developers who need OCR for interactive use or light automation. The pricing page states a free API key with 25,000 requests per month, a 1 MB file size limit, a 3-page PDF limit, and 2,500 Engine 3 conversions per month in addition to the Engine 1/2 quota.
- 25,000 requests per month
- 1 MB file size limit
- 3-page PDF limit
- 2,500 Engine 3 conversions monthly
- JSON OCR response format
- Searchable PDF with watermark
- POST, GET, URL, and Base64 input
Free Tier Value
This free tier is genuinely usable, with 25,000 requests per month, OCR API access, JSON output, overlays, orientation detection, table-friendly parsing, and searchable PDF creation. The main limits are the 1 MB file cap, 3-page PDF cap, and the watermark on searchable PDFs, so it lands well below the $30/month PRO plan but still feels worth about half of that, or roughly $15/month. A credit card is not required, and the offer is perpetual but capped.
What's included in the free tier
- Free OCR API key registration.
- 500 requests per day per IP address.
- 25,000 requests per month.
- 1 MB file size limit.
- 3-page PDF limit.
- Searchable PDF creation with watermark.
- JSON-formatted OCR results.
- Support for image and PDF uploads via URL, file, or Base64.
- Support for OCR languages including English by default.
- Optional overlay data with word bounding boxes.
- Optional orientation detection.
- Optional table-friendly line-by-line parsing.
- Access to OCR Engine 1, 2, and 3.
- 2,500 Engine 3 conversions per month in addition to the 25,000 standard free-plan conversions.
See OCR.space Free OCR API pricing for current limits.
Paid plans
PRO
- requests/month
- 300,000
- file size
- 5 MB
- PDF pages
- 3
- 300,000 requests per month
- 5 MB file size limit
- 3-page PDF limit
- Searchable PDF creation
- Faster processing on dedicated servers
- 100% uptime SLA or money back
PRO PDF
- requests/month
- 300,000
- file size
- 100 MB+
- PDF pages
- 999+
- 300,000 requests per month
- 100 MB+ file size limit
- 999+ PDF page limit
- Searchable PDF creation
- Faster processing on dedicated servers
- 100% uptime SLA or money back
Enterprise
- requests/month
- Custom
- file size
- 100 MB+
- PDF pages
- 999+
- Custom request volume
- 100 MB+ file size limit
- 999+ PDF page limit
- Searchable PDF creation
- Custom OCR fine tuning
- Dedicated enterprise support
Pricing extracted from OCR.space Free OCR API's pricing page. Always verify current pricing before committing.
