# Image & Scanned PDF OCR - Extract Text from Images (`propped_cloak/image-ocr`) Actor

Extract text from images and scanned PDFs with OCR: PNG, JPG, WEBP, TIFF, GIF and PDF pages, 8 languages, line breaks and confidence score. $2 per 1,000 pages, no text no charge.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/propped_cloak/image-ocr.md
- **Developed by:** [Emmanuel Vingadassalon](https://apify.com/propped_cloak) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Developer tools, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.60 / 1,000 page read (ocr)s

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Image & Scanned PDF OCR - Extract Text from Images

Extract the text of **images and scanned PDFs** in bulk with OCR: screenshots, photos of documents, scanned invoices and contracts, receipts, old PDFs without a text layer. One row per image or PDF page, with **line breaks kept**, word count and a **confidence score**.

- **Images and PDFs.** PNG, JPG, WEBP, TIFF (all pages), GIF, BMP and PDF files (each page rendered at 300 DPI), up to 30 MB per file.
- **8 languages.** English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch and Polish, alone or combined.
- **Readable output.** Lines and paragraphs are kept as in the document, so tables of figures and addresses stay readable.
- **Cheap and predictable.** **$2 per 1,000 pages**, where most OCR Actors charge $3 to $15. Pages without text are not charged.
- **Safe.** Files are processed in memory and never shared. Only public URLs are accepted: internal network addresses are refused.

### What can I use it for?

- **Invoices and receipts:** turn scanned invoices into text, then extract amounts and dates with your own rules or an LLM.
- **Scanned PDFs for RAG:** make old scanned reports searchable and feed them to a vector database.
- **Screenshots and images:** read the text of product images, banners, slides or charts.
- **Archives:** digitize scanned letters, forms and records in bulk.
- **AI agents:** let an agent read any image through the Apify MCP server (see below).

PDFs that already contain text (exported from Word, for example) are read faster and more accurately by [PDF, Word, Excel & PowerPoint to Markdown](https://apify.com/propped_cloak/document-to-markdown). Use this Actor for scanned pages and images.

### Input

```json
{
    "urls": [
        "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/naptha/tesseract.js/master/tests/assets/images/testocr.png",
        "https://example.com/scans/invoice-2026-001.pdf"
    ],
    "languages": ["eng", "fra"],
    "maxPagesPerPdf": 30
}
```

### Output

One row per image, or per page for PDFs and multi-page TIFFs.

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `url` | The file |
| `fileType` | `image` or `pdf` |
| `page` / `pageCount` | Page number and total pages (`null` for a single image) |
| `text` | The text, with line breaks; paragraphs separated by a blank line |
| `wordCount` | Words read |
| `confidence` | Mean OCR confidence of the words, 0-100. Below 60, check the image quality |
| `width` / `height` | Size of the page image, in pixels |
| `error` | Why a file could not be read (not charged) |

### Pricing

**$0.002 per page read ($2 per 1,000 pages)** plus Apify's small run-start fee. No subscription, lower prices on higher Apify plans. Pages without text, invalid URLs, download errors and unsupported files are free.

### Tips for the best results

- Use the right language: accents and special letters are read much better.
- Scans at 200-300 DPI give the best results; tiny or blurry photos give low confidence.
- Handwriting is not supported well: this is printed-text OCR (Tesseract).

### Use it from AI agents (MCP)

Add `image-ocr` to the [Apify MCP server](https://mcp.apify.com) in your MCP client (Claude, Cursor, VS Code...).

### Integrations

Apify API, schedules, webhooks, Make, Zapier, n8n. Export as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML.

### FAQ

**Which OCR engine is used?** [Tesseract](https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tesseract) 5, the open-source engine originally developed by HP and Google.

**Something wrong or missing?** Open an issue on the Issues tab.

# Actor input Schema

## `urls` (type: `array`):

Public URLs of images (PNG, JPG, WEBP, TIFF, GIF, BMP) or PDF files, one per line. Up to 30 MB per file. Duplicates are removed.

## `languages` (type: `array`):

Languages of the text. Pick the ones that appear in your files: more languages are slower and can lower accuracy.

## `maxPagesPerPdf` (type: `integer`):

Only the first pages are read. Each page with text is charged.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "urls": [
    "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/naptha/tesseract.js/master/tests/assets/images/testocr.png",
    "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tesseract-ocr/test/main/testing/eurotext.tif"
  ],
  "languages": [
    "eng"
  ],
  "maxPagesPerPdf": 30
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One row per image or PDF page: extracted text with line breaks, word count, mean confidence and size.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "urls": [
        "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/naptha/tesseract.js/master/tests/assets/images/testocr.png",
        "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tesseract-ocr/test/main/testing/eurotext.tif"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("propped_cloak/image-ocr").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "urls": [
        "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/naptha/tesseract.js/master/tests/assets/images/testocr.png",
        "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tesseract-ocr/test/main/testing/eurotext.tif",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("propped_cloak/image-ocr").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "urls": [
    "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/naptha/tesseract.js/master/tests/assets/images/testocr.png",
    "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tesseract-ocr/test/main/testing/eurotext.tif"
  ]
}' |
apify call propped_cloak/image-ocr --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,propped_cloak/image-ocr"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/zao4eb2O1vzCyy6iL/builds/HFFBelWQudROIQEKJ/openapi.json