Stop retyping text from scans and screenshots
You have a folder of scanned invoices, photos of documents or screenshots, and the text inside is locked in pixels. Your .NET application needs that text as a plain string it can search, store or parse. IronOCR, sold as The C# OCR Library by Iron Software, is a .NET library that reads text from images and PDFs and returns it as plain text or structured data. It builds on the Tesseract engine and adds preprocessing and a simpler API.
Quick facts
- Type: .NET library installed through NuGet
- Languages: C#, VB.NET and F#
- Platforms: .NET 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 and 5, .NET Standard 2, .NET Framework 4.6.2+
- Operating systems: Windows, macOS, Linux, Docker, Azure and AWS
- Trial: 30 days, full features, no credit card, no watermarks
- Licensing: perpetual, with a 30-day money-back guarantee; the Lite license for one developer is listed at $999
Key features
Read text from images, PDFs and scanned documents
You load images and PDFs into the same input object and call Read(). It also handles multi-page and password-protected scanned PDFs, and it can read from byte arrays and memory streams, so you don't need files on disk.
Clean up poor scans before reading them
Built-in image filters cover deskew, denoise, sharpen, binarize, dilate and erode. A Filter Wizard helps you find the best filter combination for a difficult image.
Work in 125+ languages, including several at once
The library supports Tesseract language packs including CJK, Cyrillic and Arabic. You can combine multiple language packs in one operation.
Get structured output, not only a text blob
Results include confidence scores and coordinate data down to words, lines and paragraphs. You can export plain text, hOCR, XML or searchable PDFs.
Target specific regions and special documents
You can define crop regions to speed up reading. There are how-to guides for passports, license plates, photos, screenshots and handwriting. Barcodes and QR codes can be read alongside text.
Who it's for
It suits .NET developers who need OCR inside their own application, especially teams that want it to run in-process rather than send documents to an outside service. It fits console, web and desktop apps, and it deploys to Docker, Azure and AWS.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Installs with a single NuGet command and reads an image in a few lines of code.
- Full-featured 30-day trial with no watermarks and no card.
- Perpetual licenses, so there are no recurring fees.
- Runs on Windows, Linux, macOS and in containers.
Cons
- It is a developer library, so there is no standalone end-user app.
- The Lite license covers one developer, one location and one project. Larger teams need a higher tier.
- Redistribution inside shipped software or SaaS needs an extra license at extra cost.
- Support and updates are included for one year, then extended separately.
FAQs
Can I try it before buying?
Yes. A trial key unlocks full functionality for 30 days and works in development and production, with no credit card.
Does it only run on Windows?
No. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, Docker, Azure and AWS.
Can it read PDFs as well as images?
Yes. It processes multi-page and password-protected scanned PDFs and can output searchable PDFs.
Is the license a subscription?
Team licenses are perpetual, a one-time purchase. Support and product updates run for a set period and can be extended.
Which programming languages can I use?
C#, VB.NET and F#.
System requirements
- .NET 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 or 5, .NET Standard 2, or .NET Framework 4.6.2+
- Windows, macOS, Linux, Docker, Azure or AWS
- Microsoft Visual Studio, or JetBrains ReSharper and Rider